Calibrations for spectrometer on the APF

The first calibration performed is a standard instrument focus. Once this is finished, an automated routine takes a set of calibration exposures. There is the standard list of calibrations, or a custom list can be made.

Standard Calibration List

The standard calibration list is below. A set of ThAr lamps are taken for wavelength calibration, along with 40 flat-field exposures to measure the pixel by pixel variations. In addition, a ThAr pinhole exposure is taken to measure the wavelength solution more precisely where the star is expected to land. Two pinhole flat field lamp exposures are acquire to measure the expected trace of the targets. However, it is best to use an actual stellar observation to trace the location. A bright B star in twilight is standard for some programs, and recommended. The flat-fields taken through the standard observing apertures are acquired to measure the edges of the orders for each science exposure.

exp=60 object='ThAr' dark=no lamp=ThAr slit='Pinhole' I2=out count=1

exp=40 object='WideFlat' dark=no lamp=Quartz slit='B' I2=out count=40

exp=1 object='Dark' dark=yes lamp=none slit='B' I2=out count=1

exp=600 object='NarrowFlat' dark=no lamp=Quartz slit='Pinhole' I2=out count=2

exp=20 object='ThAr' dark=no lamp=ThAr slit='W' I2=out count=1

exp=40 object='ThAr' dark=no lamp=ThAr slit='N' I2=out count=1

exp=150 object='Iodine' dark=no lamp=Quartz slit='N' I2=in count=2

exp=75 object='Iodine' dark=no lamp=Quartz slit='W' I2=in count=2

exp=100 object='Dark' dark=yes lamp=none count=2