CFHT, Instruments, QSO, ESPaDOnS

Queued Service Observing with
ESPaDOnS: an Echelle SpectroPolarimetric Device
for the Observation of Stars at CFHT



ESPaDOnS webpage
News ESPaDOnS in Classical Observing Mode
Characteristics and Performances Other relevant documents


Observing with ESPaDOnS in Queued Service Observing (QSO) Mode

Since Semester 2008A, ESPaDOnS observations are carried in Queued Service Observations mode only.

Starting with semester 2010B, CFHT is using a new proposal submission system, called NorthStar.
Please familiarize yourself with NorthStar well in advance of the deadline!

In QSO mode, PIs who have had their proposal accepted by the TAC fill in PH2 all their observing information before the beginning of the semester: target coordinates, Observing Mode (spectroscopy or polarimetry), length of each observation, airmass or Image Quality constraints, etc.

During an ESPaDOnS QSO run, the Queue Coordinator prepares possible queues (scenarios) for the coming night, taking into account the ranking of the various programs, the RA of the targets, etc. At night, trained Remote Observers carry out the observations depending on the sky conditions (Image Quality, clouds, Moon, etc.). All the exposures taken are first evaluated by the Remote Observer at night, and a final evaluation is done the next morning by the Queue Coordinator.

The instrument configuration, spectrograph focus, telescope focus, guider setup, and all the necessary calibrations (biases, comparison lamp exposures, flat field exposures, Fabry-Perot exposures) are executed by the Remote Observer. Data reduction is performed by CFHT's reduction pipeline Upena, which is based on Donati's reduction package Libre-ESpRIT.

Detailed instructions for Phase 1 Proposal Submission (NorthStar) are available here. PIs who are writing proposals should first read the document How QSO works at CFHT , which explains QSO observations, the types of QSO programs accepted, calibrations, sky conditions, etc. The Phase 1 ESPaDOnS document gives more specific instructions related to ESPaDOnS.

Additional and complimentary information is presented in this page.

ESPaDOnS is an instrument that has 3 Observing Modes, all offered in QSO mode:

There are also 3 CCD readout modes offered in QSO mode, with different gains, readout noises, and readout times. The XSlow mode is not offered in QSO mode.

Each exposure covers 40 orders from 3700Å to 10500Å (with 3 very small gaps: 9224-9234Å, 9608-9636Å, 10026-10074Å).

Exposure times which saturate the detectors are listed on the Saturation page.


http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/Instruments/Spectroscopy/Espadons/
This CFHT Web page is maintained by Nadine Manset (manset -=AT=- cfht.hawaii.edu)