Setting Up
and Managing Accounts
How do I set up an account with SSO?
After you register and are approved,
you can log into your SSO account. When you are logged on, additional menu items
appear on the navigation tree on the left-hand side of the SSO web site. If you
are the primary owner of the account, two new menu selections appear on the navigation
tree: Manage My Account and Manage
My Affiliates.
What are Affiliates and what do I do with them?
Affiliates are people to whom you
want to allocate part of the credits in your account to enable them to schedule
their own images – through your account. If you are the only person scheduling images
on an account, then you do not need to assign any Affiliates. However, you can set
up an account to enable one or more people other than yourself to use the credits
in your primary account and allocate any amount of your credits you choose. This
is a convenient account management tool for professors, teachers, clubs, and individuals
to allocate and manage the credits in an account among many people.
Image Data
What data do I receive when I schedule images?
Your images are stored as standard
FITs files compressed as ZIP files on our server when you download them. You can
decompress your files using any of the many readily available unzip programs.
What are the pixel scale and field of view of the images
I receive?
The chip of the Finger Lakes Instrumentation
ProLine CCD camera is a Kodak KAF 09000 with an array of 3,056 x 3,056 pixels. The
pixel size is 12 microns. The field of view for the entire CCD chip with our system
is about 21 x 21 arc minutes. The un-binned resolution of each pixel is 0.4 arc
seconds. By default, SSO bins the pixels 2x2 during exposures giving an effective
pixel resolution of 0.8 arc-seconds per pixel.
Why does SSO bin the pixels of the CCD camera 2 x 2 instead
of un-binned?
There are a few reasons why we do
this. First an 0.8 arc-second/pixel resolution is an optimal resolution for doing
photometry and astrometry with our system at 1.5 arc second seeing. Second, the
signal to noise ratio and well depth are greater enabling shorter exposure times
to attain a better signal. Finally, this reduces the size of the FITs files sizes
to one quarter of the size of un-binned images. Un-binned images are 18MB uncompressed
while images binned 2 x 2 are 4.5MB uncompressed. This greatly reduces the data
transfer and storage burden n our system and provides more manageable sized files
for you to work with. The field of view of the images remains unchanged at 21 x
21 arc minutes.
Scheduling
Images
How do I schedule images?
You use the Observation Request
Form, which you access from the Manage My Account section of our web site. Scheduling
images on this form is easy and straightforward. You
can select objects (stars, galaxies, nebula, asteroids, comets, and so on) from
a large list of astronomical catalogs on the Observation Request Form. Alternately
you can select a specific RA and DEC field to image. When you schedule image and
they are accepted, you get an acknowledgement when you submit your schedule.
Do I need to schedule my own calibration files (bias, dark,
and flats)?
No. We create calibration files
for each observing run (night). You simply download the calibration files that match
the dates of your raw image files. However, by default we apply the calibration
frames automatically to your images saving you time and bandwidth. Alternately,
you can choose to download the raw files and corresponding calibration files and
apply them yourself.
How do I get the images I schedule? How do I know when they
are ready?
You download your images from your
folder for your account from our web site using the Jobs Completed page in the Manage
My Account section of our web site. You receive an email message when your
images are uploaded. Your images are available by the morning after your scheduled
images are taken.
Can I cancel a job schedule I submitted before it runs?
Yes. You can cancel any scheduled
pending jobs up until 3:00PM PST.
What happens if the jobs I schedule are not run on the night
I set to take them?
By default your scheduled jobs run
the night when you submit a schedule. If for some reason your jobs are not run that
night, then they will run the next available night (weather permitting). You have
the option on the schedule form to set a specific date
only to run a schedule. If that schedule is not run, then it will not be
scheduled to run again and your credits are returned to your account. To run that
schedule again you must resubmit the schedule.
If one or more of my images are corrupted, am I charged
for the imaging time?
No. We ensure that you only pay
for reasonable high-quality image data. If your images are corrupted by clouds (or
other weather related causes) or due to any other reason (a tracking failure or
other equipment malfunction), let us know and we will credit your account for the
time used.
Planning
Schedule Runs
Sierra Stars Observatory is designed
for users who have at least a rudimentary knowledge of what they are seeking to
image. This requires some planning on your part. Try to schedule objects that will
be reasonably placed for the time of year and for our observatory location. Because
we are located at approximately 38 degrees latitude north, you should only schedule
images that can be reasonably high above the horizon for this latitude. Also, be
sure to schedule images for objects that have a reasonable chance to be near transit
during an observing run. You can use one of the many free and commercial planetarium
and observation planning programs to help you determine which objects are best placed
for your observation scheduling.
See the Operations Guide for SSO Clients from
more detailed information about planning schedule runs.
If you do not understand
these concepts, you have some homework to do before making effective use of our
system. We plan to offer additional observatory facilities around the world in the
future and you will then have more opportunities to schedule images over a greater
part of the overall sky on any given night.