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Large Format Camera (LFC) Quickstart

View the original quickstart guide.

Following is a list of commonly used LFC (mcdcom) commands:

[user@planetx ~]$ Click on the start_lfcguide icon or type start_lfcguide in a terminal window.

[user@planetx ~]$ Click on the monitor_lfcguide icon or type monitor_lfcguide in a terminal window.

[user@planetx ~]$ Open a terminal window and type ssh lfc@oasis.

Start-Up Sequence

oasis% mcdcom
ccd.001> mosaic lfc2  —  (or lfc2bin for binned 2×2 mode).
ccd.001> shut startup
ccd.001> shut home
ccd.001> util  —  Make sure the utility board started correctly.
ccd.001> filter  —  Make sure the filter wheel hasn't drifted (look at ESTOFF value).
ccd.001> fp  —  Set your frame prefix.
ccd.001> fn  —  Set your frame number.
ccd.001> iraf  —  (Optional: set to convert images to signed integer format).

Exposure, R/W, Filter Commands

ccd.001> bias 0 bias
ccd.001> go 5  —  Setup and take five bias frames.

ccd.001> flat 3 domeflat_i'
ccd.001> go 5  —  Setup and take five 3 second domeflats (turn on the lowlamp!)

ccd.001> obj 300 my_target
ccd.001> go  —  Setup and take a 300 second exposure.

ccd.001> et 600  —  Change exposure time, without changing name etc.

ccd.001> iraf  —  Set the IRAF toggle so that images are scaled from 16-bit unsigned integers (default) to iraf friendly 16-bit signed integers (useful if you want to use iraf).

ccd.001> source focus_fine  —  Run an mcdcom script. Scripts can be found (copied) on oasis: /scr6/home/lfc/scripts.

ccd.001> filter  —  Display current filter table.
ccd.001> filter move 1  —  Move to filter position number 1.

Telescope Commands

ccd.001> tel focbump <dfocusmm>

ccd.001> tel focgo <focusmm>

ccd.001> tel offset <dra" ddec">

ccd.001> tel goffset <dra" ddec">

ccd.001> tel lowlamp

ccd.001> tel lampsoff

Iraf Commands

[user@planetx ~]$ Click on the LFC Iraf icon or type start_LFC_iraf .

cl> display /lfc/scr3/lfc/ccd.001.0

cl> imexamine

Questions? We've answered many common observing and operations questions in our observer FAQ page.
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LFC Quickstart / v 2.0
Last updated: 15 June 2015 ACM