Some specific details to make note of include:
- Detector -- detpars.detname should be either mmtbluechan or mmtredchan.
- Instrument -- instrpars.instrname should be either mmtbluechan or mmtredchan. To disable lamp control set this to either mmtbluechannolamps or mmtredchannolamps. Lamp control is enabled by selecting 'SCCS' with the switch in the lower right corner of the observer's paddle.
- Lamp Control -- instrpars.complamp is used to set
the lamp(s) you want to turn on, but to avoid confusion
we highly recommend you leave it set to the empty string
(instrpars.complamp="") and allow the various ccdacq
tasks prompt for it. The names are case sensitive and delimited
by '/'. Order is not important. The names are:
HeAr/Ne/ThAr/FeNe/HgCd/BC/DC/ET
DC = Dim Continuum
BC = Bright Continuum
ET = Etalon
Set complamp to the empty string ("") and run instrument to turn off the lamps. This is done automatically by the ccdacq tasks comps and compflats. The comparision mirror will be inserted or removed when necessary. The exposure will not start until the mirror is in position. The comps and compflats tasks provide extra checks to make sure lamps are turned off after exposures are done so we recommend you use them to take comparison and flat-field images, respectively. - Spectrograph Control -- ccdacq parameter values are the same as what shows up in the GUI, but with troublesome characters removed (e.g. blank and double-quote). For example, the 1.0" x 180" slit would be specified as 1.0x180. Specify upper and lower filter values (in that order) in instrfilters delimited by a '/'. The tiltpos value is specified as the hardware grating angle which the GUI reports as 'Grating Angle'. Values are case sensitive.
- Telescope -- telpars.telname should be mmt.
- Spectrograph Focus -- lampfocuses is used to focus the MMT Spectrograph. lampfocuses.nexpo should be set to the number of focus frames to be obtained. lampfocuses.fstart should be set to the starting DVM focus value (generally around 3.0-3.5). lampfocuses.fdelta should be set to the focus increment (generally 0.1). lampfocuses.exptime should be set to the desired exposure time. lampfocuses.complamp should be set as described above for the comparison lamps (HeAr/Ne for HeNeAr). The filenames begin with "focus".