Basic control of the telescope, such as moving to an absolute position or
offsetting from the current position, is done on the telescope control
panel. The basic information from the telescope, such as airmass, UT, and
current telescope position is also displayed here. This GUI panel should
start sutomatically when the GUI is first initialized.
File Menu:
SAO map
Calls up a separate GUI panel which shows the area of
sky where the telescope is pointing, including nearby SAO stars.
This panel is described in more detail below.
Airmass
Graphical display of the current airmass and plot
of the airmass history for the currently set object.
Quit Quits the telescope control panel, but not the GUI.
This module can be restarted from the modules menu on the
camera control panel.
Moving to an absolute position An absolute position can be entered
directly in the RA and Dec windows. After setting the equinox, the position
can be sent to the telescope by clicking on the move button. Note
that the telescope does not actually move...only the coordinates are sent!
To move the telescope, you must press the "go" button on the old telescope
controls. The RA and Dec windows also display the current telescope position
after each offset.
Relative offsets Offsets in arcseconds can be supplied in the dx and
dy windows. Clicking on one of the directional buttons in the compass panel
will then offset the telescope by the requested amount. The "set zero"
button zeroes the cumulative offsets (S(dx) and S(dy)), and the
"0,0" button in the center of the compass returns the telescope to this
defined zero position.
Object Files An object file can be given in the Object-List
window (the .obj extension is not necessary). Objects can be selected
with a single click, and set with the set button. Setting an object
sends the object's coordinates to the RA and Dec windows. These can
then be sent to the telescope computer by clicking on move as
described above. A useful feature is that when an object is set, the
airmass panel will display the object's current airmass in graphical form,
though there is no obligation to actually move to the object.
SAO map
The SAO map shows an area of sky centered on where the telescope is pointing.
The display includes all of the SAO stars in the vicinity, color-coded as to
spectral type (Blue=O,B, Green=A,F, Yellow=G, Red=K,M, Black=unclassified?),
where the size of the dot indicates relativel brightness. The dashed red
square shows the size of the Omega-Prime field of view. A scale bar in the
upper left corner of the image gives a scale reference. Zooming the
display in or out is done with the two arrow buttons in the upper left
corner of the window.
Stars can be selected by clicking on the image, with additional information
(SAO number, spectral type, and visual magnitude) appearing at the bottom of
the window. The coordinates can be sent to the telescope computer with the
move button.
A log of all previous exposures is kept, displayed as green squares on the
SAO map. This feature is useful for following the progress of observing
macros. Clear Frames will clear the display of the old frames,
though future frames will continue to be displayed.
The SAOmap can be turned off by reselecting the "SAO map" option in the
file menu of the telescope control panel. Using the "quit" option in
the xwindows menu will also kill the telescope control panel!
Airmass
The airmass window graphically displays the airmass of the currently
selected object (red dot), as well as a tracing of the airmass over
4 hours of time (blue line). This feature is particularly useful when
used in conjunction with object files. Objects selected and set
from an object file will show their current airmass in the airmass window.
The airmass plot will automatically reset to the current telescope
position whenever the GUI queries the telescope computer for the
current position (for example, when a save is executed from a running macro).
The airmass window can be turned off by reselecting the "Airmass" option in
the file menu of the telescope control panel. Using the "quit" option in
the xwindows menu will also kill the telescope control panel!
