Engineering 2012MayJun

Computer OSes

• May 27: Debian Lenny source packages were moved to archive.debian.org. FB updated the packages to reflect this.

• May 27: aptitude on wolverine found more than 65535 (16bit limit) packages to update, causing a bug. FB updated the apt cache size, then updated the distribution source by source.

• May 27: current status = we have the final versions of all Debian Lenny packages (gcc 4.3.2, python 2.5.2, pygtk 2.12.1, gtk 2.12.12)

• May 28: also upgraded lothlorien to ease work on CHAMP

CHAMP -- hardware

• May 26: Larry started pumping CHAMP

• May 27: vacuum ~ 2e-3

• May 28: vacuum reached 1.0e-3, so not quite ready for pumping.

• May 29: CHAMP cool, pressure ~7e-7

• May 29: Despite attempts to reproduce hardware crashes/freezes from last run, none have happened so far.

CHAMP -- software

• May 28: fixed CVS that had been erased from ctrscrut due to a HDD failure in Jan/Feb. Fixed all memory leaks on spooler and astropci reported by cppcheck, especially realloc issues. Reintroduced star info and uv info to spooler, hopefully compatible with CHARA libraries (tests TBD).

• May 29: worked on spooler code, now fully functional, i.e. star + uv info (though this uses partially the old method). Tried unsuccessfully to reproduce the "negative ftnum bug".

• May 30: cleaned up a lot of the python code and debug of automatic calibration -- would need consecutive spots to fully try.

• May 31: continued Pico automatic calibration and automatic spiral search. Spot detection routine not robust yet but spiral search works on single spot. Made backup of code + added to CVS the new spooler code.

• Jun 1-2 : been working on the aligment GUI, fixed many bugs, see

https://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/intra/research/monnier/internal/index.php/CHAMP_bugs_to_fix

• Jun 2-12: code for new pzts, cophasing with MIRC (see below).

• Jun 12: W1(B1)-W2(B2), ref= W1, delay line fringes W1: 2.200000m, W2: 2.007073, gain is +0.25 on B1B2 to track fringes.

Thresholding tests:

• lowering SLtoS threshold at 2-3 instead of 4 helps to not loose weak fringes.

Final final cophasing of MIRC+CHAMP with CHARA

Work on June 10, 2012 (JDM/XC)

REFS: MIRC IR6 87750, CHAMP IR6 is not adjustable

BEAMS RETRO MIRC CHAMP

5&6 5.720 mm IR5: 55250 IR5: 136685

4&5 5.841 mm IR4: 84450 IR4: 146754

3&4 5.375 mm IR3: 58262 IR3: 155554

2&3 5.940 mm IR2: 77030 IR2: 171589

1&2 5.024 mm IR1: 68580 IR1: 179630

6&1 DL below ---- BC: 44300

DL: W1(B1)-W2(B6), W1:1.00000m, W2:1.222532m

Starting 5:07pm

Prep: Homing RETRO

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BEAM 5-6

MIRC Quality Control checks

Beam 5: 66 cts peak / 732 cts, FWHM 7.6 mu (Fluxes here are xchan / fringe quad)

Beam 6: 51 cts peak / 642 cts, FWHM 7.1 mu

FRINGES (VIS~90%, very little dispersion):

ir5 67750, ir 6 87750, retro 4.723.

Goal: FIX IR6 87750, RETRO 5.720mm, adjust IR5: 55250 (CALIBRATION: 12.5 microns IR% per 10 microns of RETRO)

CHAMP alignment:

Beam5 image quality is great.

Beam5 R6 comment says "image clean" but actually two spots. I will choose bottom one (top one seems to lead to failure)

Beam6 L6 image looks very elongated... vignetting? ugh.

Looking for fringes... FOUND: champ IR5 136685, RETRO 5.720

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BEAM 4-5

MIRC Quality Control checck

Beam 4: 85 cts peak / 950 cts, FWHM 6.7 mu (Fluxes here are xchan / fringe quad)

Beam 5: 75 cts peak / 860 cts, FWHM 6.6 mu

Fringes (vis ~ 70%, detectable but small dispersion)!: MIRC-IR4: 84450, RETRO 5.841

CHAMP Alignment:

Problems getting all spots to overlap. It hink the soluiont was to choose different spot for B5 R5... champ ir4: 146754, RETRO 5.841

finished 6:45pm

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BEAM 3-4

MIRC Quality Control checck

Beam 3: 130 cts peak / 1240 cts, FWHM 7.9 mu (Fluxes here are xchan / fringe quad)

