CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science
ATCA Users Guide
Preface
this Guide
Conventions
(1) The Australia Telescope Compact Array
/1./The Australia Telescope Compact Array
/1.1/The Australia Telescope National Facility
/1.2/Overview of the ATCA
/1.3/Centimetre Observations (16–3 cm bands)
/1.4/Millimetre-wave observations (15mm–3mm)
/1.5/Choosing an Observing Frequency
/1.6/Choosing Angular and Frequency Resolution
/1.7/Additional Observing Notes and Techniques
/1.8/High Time Resolution, Pulsars, Planets and VLBI
/1.9/Other Things to Consider
/1.10/Submitting a proposal
/1.11/Successful Proposals
(2) Preparing for Observations
/2./Preparing for Observations
/2.1/Scheduling Strategy
/2.2/Calibration Requirements
/2.3/How to Prepare a Schedule File
/2.4/How to Prepare a Mosaic File
/2.5/Observation Requirements
/2.6/Pre-observation Checklist
(3) Observing
/3./Observing
/3.1/Changeover
/3.2/Setting up
/3.3/Observing
/3.4/Troubleshooting
/3.5/cm Observing Startup Checklist
/3.6/mm Observing Startup Checklist
(4) After your Observations
/4./After your Observations
/4.1/Archiving Your Data
/4.2/Report Your Experiences
/4.3/Data Analysis
/4.4/Publishing Results
(A) caobs reference
/A./caobs reference
/A.1/Using caobs
(B) cacor reference
/B./cacor reference
/B.1/Cacor Status Panel
/B.2/Cacor Data Panel
/B.3/Cacor Timing Panel
/B.4/Cacor Log Panel
/B.5/Cacor Command Panel
/B.6/Cacor Commands
(C) SPD reference
/C./SPD reference
/C.1/Introduction to SPD
/C.2/SPD Commands
(D) vis
/D./vis
/D.1/VIS Commands
(E) Web Scheduler
/E./Web Scheduler
/E.1/Scheduler Fields
/E.2/Scheduler Actions
(F) Observatory Coordinates
/F./Observatory Coordinates
/F.1/Site Location
/F.2/Station Locations
(G) ATCA Configurations
/G./ATCA Configurations
/G.1/Array Configurations
/G.2/Shadowing Diagrams
(H) People to contact
/H./People to contact
 Index
[Printable Guide] [Printable Chapter]

3.3 Observing

Once setting up is complete, observations proper can start. Observations need to include calibration data, including data for flux, bandpass, polarisation and gain calibration.

3.3.1 Calibration  
3.3.2 Monitoring  

3.3.1 Calibration

It is important that sufficient calibration data is taken to characterise the array. This means taking flux and bandpass calibration data for all observations, and leakage calibration data for polarisation observations.

This does not have to be done at the start of the observation, but should be done at some point during the observing session. If appropriate calibration sources are not above the horizon during the observing session, contact the scheduler (Phil Edwards) to discuss options.

For cm and 15mm observations, PKS1934-638 is the appropriate flux calibrator and can usually be used as a bandpass calibrator too. For mm observations, a planet is needed for flux calibration (PKS1934-638 can also be used in the 7mm band), and a strong source (e.g. PKS1921-293 or PKS1253-055) is required to calibrate the bandpass.

3.3.2 Monitoring

Users Guide last modified on 2011-04-27 15:49:06