OPENING THE PERKINS
Revised March 09, 2011
For more complete instructions, see the Perkins Observer’s Quick-Start Guide in the 3-ring binder near the MOVE and saturn workstations in this control room. It is also available at
Boston University Instrument Documentation.
There you will also find a Quick-Start Guide for LOIS, the instrument control program that runs most of the instruments here.
1. Turn on the main telescope power at the floor console. | |
2. Turn on the LCD, guider and boresight monitors. | |
3. Bring up MOVE o Hit G for Guider o <CR> after the Guider Initialization o <CR> for Dome Initialization, do the coast if first night or significant temperature change. o <CR> to finalize the startup. If the telescop.sav file is missing see the Documentation. | |
4. Shut off the main overhead lights before opening dome. | |
5. Open dome slit by holding the “Open” button. | |
6. Open the mirror covers. | |
7. Open the instrument cover, OC on the Move Computer | |
8. Turn on fans (muffin, 2 cyclones, warm room hallway) if desired. | |
9. Fill the instrument dewar (CCD) if needed. | |
10. Check that the area around the telescope is CLEAR. Move any ladders, liquid nitrogen supplies, etc. out of the way. A safe place is the E or W sides of the N pier. |
CLOSING THE PERKINS
Revised March 09, 2011
1. Refill instrument dewar (CCD) if necessary. | |
2. Turn off fans (muffin, 2cyclones, hallway) if they were used. | |
3. Close the instrument cover, CC on the MOVE computer. | |
4. Close the mirror covers. | |
5. Close dome slit by holding the “Close” button. | |
6. Exit out of MOVE with a QU. IMPORTANT! | |
7. Turn off the LCD, guider and boresight monitors. | |
8. Turn off the Main Telescope Power on the floor console. | |
9. Make sure all lights are off. | |
10. Make sure all heaters are off. | |
11. Be sure to lock two doors on your way out: the one to the stairs up to the observing floor, and the door to the outside. |
Several ways to keep bad things from happening:
1. Watch the telescope when it’s moving! In the last ~10 years, the instrument has hit the RA motor three times. While it hasn’t happened (yet) it can also hit the north pier.
2. Make sure that the liquid nitrogen supplies (one of the large refill dewars) are not connected to the instrument before moving the telescope! One observer forgot this and dragged the dewar off the floor, breaking connections in the process.
3. Make sure that everything is CLEAR from the floor and that the observing floor is DOWN!
4. Turn off the heat when you leave, except in the bathroom, which should be set to 1 with the fan on when you leave during the winter. If you do not then you will be heating the dome and destroying the next nights seeing as it will take longer for the temperatures to equilibrate.