ToO Handling & Procedures

Introduction

The basic ToO workflow is implemented in a REMEDY scheme "Target of Opportunity". A detailed design and implementation plan is available as a separate document.

Procedures

Shift Leader Tasks

• Periodically (at least once a day) search the Remedy database for newly received and updated ToO tickets. New tickets also arrive as email on the respective telescope email account.
• Verify and validate new trigger requests (activate or reject).
  • In particular, the program must still have some observation time available,
  • the target must match the objects described in the proposal,
  • the request must have been received within the time frame that has been previously arranged - this affects mostly GRB ToOs
  • the ToO cannot override time critical observations. 
• In case the trigger was received only by email, created a new ToO ticket for the corresponding program in the Remedy form, with the information provided by the requester
• Assign an appropriate ToO ftp-transfer account for a valid trigger in the ToO form. If some observations were already performed for that program, re-use the same ftp account
• Make sure that all information is received by the appropriate night astronomer
• Update the Remedy worklog field according to additional email communication with the requester, if applicable

After the observations

• verify that the ftp data transfer has been successful
• Verify that the worklog field is correctly filled with the appropriate nightlog information
• Update the total used time field
• Close the ToO ticket in case the process is completed. Status "Completed" is for those ToOs which have received all the requested observations. "Closed" is for those that have been terminated without observations (e.g. because the observations could not be performed during the requested number of nights).

Night Astronomer Tasks

• At beginning of each night, search the Remedy database for newly received and activated ToO ticket request for observations. They also appear as email on the respective telescope email accounts.
• Identify yourself in the worklog field with the real name of the night astronomer for further reference
• Update the worklog field with the nightlog information automatically by selecting the appropriate OB ID by pressing the "select OB ID" button in the worklog field. The worklog, and the file history field should be updated automatically.
• In case the worklog cannot be updated automatically, cut and paste the relevant nightlog information into the worklog field.
• Report all other relevant information that are necessary (e.g. if, or why an OB has been aborted, etc.)
• Report the time used for execution of the ToO in the field "Time used by this trigger" (decimal format! means 30min is 0.5hours).
• Confirm any updates you make in the Remedy form with "save".
• Verify that all science data files are listed in the "file history" field
• in case frames are missing (eg science or standard star calibration), select them in the field "Additional Files". These files will be updated in the "Filelist".
• Start the ftp by pressing "start ftp"
• Report if any (visitor mode) program was affected in the card "Additional Information" - "Affected Program"

Day Astronomer Tasks

• Identify yourself in the worklog field with the real name of the day astronomer for further reference
• Verify that all science frames have been successfully transferred to the ftp account. The status can be inferred from the "File History" field. If something failed, report it in the worklog field, and re-try the ftp transfer
• Update the worklog field with all information relevant for the calibration data. The information should be typically extracted from the nightlog, once the (day) calibrations have finished
• Add the calibrations frames that need to be transferred in the field "Additional Files". These files will appear updated in the "Filelist".
• start the ftp by pressing "start ftp"

Manual Data Transfer

In case the ftp of science and/or calibration data fails, files should be transferred manually in the following way:

• The ToO accounts are located on the acweb.hq.eso.org (134.171.2.5, aliased also to acj.hq.eso.org), account names are: ls-too01 to ls-too15. The ToO accounts are maintained by DHA/PSO. The passwords can be found at lasilla@kila:~/ToO/accounts.pwd.PNN.  As the passwords are used by the automatic ftp transfer program, they must only be changed by the DHA group.
• To transfer the data from wgXoff to the ToO account on acweb, the ftp session has to be opened using the IP number 134.171.2.5.
• To access the accounts via ssh (for cleaning and changing of passwords) the connection must be opened from any user account on kila.
• Science and calibration data should be stored in subdirectories, referring to the ToO trigger ID, e.g. ToO-0022.
• Update the status in the ToO-Remedy ticket to "data transfer in progress".
• Once the data transfer has been completed, updated the status to "completed".

Workaround to print the finders

• Open TOO-00056 "Click me first". (yes, this is magic)
• Open the ticket for which you want to print the finder
• In target tab, right-click on the finder, and save on disk.
• Print the finder from an xterm
• Redo the whole procedure for each finder.

Bookkeeping

The Remedy data-base perform an accurate tracking and bookkeeping of the times spent for a particular program. The times of several triggers for a given program ID are summed up automatically by the system. The shift leader is in charge to verify that a given program has not exceeded its time limited. There is no need to keep and maintain an additional file (like ToO_Pxxx.txt) on kila.

Visitor Compensations

Send comments to <lasilla[@]eso.org>