README web version of /home/usg/OPS/MTS/readme_xml/readme_82501100

Principal Investigator Email Address

• Ansgar.Reiners@phys.uni-goettingen.de

Estimated Total Execution Time (hours, including overheads)

• 5

General Description

• This is a program to observe a companion candidate of Fomalhaut. Fomalhaut
   has JKH~1.2mag and should be put behind the coronagraph. We submit 6 OBs of one
   hour length that are identical. They consist of acquisition, 8 (7 in Fomalhaut-4)
   exposures, one rotation of the FOV, 7 exposures, another rotation, and 7 exposures
   again. 
  Rotation is required in order to facilitate sky subtraction and identify the planet
   companion with respect to detector/instrumental effects.
  
  Individual exposure times are 3s in Fowler readout mode, which means that we will
   be background limited at the estimated magnitude of the companion candidate (K~22mag).
    This has the consequence that the detector region around the coronagraph will be
   saturated. This is no problem for our observations. 
  We know that this is not a standard procedure, which is why we asked for visitor
   mode for our program. We hope that ESO can follow this plan in service mode.

Waiver Requests

• No Waiver Request was submitted

Critical Observing Condition Constraints

• N/A

Time-Critical Aspects

• N/A

Special Execution Requirements

• Strategy:
  Place the bright star (Fomalhaut, VJHK~1.2mag) behind the 1.4"
  corospot. Within one OB of 1h, 3 blocks with slightly different
  roation angle (achieved with all_obs_rotate +20deg and another
  +15deg, hence +35deg total for the last block) will be taken
  (see finding chart). Images are written every 1 min (DIT 3s,
  NDIT=20). No sky frames are taken (NEXP_SKY=0).
  
  Caution:
  (1) Fomalhaut will saturate the detector around the maks. This
  is no problem and should be acceptable.
  The following should give a feeling for the level of saturation:
  In another project, Alpha Pavo was observed in a similar fashion (1.4" coro, 2s
   DIT,
  double read mode) under very good conditions (0.5" DIMM seeing).
  The speckles at the rim of the mask reached 8000 counts, an average
  value was 3000 in a narrow region around the mask.
  Given that Fomalhaut is ~1.5 mag brighter in Ks and we observe
  1.5 times longer (DIT=3s), we expect a factor of 6.2 higher flux,
  i.e., peak counts of 50000 ADU (600000e-) and an average
  value around the rim of the mask of 19000 ADU (230000e-). 
  With the full well depth of the detector in Fowler Mode at a DIT of 3s, being
  about 5000 ADU, we expect a region of about 0.5"-1.0" in radius around
  the mask to be substantially saturated.
  
  (2) The telescope spider must not coincide with the expected
  position of the companion (PA 318deg) during acquisition and
  must not cross its position during the runtime of the OB!
  Hence the position of the spider and its direction of movement
  have to be checked at acqusition. The OB should not be
  executed when the spider is, or is to be expected, to cross the
  position of the companion. 
  The rotation of the field during the OB is not critical for this, since
  the FOV incl. the spiders rotate and the relative alignment
  stays the same.
  
  (3) Since pupil tracking is not available for SM, make sure
  that the halo of Fomalhaut does not extend out to the position
  of the companion. The raw frames should have typical background 
  counts at the position of the companion. 
  This potential problem is another reason why originally we requested visitor mode.
  In service mode, please monitor the extension of the halo. If it extends
  out to the position of the companion candidate, please shorten the 
  exposure times to 2s, and take 30 NDITS instead of 20 NDITS in all 
  three coro templates of each OB.

Special Calibration Information

• no special calibrations

ToO Information

• no ToO

ToO Activators List

• no ToO

Is this a Pre-imaging run ?

• false

Pre-imaging Requirements

• N/A

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 PSF reference star OBs, do the names of those OBs begin with
 PSF_ ?

• N/A

If there are Finding Charts attached to your OBs, is the field-of-view
 of at least one of these charts 2' x 2' (with clearly labelled field orientation)
 ?

• YES

Have you clearly marked and labelled your wavefront reference objects
 R1, R2, R3, ... (as specified in the NAOS Preparation Software) on your Finding
 Charts ?

• YES

Have you specified the magnitude of the brightest object in the field-of-view
 for each OB ?

• YES

Are there objects in any of your fields (including standard stars) which
 are brighter than the limits specified in the User Manual and on NACO web Pages
 ?

• N/A

If the previous answer is yes, have you given a list of OBs and a justification
 for the brightness limit violation in the general description field ?

• N/A