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| Paper: |
Cone of Darkness: Finding Blank-sky Positions for Multi-object Wide-field Observations |
| Volume: |
485, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXIII |
| Page: |
95 |
| Authors: |
Lorente, N. P. F. |
| Abstract: |
We present the Cone of Darkness, an application to automatically
configure blank-sky positions for a series of stacked, wide-field
observations, such as those carried out by the SAMI instrument on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). The Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral
field spectrograph (SAMI) uses a plug-plate to mount its 13×61
core imaging fibre bundles (hexabundles) in the optical plane at the
telescope's prime focus. To make the most efficient use of each
plug-plate, several observing fields are typically stacked to produce a
single plate. When choosing blank-sky positions for the observations it
is most effective to select these such that one set of 26 holes gives
valid sky positions for all fields on the plate. However, when carried
out manually this selection process is tedious and includes a
significant risk of error. The Cone of Darkness software aims to provide
uniform blank-sky position coverage over the field of observation,
within the limits set by the distribution of target positions and the
chosen input catalogs. This will then facilitate the production of the
best representative median sky spectrum for use in sky subtraction. The
application, written in C++, is configurable, making it usable for a
range of instruments. Given the plate characteristics and the positions
of target holes, the software segments the unallocated space on the
plate and determines the position which best fits the uniform
distribution requirement. This position is checked, for each field,
against the selected catalog using a TAP ADQL search. The process is
then repeated until the desired number of sky positions is attained. |
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