Observations with AMBER General overview P 2 VM

Observations with AMBER § General overview § P 2 VM § OB preparation with P 2 PP • P 2 PP / OB / templates • Available templates for observation procedure • Typical standard OB • Outputs : FITS files § Guidelines for AMBER observations

General overview VLTI Proposal ACCEPTED P 2 PP parameters for observation sequence Phase 2 Proposal Preparation control telescopes ARAL finito delay lines … AMBER BOB Broker for sends Observation Blocks (OBs) execute templates AMBER software opto-mechanics detector FITS files

P 2 VM § § Pixel to visibility matrix Needed to calibrate data Destroyed by spectral instrument configuration modifications May be time consuming SENSITIVE POINT: precautions have been taken, all over the observation procedure • to avoid loss of P 2 VM validity due to unfortunate handling • to allow new P 2 VM calculation if necessary or required

OB preparation with P 2 PP (1) P 2 PP / OB / templates § P 2 PP • Phase 2 Proposal Preparation • Graphical tool to prepare Observation Blocks (OB) § OB • Unitary entity for P 2 PP • Sequence constituted of several templates • Constraints: − an OB should contain at least an acquisition template and an observation template − only one object by OB (for the moment) § Template • Set of files: parameter + reference + script files • Get astronomer’s input parameters • Actions sequence

OB preparation with P 2 PP (2) P 2 PP / OB / templates astronomer’s input parameters via P 2 PP OB template 1 actions template 2 actions template 3 actions OB realisation … template n actions

OB preparation with P 2 PP (3) Available templates for observation procedure § Acquisition template • VLTI preset • P 2 VM check/realisation • AMBER setup • VLTI preset/guiding status check § Image optimisation template • Flux centering on optical fiber heads with ARAL • For each beam, automatic or manual alignment § Flux injection optimisation template • Flux optimisation on optical fiber heads with AMBER detector • Finito injection optimisation, if finito is used as fringe sensor

OB preparation with P 2 PP (4) Available templates for observation procedure § Fringes search template • P 2 VM validity check • Fringes tracking with finito, if finito is used as fringe sensor • AMBER fringe search • Fringes centering, if fringes have been found § Observation template • P 2 VM validity check • Check for fringes, if finito is used • Dark exposure cycle • Object exposure cycle • Sky exposure cycle, if required

OB preparation with P 2 PP (5) Typical standard OB OB example in 3 T mode OB AMBER_3 Tstd_acq AMBER_3 T_cal_imgopt AMBER_3 T_cal_injadj AMBER_3 T_cal_frnsrc AMBER_3 Tstd_obs_1 row acquisition image optimisation Flux injection optimisation fringes search observation

OB preparation with P 2 PP (6) Outputs : FITS files OB example in 3 T mode OB AMBER_3 Tstd_acq AMBER_3 T_cal_imgopt AMBER_3 T_cal_injadj AMBER_3 T_cal_frnsrc AMBER_3 Tstd_obs_1 row column adjustment 1 file + spectral calibration 4 files + P 2 VM 10 files if fringe contrast SNR calculation is done from images, after each OPD step 1 file dark Nd files Nd * NDITd frames + object Nobj files Nobj * NDITobj frames + Sky, if required Ns files Ns * NDITs frames

Guidelines for AMBER observations § Save observation time minimizing • telescopes pointing changes telescopes movements • instrumental configuration changes motors movements / P 2 VM § Possibility to increase detector read-out speed • to fix turbulence • by limiting detector read-out window size detector read window size Û read pixel number Û minimum DIT (Detector Integration Time)