TAO
Tools for Automated Observing
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Introduction
  System requirements
 
Getting Started
  Installation
  Modeling slew times
  Measuring camera
  download times
  Specifying filter
  names and numbers
  Modeling the local
  horizon
  Creating user profiles
  Initializing target
  databases
  Customizing the
  scheduler
 
Daily Operation
  Starting observatory
  control software
  Updating target
  databases
  Generating a list of
  potential targets
  Preparing a list of
  observation requests
  Running the
  scheduler
  Starting scheduled
  observations
 
Image Acquisition with
the MU Script
  Customizing the
  script
  Starting MU
  Sequence of events
  during an observing
  run using MU
 
Timing Refinement
  Collecting timing
  data
  Analyzing timing
  data
  Adjusting the
  empirical timing
  correction
 
Other Tools
  Slew time
  measurement script
  Minor Planet Checker
  query script
  Regression program
 
Etc.
  Software updates
  License agreement
  Contact the author
Getting started



Step 3: Measuring camera download times

This step can be easily performed with the help of a stopwatch: just take several images with your CCD camera, note the time it takes for the camera to download each image, and compute the average download time. If you intend to use your CCD camera at different resolutions, you should determine average download times for each binning factor. Here we will refer to full resolution (unbinned) images as high resolution, to 2 x 2 binned images as medium resolution, and to 3 x 3 binned images as low resolution. Users of large-format chips sometimes take subframes when they don't need to use the full field-of-view. The MU image acquisition script included with TAO implements the option of taking center subframes, which are Nx/2 x Ny/2 pixels in size (where the full detector is Nx x Ny pixels) and whose centers coincide with the center of the full detector. If one intends to use these center subframes, their average download times should also be measured for each camera resolution one intends to use.

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Next: Specifying filter names and numbers



© 1999-2004 Paulo Holvorcem