Beam 4: 65 cts peak / 770 cts, FWHM 7.7 mu

FRINGES!: (VIS~60%, no obvious dispersion) MIRC IR3: 58262 RETRO 5.375

CHAMP FRINGS: CHAMP IR3: 155554 RETRO 5.375

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BEAM 2-3

MIRC Quality Control checck

Beam 2: 110 cts peak / 1200 cts, FWHM 6.5 mu (Fluxes here are xchan / fringe quad)

Beam 3: 107 cts peak / 1180 cts, FWHM 7.5 mu

FRINGES!: (VIS~90%, most dispersion so far...) MIRC IR2: 77030 RETRO 5.940

CHAMP FRINGE: CHAMP IR2: 171589 RETRO 5.94

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BEAM 1-2

MIRC Quality Control checck

Beam 1: 98 cts peak / 1250 cts, FWHM 6.9 mu (Fluxes here are xchan / fringe quad)

Beam 2: 113 cts peak / 1100 cts, FWHM 7.7 mu

FRINGES!: (VIS~85%, little dispersion....) MIRC IR1: 68580 RETRO 5.024

CHAMP FRINGE: CHAMP IR1: 179630 RETRO 5.94

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BEAM 6-1

Delay line fringes on W1(B1)-W2(B6) with W1 at 1.000000 m and W2 at 1.222532 m.

MIRC IR1 68580, IR6 87750

CHAMP BC: 44300 (-1000 on BC is equivalent to +50 um on W2)

Nightly Log

• UT June 8, 2012

got lab fringes on beams 1,2

got sky fringes on beams 1,2 (w1-s2).

mirc found fringes with S2 at 5.8mm, we had to move s2 to 7.1mm, so a change of 1.3mm (hmmmm?)

but we tooks some data 2012Jun08/champ0001-0002 and later background files.

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• UT June 14, 2012

goal track fringes with CHAMP.

problems: software accumulator for envelope was corrupted by a recent change. spent time tracking that down.

W1 telescope has constant tracking problems between 30-42 degrees or so. frustrating.

MIRC found fringes on one CAL but not on MWC 631 (except one cross fringe).

Now trying to get fringes on a new cal.

MWC361 had about 50 counts at 250Hz. but coudln't find fringes

problems with tracking W1 and S1.

12:15am

Now going to a cal that is closer to mwc 361: hd 205776

MIRC is tracking fringes fine. CHAMP found fringes for champ IR4: 147084 IR5: 136845. BC: 44660 IR1: 179550

GAINS: BC1 +0.25, BC2: -0.25 BC3: +0.25, BC4: -0.25, BC5: +0.25, BC6: -0.25

MIRC: 00291 champ 0004-005.. SHUTTERS: mirc 309->408

champ is taking data during shutters.. will have to sort this out! at 0006-> 0040 or something.

note: W1 was not tweaked at all so the fluxes will not be representative of performance except E2W2 were optimized.

hd 200775

W1 tracking fine above 41 m.

mirc is optimizing.

MIRC: S2 5.89 E1 2.38 E2 1.92 W1 1.25 W2 ref S1 XX

FT offsets: BC1 -.325 BC2 BC3 XX BC4 XX BC5 .209 BC6 .060

We found fringes between W2-W1, e1-e2, e2-w2.. but not for w1-s2. We

We could never find S2-W1 fringes. not sure why. we found on calibrator but could not find on mwc 361. probably too resolved !!

taking shutter sequence.. mirc data + champ (champ0081=>).

plan is to next re-optimize fluxes and search for fringes on mirc.

note -- signal on L2 was VERY WEAK.. maybe alignment? beam 6 L1 also weak

maybe mwc 361 is resolved W1-S2 baseline... try another option?

Switching S1 <-> S2

back on sky. we changed pops too .

3:43am. peaking up on the

found fringes on cal. found fringes on mwc361 but NOT S2-E1 .. no fringes again . BC1: -0.756 BC2 XX BC3 XX BC4 (cal) -1.071 BC5 -0.023 BC6 0.227

but no S2-E1 fringes... mwc 361 fringes must be too weak for long baselines!

we took 250Hz data champ 0165-182 as a test to see if its better to go slower. so we are taking more data at 125Hz. 70mu scans weres saturateda bout 3/4 of the way through on mwc361 (k=4.6) -- so not too practical.

(sorry these logs are bad -- but wiki logs suck and I am tired...!)