Exception while trying to load plugin survey.msb.MsbFactory: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: survey.msb.MsbFactorythen go to MsbFactory missing.
This page contains a few characters that Netscape Communicator 4.8 cannot display.
If you view this document in the SDT help window and prefer viewing it in a proper HTML browser you can load it into a browser of your choice instead. The location of this document is sdt/cfg/help/index.html in the SDT distribution. The SDT help display provides only the most basic functionality.
Rectangular areas are defined in terms of two corners and a coordinate system:
x1 y1 x2 y2 coordSysCircular areas are defined in terms of their centre, a radius in degrees and a coordinate system:
x1 y1 radius coordSyswhere
Note that you can not use a space ' ' instead of ':' in H:M:S and D:M:S. ' ' is used as delimiter between the coordinates. If it were better to separate coordinates by a comma and allow ' ' in H M S and D M S instead then this could be changed in future versions of the SDT.
Decimal numbers (e.g. 23.4) are always interpreted as degrees even if they represent the RA in FK5 or FK4. But if RA, Dec are specified as H:M:S D:M:S then the H:M:S is interpreted as hours, i.e. in FK5 and FK4 10:00:00.0 10:00:00 is the same as 150.0 10.0
10:20:30.0 15:00:0.0 11:20:30.0 25:00:0.0 FK5
A tile is excluded from the survey if its "lower right" pointing (i.e. pointing with min RA, min Dec in the tile) is inside a specified excluded rectangle/circle or inside a previously include rectangle/circle.
\ 10:50:30.0 20:00:0.0 11:10:30.0 21:30:0.0 FK5
# Path of the local (binary) installation of the USNO catalog # (or any catalog that uses the USNO binary format plus acceleration files.) # This should point to the directory containing the zone*.cat and zone*.acc files. USNO_DIR= # The SDT will use USNO_DIR_WIN instead of USNO_DIR if it runs under Windows USNO_DIR_WIN=U:\\oxnaMfo\\USNO-A2.0_lt17 # Name under which this catalog should be added to the catalog choice box USNO_NAME=The USNO_NAME corresponds to the "long_name" in catalog defined in skycat.cfg files (see below) and is used in the catalog choice box.
You might have one USNO installation which is accessible from UNIX/Linux as well as Windows but under different path names. Both paths can be specified using USNO_DIR and USNO_DIR_WIN. This means a single SDT installation with one sdt/cfg/sdt.cfg can be used for both UNIX/Linux and Windows. Only their start-up scripts differ: sdt/bin/sdt for UNIX/Linux and sdt/bin/sdt.bat for Windows. There is a description of how to download USNO-A2.0 via ftp but note that due to the limited speed of file access in Java using a locally installed binary USNO catalog is actually slower than using an online GAIA/SkyCat catalog. If there is a demand this can probably be made faster.
# List of catalogs used by JSky/JSkyCat/Skycat/GAIA. # Do not use "~" in the path. jsky.catalog.skycat.config=../cfg/skycat.cfgso that the value of jsky.catalog.skycat.config is the path of the skycat.cfg you want to use.
Click on the "Start" button. Two windows will pop up:
Any changes to the Survey Areas definition in the text box will reset to the SDT and delete all the pointings created. Make sure you save your results before changing the Survey Areas.
By default the 4 WFCAM IR detectors are displayed for each of the pointings.
This can be switched off by setting
WFCAM_FOOTPRINT_DISPLAY=false
in the sdt/cfg/sdt.cfg file.
It is possible that you have to re-start to SDT before this comes into effect.
| green | The entry that is selected as guide star. |
| cyan | Entry in autoguider range and valid. |
| yellow | Entry in autoguider range and invalid. |
| blue | Valid but not in autoguider range. |
| magenta | Not valid and not in autoguider range. |
| ____ | ____ | gray | Normal mode of operation. |
| ____ | ____ | red | No guide star found yet. Backtracking. |
| ____ | ____ | pink | Backtracking was successful. |
| ____ | ____ | red and yellow flash | No guide star found. Backtracking unsuccessful. Leaving this pointing empty. |
AUTOGUIDER_WIDTH = total_autoguider_width - 2√2 max_xy_offset AUTOGUIDER_HEIGHT = total_autoguider_width - 2√2 max_xy_offsetwhere max_xy_offset is the same in both of the above equations. It is the maximum offset (jitter + microstep) from the telescope base position in either x or y (RA or Dec) direction (whichever is greater). Before subtracting it max_xy_offset is multiplied by 2 because the autoguider CCD is centred around the base position and its valid area must be decreased by the same amount on either side and it is additionally multiplied by √2 because the autoguider CCD is diamond shaped, i.e. AUTOGUIDER_WIDTH and AUTOGUIDER_HEIGHT are measured at an angle of 45 degrees compared to the RA, Dec coordinates in which max_xy_offset is measured.
