Below we describe the software that needs to be started for each instrument at the beginning of the night. Follow the standard procedures for opening all CHARA servers and GUIs beforehand. Select the correct beam combiner on Cosmic Debris. Note if a server is brought up after Cosmic Debris is started, make sure to click the [REOPEN] button on Cosmic Debris to initiate communications.

CLASSIC and CLIMB:

Open the CLASSIC/CLIMB server and GUI from the menu on zoot.

PAVO:

Open the PAVO server and GUI using the menu on zoot. Typically the observer runs the PAVO server from their location. However, if network speed becomes an issue during a remote run, the operator can open the PAVO server on the mountain and the observer can type commands into PAVO by using a “speak pavo” session. The [Status] button on the PAVO GUI will bring up a display of the server.

PAVO uses the LDCs. Bring up the LDC GUIs using the menu on zoot (under ESP Controllers). It's a good idea to home the LDCs at the start of the night. To home the LDCs, turn on the power button for the relevant telescope (the button will turn from red to green). Set the velocity to a non-zero number like 50 and click the [VEL] button. Then click the [HOME] button. You will see the position of the LDC go to 0.0. If the position gets stuck at “<>”, then simply cycle the power on the LDC, set the velocity to 50, and home again. After homing the LDCs, turn the power off until you are slewed to the first target and have the reference cart set. If you turn the power on before then, you run the risk of the LDCs going to a bad position (< -10 mm or > 49 mm) and losing their position. If this happens, you will need to home the LDCs again. After you have the reference cart set, type “useldc on” and “autoldc on” into the ople server (note that PAVO sends these commands automatically). Then turn on the power for the LDCs and click the [Ref] button on Cosmic Debris. The position of the LDC glass in mm should roughly match the position of the carts in meters.

If you need to home the LDC glass during the night, then follow this procedure:

Type “autoldc off” into the ople server to stop ople from sending commands to the LDCs (or click [STOP] on the ople GUI).
Set the LDC velocity to a non-zero number (like 50) and click the [Vel] button.
Click [Home] on the LDC GUI and watch the position go to 0.0.
After the LDC glass homes, then type “autoldc on” into the ople server (or click [START] on the ople GUI).
Click [Ref] on Cosmic Debris to send the LDCs back to the correct positions.

If the PAVO server doesn't start from the menu, then you can open a terminal and type “ssh -X pavo” to log on to the PAVO computer. Then type “run_pavo” to start the PAVO server.

MIRC-X and MYSTIC:

MIRC-X and MYSTIC observers should follow the manual to start the MIRC-X servers and GUIs on the wolverine2 or remote vnc desktop.

VEGA: Is now retired as of summer of 2021

Open all CHARA servers and GUIs as usual. The VEGA team will open their servers and software from the VEGA computer.

If VEGA is running with CLIMB, then LDCs will need to be used. Bring up the LDC GUIs using the menu on zoot (under ESP Controllers). It's a good idea to home the LDCs at the start of the night. To home the LDCs, turn on the power button for the relevant telescope (the button will turn from red to green). Set the velocity to a non-zero number like 50 and click the [VEL] button. Then click the [HOME] button. You will see the position of the LDC go to 0.0. If the position gets stuck at “<>”, then simply cycle the power on the LDC, set the velocity to 50, and home again. After homing the LDCs, turn the power off until you are slewed to the first target and have the reference cart set. If you turn the power on before then, you run the risk of the LDCs going to a bad position (< -10 mm or > 40 mm) and losing their position. If this happens, you will need to home the LDCs again. After you have the reference cart set, type “useldc on” and “autoldc on” into the ople server. Then turn on the power for the LDCs and click the [Ref] button on Cosmic Debris. The position of the LDC glass in mm should roughly match the postion of the carts in meters. (Follow direction under PAVO section if you need to home the LDCs during the night).

If VEGA and CLIMB are both recording data simultaneously, then type “sds 4000” into the CLIMB server to increase the length of the data sequence on CLIMB. This will prevent CLIMB from going into a shutter sequence while it needs to be tracking fringes for VEGA. When the VEGA sequence finishes, click [STOP] on the CLIMB GUI to stop taking data and begin taking shutters on CLIMB.

To co-phase CLIMB and VEGA, you will have to bring up the “Beam Combiner 1” GUI from the ESP Controller menu. Detailed instructions for co-phasing CLIMB and VEGA are available on the VEGA website. Please remind the VEGA observers to zero out any offsets added to the BC1 GUI before the end of run or before turning off the BC1 power.

Advice on running 3T CLIMB for use with 4T Vega:
VEGA is using beams 1-4, and have the telescopes setup in such a way so that the shortest and easiest baseline is 3-4 for them to track themselves. But to have the glass and the cart in the right place in relation to the reference cart, you have to have all 4 telescopes active which causes conflict in the Cosmic Debris because for having climb active, it says “no point in doing this with anything but three active scopes” So a work around for this is the following:

1. Lock the star with all 4 scopes via the sequence
2. On the config tab on CD, uncheck the telescope on B4, hit send (the telescope will still be tracking on tiptilt and the cart will be close to where it needs to be for later.
3. Align climb for beams 1-3
4. Scan for fringes on all 3 beams (first time to get offsets)
5. Record 3 beams button, get all 3 fringes in the window.
6. Now that the windows are up, on the ople gui, or on cosmic debris (I do ople) on the configure tab, recheck the telescope on B4, and hit send. The telescope will now be active for VEGA to track the 3-4 fringes after the man button is pressed. This will also keep the telescope activated for the next slew.

FLUOR:

The JOUFLU combiner was retired in the 2019 observing season. Instructions for the starting of JOUFLU can be found in the Archive.

Table of Contents

Instruments

INSTRUMENT MANUALS

OBSERVING LOGS

USEFUL LINKS AND DOCUMENTATION

SOFTWARE SETUP FOR TELESCOPE OPERATORS

CLASSIC and CLIMB:

PAVO:

MIRC-X and MYSTIC:

VEGA: Is now retired as of summer of 2021

FLUOR: