March 2023 Chile Trip, Elana

March 1, 2023

Anemometer + Differential temperature probe

Started both our anemometer and our temperature probe for 48 hour measurements.  Anemometer computer had to be restarted.

DIMSUM

Can turn on camera (at least, red light flashes), but can't take a picture manually. Also can't access menus, etc.

SD card has 255 gb free out of 256 gb - checked it on my Macbook.

When I returned the SD card to the camera I could then take images manually.

 I can also connect with EOS utility. the number of remaining exposures - or whatever that number refers to, is 1271.

I took one picture with EOS utility, the number dropped from 1271 to 1270 for a moment, then went back up to 1271. I took a second picture and it dropped to 1270 permanently.

I took two more pictures and again the first time it dropped to 1269 and then went back up to 1270, and then it dropped to 1269 permanently with the second shot.

Looking at the images I can download from the camera through EOS utility, it seems like two of the four images are still saved on the camera. However, all 4 did download successfully to my computer.

However, after taking a number of additional pictures the number still went down (to 1267) but there were no additional images saved on the computer. 

Tried a new SD card that is also 256 gb. It didn't change the number from 1267.

Reconnected camera to mac mini. Here on eos utility the number is just 235. However, when I change the saving location from Downloads to LaCie (the external disk) it's 9999! So that's the issue there. We should be fine if we keep transferring to LaCie.

When running the gphoto2 code the camera is recognized and the shutter clicks but then the program just hangs there even after restarting.

The image is on the camera but it doesn't properly download.

Fixed the problem - I needed to change from single shot in EOS utility to high speed mode.

So this now mostly works... Tomorrow I will try to set up the DIMSUM properly.

Observing

Got a harness and properly fitted it. 

March 2, 2023

Got additional training on wearing a harness. Also got a lot of training on how to do observing with LATISS and LOVE, how to keep a night log, how to do daytime checkout with AuxTel, etc. 

Observing with AuxTel went okay. The goal was to take quadnotch data with three blue/white stars. Erik wanted to use the scheduler the whole time, which was successful but also threw in targets we didn't want. We weren't able to do focus sweeps with the holographic disperser because we don't yet have a script for that, but Erik volunteered to make one in time for the AuxTel run in two weeks. For twilight flats, Erik said we've taken them before but no one has figured out how to ingest them or do anything with them. This is something to discuss at the JTM meeting in two weeks.

Main telescope observations were less successful. All the fuses in the capacitor bank blew last night, and we only have 19 to replace the 40 that are gone. Thus, Friday night observations have also been canceled. However, we were still planning on doing some rotator tests but an emergency stop was on. We found (after much searching) the correct E-stop, which was not on, and reset it. However, that did not solve the problem because, as we found out a couple hours later, Tekniker had faked an E-stop with their software and we don't have a way to remove it ourselves. Thus, it will be fixed in the morning, perhaps.

DIMSUM

Confirmed that the flash is working and changed batteries on the transmitter and receiver. Unfortunately, I did not have time to put the setup back together.

March 3, 2023

DIMSUM

Started putting setup back together and doing alignment.

March 6, 2023

DIMSUM

Completed putting setup back together. Sources appear in focus in images.

I also added a line to CommunicateTrial.sh to command it to wait as long as we want between bursts. However, there's an issue that with the saving of the files. Specifically, not all files get saved and downloaded to the computer. By waiting between bursts, the files downloaded are sequential, at least, but about 7 files are skipped and stay on the camera each run. They could be manually downloaded later, but that's still annoying. 7*20 MB * 60 * 24 = 201.6 GB if we take one burst every minute, and we don't want to have to download that every time (we do have a 256 GB memory card, so it could work in theory, though). But even without those 7 images we do have 15 or so sequential images that get downloaded each burst.

March 7, 2023

DIMSUM

Moved sources so they are now all within the field of view. PSFs still don't look good, but not worse than they've been historically in Chile. I also went back out of burst mode on gphoto2, so we're at the original number of pictures taken. That means we get ~8-10 photos downloaded per burst, and 2 that stay on the camera. This means we should be fine for a 24 hour observation session.

March 10, 2023

DIMSUM

Set up the DIMSUM to take data for 24 hours of observing. Did alignment, etc. One burst every 10 minutes. Did a half night of observing with the AOS team (until around 3). Next day I downloaded the additional files from that day that were still stored on the camera.

March 14, 2023

DIMSUM

Set up for 24 more hours of DIMSUM data. 10 minutes between bursts. Didn't do a realignment but PSFs seem okay. Had to change out the batteries in the flash receiver, but the flash transmitter battery was still at full.

March 15, 2023

DIMSUM

Set up for 22 more hours of DIMSUM data so I can do a final realignment before the tours come to AuxTel tomorrow. Now just 5 minutes between bursts.

March 15, 2023

DIMSUM

At  ~11:30, stopped the data taking. Did a slight realignment (not sure it improved the PSF much) and then downloaded everything onto a different external SSD. Will take that with me. Set measurements for another 24 hour, to the end of the AuxTel observing run.