The default settings are
AUTOGUIDER_WIDTH = 265.1 - 2√2 * 5.0 ≈ 250.0 AUTOGUIDER_HEIGHT = 257.8 - 2√2 * 5.0 ≈ 243.0This allows offsets in x and y (RA and Dec) direction of up to ±5.0 arcseconds. The values are rounded to the integer below the actual value. Using these sighly smaller values should prevent guiding on the edge of the CCD.
The SDT considers all objects with magnitudes between GUIDE_MIN_MAG and GUIDE_MAX_MAG that
are not closer then GUIDE_MIN_DIST to the next object in the catalog.
(See Changing the configuration.)
Out of these objects it picks the brightest object.
When the local binary USNO catalog installation is used then the "Stop" button in the main window should be
used to interrupt the generation of telescope pointings.
After hitting the "Stop" button it is possible to save intermediate results to the file in the
same way as described above for final results. The file can later be opened again using
the "File" -> "Open" menu. The generation of telescope pointings can then be resumed where it
had stopped before. A file with suffix ".sdt" should be used.
Example:
The PRIMITIVE_PATTERN property is described below.
Note that although the files pattern.cfg and ../cfg/skycat.cfg are in the same
directory (sdt/cfg) their paths have to be specified differently. PRIMITIVE_PATTERN is specified
relative to the sdt/cfg directory whereas jsky.catalog.skycat.config must be specified
either as an absolute path or relative to the sdt/bin directory. This allows users to
specify other skycat.cfg files they might have on their computers. But remember not to
use the "~" when specifying the ~/.skycat/skycat.cfg or ~/.skycat/skycat.cfg in your
home directory. Use the full path.
Most other properties are set to ad hoc values and can be changed by users at will.
The following should remain fixed (once the final relative positions of the WFCAM detector arrays
have been measured). They specify the dimensions of the bounding rectangle
of a single 4-detector WFCAM footprint:
4. Saving the results
Once the SDT has finished filling the survey areas the user is prompted to save them and the pointings
to a file.
This is done by using the usual "File" -> "Save" or "File" -> "Save As ..." menu.
A file with the suffix "*.sdt" should be used.
Interrupting the generation of telescope pointings
The generation of telescope pointings can be interrupted at any time using the "Stop" button of the
online download dialog with progress bar when using an (online) GAIA/SkyCat/JSky catalog.
Note that sometimes this button has to be hit repeatedly until
the catalog choice box and the "Start" button the main window become enabled again.5. Exporting the results to MSBs for use in the Observation Preparation Tool (OT)
There is an
online documentation available for the UKIRT OT. But in connection with the SDT
the OT that comes with this SDT should be used because the official UKIRT OT might not have
all the features needed yet.
5.2. Multiple Template MSBs
Multiple template MSBs result in generated MSBs with multiple Observation components. Each of
these Observation components corresponds to one of the template MSBs.
This would result in the generated MSB time split into three 20 minute chunks. The first of these would be
filled using the first template MSB, the second chunk would be filled using the second template MSB and so on.
Given the length of the template MSBs this would result in two tiles using template MSB 1 followed by the same
two tiles done again, but this time using template MSB 2 and finally the same 2 tiles using template MSB 3.
The three template MSBs could be set to filter H, J, K respectively and be otherwise identical.
The 2 tiles repeated three times using different filters would all end up in the same generated MSB,
indicating that they have do be observed at the same time. Since MSBs cannot be nested this means that
the template MSBs are converted to Observation components within the generated MSB.
The whole survey area will then be covered with such 2-tile-3-filter generated MSBs.
In this example the number of filters (3) is determined by the number of template MSBs.
The number of tiles (2) depends on the MSB_DURATION set in the sdt/cfg/sdt.cfg file.
6. The backtracking window
An additional window pops up during backtracking which should display the
backtracking position. It currently does not work properly most of the time
but it is not particularly useful anyway. It was intended to be a debugging
feature. Ignore it for now.
7. Additional features.
View Areas
There is an "Options" -> "View Areas" menu which allows you to view the
survey areas specified in the text box without starting the process of generating the
pointings and allocating the guide stars.
Help
The help menu displays this HTML document.
8. Changing the configuration
Many configuration details can be changed. They are specified in the
sdt/cfg directory of this distribution. Make sure you make a copy of
the original directory before changing things.
