Glossary of Words by Function

We denote by * a word which is part of standard FIGARO which has not been altered. All other commands listed here have been specifically written or modified for OBSERVING.

Starting and Setup

ANGLES

Stores grating lines/mm and angles, used to fill header only

CAMERAS

Sets up number of dewars in use, number of controller ports in use, chip parameters, etc.

CHIPORIENT

Calculates angle between columns of detector and N-S on sky

DCLEAR

Clears disk completely -- use only at start of your run

SCALE

Defines image scale (arc-sec/pixel)

SPECORIENT

Calculates deviation of slit across CCD (i.e., ideally slit runs along a row of the CCD)

NIGHT

Allows for input of a night number (date is automatically put in)

FRAME

Resets the counter for the frame numbers

P60 Filter Wheel (P60 Echelle Slit Wheel)

BFMOVE

Move to a specified filter

ECHMOVE

Move to a particular place on the echelle slit wheel

ECHZERO

Move to home position, identify slits in wheel.

FMOVE

Move to a specified filter

FSTAT

Type out present location of filter (echelle) wheel

FZERO

Move to the home position, identify the filters in the wheel

SWITCHTAB

Switches between echelle and direct filter tables at P60

CCD Primitives

CCDOPEN

Open shutter

CCDCLOSE

Close shutter

CWON

Continuous wipe on

CWOFF

Continuous wipe off

EWIPE

Electronic wipe (three seconds duration)

FASTWIPE

Fast readout wipe (see controller manual)

WIPE

Normal wipe (readout of a full frame)

TAPING

ALLFITS

writes all files in the current directory to tape in FITS format

ALLWTYB

writes all files in the current directory to tape in TYB format

BACKUP

VMS utility -- use only if you have a VMS VAX with FIGARO Version 2.1 or greater

*FITS

Standard FIGARO word to read FITS tapes

NOTAPE

Disable automatic taping at end of exposures

*RTYB

Reads a file from tape in TYB format

*SKIP

FIGARO word for skipping over files on tapes (+ moves forward, -- moves backward)

TAPEOF

Writes an end-of-file mark at current tape position

TPOSITION

Positions a tape to be used for FITS output at the end of previously written data

TFITS

Writes a FITS file

WTYB

Write a single file in Todd Boroson's tape format

YESTAPE

Enable automatic taping at end of exposures

Exposure Words

CONSEC

Take n equal short exposures, save average only

DARK

Take an exposure without opening the shutter

EXPOSE

Start and stop all cameras in use together for one exposure

FOCUS

A useful word for direct image focusing

KEEP

Reads out all cameras in use. Rescue from trouble only

MODEXP

Modify exposure time while exposure in progress

MULTIPLE

Multiple short exposures on a single frame

REGO

Resume an exposure that has been stopped by STOPALL

SCAN

Drift scan exposure

SNAP

Start and stop a single camera

STOPALL

Halt any exposure that is long enough to go into batch mode

TEST

Test exposure on one camera, no taping or disk transfer

TESTALL

Test exposure on all cameras

TRANSIT

Variant of SCAN intended for continuous use over many hours

TRANSIT2

same as TRANSIT, but binning of CCD allowed

The Exposure Log File

LASTLOG

types last n lines of DAILY.LOG file on terminal

Tektronix 2048 x 2048 CCD

BIGIMAGE

Display word for very large 2d images

FRISCLOSE

Close the shutter for Tek CCD at P60

FRISOPEN

Open the shutter for Tek CCD at P60

FRISPREP

Initialize the shutter for Tek CCD at P60

TEKFOCUS

FOCUS using the Tek CCD shutter at P60

TEKMULTIPLE

MULTIPLE using the Tek CCD shutter at P60

TEKSNAP

SNAP using the Tek CCD shutter at P60

TEKTEST

TEST using the Tek CCD shutter at P60

2D Display

*COLOUR GREY

Corrects bit pattern errors in IMAGE following call to SPLOT

*ICUR

FIGARO word for cursor on 2d picture

*IMAGE

FIGARO word for display of 2d picture

PATCH

Hit space bar for 11x11 matrix of values centered on cursor

RESETDISPLAY

Homes display after unusual scrolling during SCAN

SICUR

Cursor for split screen mode (SIMAGE)

SIMAGE

Split screen display of long narrow spectra

TVCLEAR

Erases screen

1D Display

*CCUR

FIGARO word for cursor on 1d spectrum

*SPLOT

FIGARO word for 1d spectrum plot

Seeing

SEEING

Calculates FWHM of images on a direct frame

SPECSEE

Calculates FWHM in 1 dimension from spectrum

P200 Flat Field Lamps

HIGHLAMP

Turns on bright flat field lamp in prime focus cage

LAMPSOFF

Turns both lamps off

LOWLAMP

Turns on fainter flat field lamp

Quick Look Analysis

IAVERAGE

Averages n pictures

ISTAT*

A FIGARO word for statistics on an area of an image

SKYSUB

Defines sky from several intervals on a 2d spectrum, extracts object spectrum, subtracts scaled sky

(see FIGARO manual for other useful words)

Cookbook Batch Flattening

DFLAT

Batch flattening word for direct images

SFLAT

Batch flattening word for spectroscopic images

Problems

READY

Resets CCD controller to READY status

SECDEL

Deletes global section, use only if READY fails to work

Appendix A

FHH's memo on dewar properties.

Appendix B

List of Key Prefixes for File Names Denoting Exposure Types

File name is A123F.dst, where ``A'' is a one letter code from the list below, and ``F'' is the first letter of the filter identifier.

C CONSEC (average of sequence of consecutive exposures)

D Frame flattened with DFLAT

F FOCUS

K KEEP

M MULTIPLE

P Frames flattened with SFLAT

S SNAP, STARTALL or EXPOSE

T SCAN