README web version of /home/usg/OPS/MTS/readme_xml/readme_77066606

Principal Investigator Email Address

• dante@astro.puc.cl

Estimated Total Execution Time (hours, including overheads)

• 4 hours

General Description

• R-band Photometric observations of a planetary transit. Warning, the HR
   collimator is used.  We have selected 2 possible observing dates: June 18/19 and
   June 22/23. Time intervals have been set in the OBs (see also Time critical aspects).
   The duration of the full sequence of OBs is about 4 hours.
  
  An occulting bar is used for blocking the light of a nearby bright star and thus
   avoid heavy saturation => MOS acquisition. The fims configuration has already
   been used a while ago and no acquisition problems were reported by the night astronomer.
   We do not need an extra-accurate MOS alignment. Just make sure that the bright star
   is well vignetted and that the main  target (clearly marked in the 2 attached finding
   charts) is not. 10 reference stars have been specified in the FIMS config file.
   If necessary, ref. stars with poor astrometry can be discarded (in principle, one
   ref. star should be sufficient in our case).  The acquisition/alignment only needs
   to be done once at the beginning of the sequence (acquisition templates can be skipped
   afterwards). The LADC should be resetted from time to time as long as sec(z) is
   lower the 1.5. 
  
  The support astronomer shoud check the obtained counts and adjust the exposure times/number
   of exposures if necessary (see special execution requirements).

Waiver Requests

• Waiver 177.c-0666G.002.wav: we have requested the authorization for executing
   OBs (or sequence of OBs) longer than 1 hour. This waiver was approved on June 4th
   2007.

Critical Observing Condition Constraints

• At the beginning of the sequence, the following constraints must be matched:
    seeing<1.5'' clear skies (thin clouds are OK if at low altitude) 
  If the conditions get clearly out of constraints during the first hour, please stop
   the sequence. If conditions degrade after the 1st hour, please continue the sequence
   except if they become really bad (seeing>2'' and/or thick clouds).

Time-Critical Aspects

• The planetary transits we plan to measure can be observed during the following
   nights:  June  06/07 2007 (1st choice) June 18/19 2007 (2nd choice) June 22/23 2007
   (3rd choice).
  
  -UT intervals are the following (also specified in the OBs)  
  2007-06-18T23:30:00 -> 2007-06-19T03:30:00 (4h00 inside astronomical night)
  2007-06-22T23:20:00 -> 2007-06-23T03:20:00 (4h00 inside astronomical night)
  
  The transit duration is about 3h30. The intervals above include 30min of out-of-transit
   measurements.
  
  
  -Transit times (+/- 5 minutes accuracy)
  
  Night       1st contact       Mid-transit       4th contact
  -----       -----------       -----------       -----------
  June 18/19  2007-06-19T00:01  2007-06-19T01:45  2007-06-19T03:29
  June 22/23  2007-06-22T23:31  2007-06-23T01:16  2007-06-23T03:00

Special Execution Requirements

• Exposure times have been set to 25 seconds in all the observing templates.
   This value value is fine for clear skies and a seeing between 0.8 and 1 arcsec.
   The support astronomer should check the counts of our target. Ideally, we would
   like to obtain a flux at peak of 30000 ADUs (background+target). Exposure times
   have to be adapted to the conditions. In clear conditions, the following exposure
   times have to be used:
  
  seeing < 0.6''          exptime = 10 sec
  0.6 <= seeing <  0.8''  exptime = 15 sec
  0.8 <= seeing <  1.0''  exptime = 25 sec
  1.0 <= seeing <= 1.5''  exptime = 45 sec  
  
  In any case:  
  -avoid to change the exposure time too often: do not modify exptime if conditions
   change but the peak flux remains between 15000 and 30000 ADUs
  -min exposure time: 10 sec 
  -max exposure time: 90 sec (in case of bad seeing + thin clouds)

Special Calibration Information

• ---(Empty)---

ToO Information

• ---(Empty)---

ToO Activators List

• ---(Empty)---

Is this a Pre-imaging run ?

• false

Pre-imaging Requirements

• ---(Empty)---

Source(s) of Pre-imaging

• ---(Empty)---

Pre-imaging sources not listed above

• ---(Empty)---

Do all your OBs comply with the instrument-specific requirements listed
 on the instrument-specific Phase 2 web page ?

• YES

If this is a pre-imaging run, did you select PRE-IMAGING for the Observing
 Category for each Observing Template ?

• N/A

Do all your finding charts comply with both the general and instrument-specific
 Phase 2 Web Pages ?

• YES

If you submitted OBs for standard stars, did you specify the magnitude
 and spectral type of all standard stars in the OBs ?

• N/A

Have you included OBs for any calibrations that you need but which are
 not part of the Calibration Plan ?

• N/A

If you are observing Moving Targets, have you attached suitable ephemeris
 files to your OBs?

• N/A

If you have preferences which OBs should be executed first, did you make
 use of the User Priority field in the OBs ?

• N/A

If this is a run that requires coordinated observations with other facilities,
 did you give proper instructions in the Time-Critical Aspects Section ?

• N/A

If you have prepared your finding charts with tools other than FIMS,
 do they comply with the specifications on the FORS1 Phase 2 web page ?

• YES