Most properties are specified in the sdt/cfg/sdt.cfg file. The default settings
are
BASE_TAG=Base
GUIDE_TAG=GUIDE
PRIMITIVE_PATTERN=pattern.cfg
AUTOGUIDER_WIDTH = 265.1
AUTOGUIDER_HEIGHT = 257.8
AUTOGUIDER_ANGLE = 45.0
USNO_DIR=
USNO_DIR_WIN=
USNO_NAME=
DEFAULT_CATALOG_LONG_NAME=USNO at ESO
jsky.catalog.skycat.config=../cfg/skycat.cfg
GUIDE_MIN_MAG = 4.0
GUIDE_MAX_MAG = 17.0
GUIDE_MIN_DIST = 7.0
GUIDE_QUERY_DISPLAY=true
HELP_URL = help/index.html
MSB_DURATION = 30
SKIP_GUIDE_STARS=false
WFCAM_FOOTPRINT_DISPLAY=true
An explanation of all these properties is provided in the sdt/cfg/sdt.cfg file.
Of these BASE_TAG, GUIDE_TAG should remain unchanged for use with the ORAC/OMP/OT system at UKIRT.
AUTOGUIDER_WIDTH, AUTOGUIDER_WIDTH, AUTOGUIDER_ANGLE will still change in future versions of the SDT
(to avoid guiding on the
edge of the detector and depending on the exact angle but also to make sure that a guide star is still in range
when jittering and microstepping) but once these values have been established they
should be left unchanged for use with WFCAM.
The SDT has not recently been tested with GUIDE_QUERY_DISPLAY=false.
HELP_URL should probably remain unchanged although a version of this might be made available
online which could be kept more up to date. In that case HELP_URL could
be set to the online version.
If you want to change jsky.catalog.skycat.config make sure know what you are doing
(i.e. you have edited skycat.cfg files before).Primitive Pattern (Tile Configuration)
To change the primitive pattern (tile configuration) you can either make multiple copies of
sdt/cfg/pattern.cfg, modify them and then set PRIMITIVE_PATTERN in
sdt/cfg/sdt.cfg to the version you want or you can leave PRIMITIVE_PATTERN=pattern.cfg
in sdt/cfg/sdt.cfg unchanged and edit sdt/cfg/pattern.cfg directly.
You can edit the following parameters:
OFFSETS_X = 0 792.684
OFFSETS_Y = 0 792.684
NEXT_PATTERN_X = 3170.736
NEXT_PATTERN_Y = 3170.736
Their meaning is described in the file itself. The default values are used for a filled in WFCAM tile.
DETECTOR_GROUP_WIDTH = 2402.568
DETECTOR_GROUP_HEIGHT = 2402.568
9. Installing and running the SDT and OT
Requirements
Installation
Download the sdt_ot.tar.gz file. Then type
gunzip sdt_ot.tar.gz
tar xf sdt_ot.tar
Running the SDT and OT
Make sure java is in your PATH environment variable. To start the applications use:
| sdt_ot/sdt/bin/sdt | to run the Survey Definition Tool under UNIX/Linux |
| cd sdt_ot/sdt/bin sdt.bat (or double click) | to run the Survey Definition Tool under Windows |
| sdt_ot/ot/bin/ukirtot or sdt_ot/ot/bin/ot -omp ukirt | to run the OT under UNIX/Linux |
| cd sdt_ot/ot/bin ukirtot.bat (or double click on ukirtot.bat) or sdt_ot/ot/bin/ot.bat -omp -nointernalframes ukirt | to run the OT under Windows |
If less common operating systems (e.g. True64) are used you might get error messages such as
Unrecognized option: -Xoss5m.
In that case edit the file sdt_ot/ot/bin/ot and remove the unrecognized option from
the java command line options.
10. Missing features and known bugs
There used to be a bug which sometimes caused a long delay when a guide star catalog was
first accessed after starting up the SDT, i.e. after the "Start" button was pressed. The
SDT is now (March 2006) using jsky-2.5 instead of jsky-1.0 and it is hoped that this
made the problem disappear.
11. OT Telescope Position Editor
You can view the WFCAM multi-detector autoguider footprints projected on a digitized sky
image by using the OT Telescope Position Editor (GAIA-like tool).
11. MsbFactory Missing
If you got the error meassage:
Exception while trying to load plugin survey.msb.MsbFactory: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: survey.msb.MsbFactory
then you are running the SDT in WFCAM mode without the libraries and classes needed to interface with the JAC OT.
In this case you can open and save your surveys but you cannot export them to the JAC OT.
Change Log