- This handbook
provides information to visitors of the Calypso
Observatory. Astronomers who have observed on KPNO
telescopes will be familiar with the mountain
environment. Extended information about Tucson and Kitt
Peak can be found in the KPNO User Handbook. The table on the
right lists some useful items to read.
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- Use
KPNO User
Handbook for:
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- Travel to and from the Tucson
airport
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- Tucson hotels, restaurants,
convenience stores
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- Mountain environment: outside
temperatures, local fauna, first aid,
recreation
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- Mountain living: accommodations,
meals, laundry, personal needs
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- Telephone directory
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Preliminaries
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A few weeks before any scheduled run, be sure to arrange
your accomodations. Contact observatory staff if there
are any special needs for your observing program.
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Going to
Calypso
- Our computers and
office space are located at the observatory, on the
mountain. To visit the KPNO headquarters in Tucson, you
need to contact KPNO administration. At the airport, rent
a car with manual lights and a full fuel tank, as there
is no bus service available to Calypso observers; follow
the map#1 directions to drive to the
observatory (less than 2 hours away). If you cannot
drive, contact the manager to arrange a ride with the
staff.
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Arrival
- On the mountain,
Calypso is located under the WIYN telescope (map#2). A private road provides
access to our observatory. At the KPNO administration
building, prior to 3:30 pm, the mountain receptionist
will give you a dormitory room key. You can also check
there for messages. Observers who want room keys during
off-hours need to radio an observing technician (OT) for
assistance. Instructions are posted at the front desk. Or
let us know in advance; we will pick up the keys.
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Facilities
- The Calypso telescope
is operated from the support building on the observatory
grounds. The control room contains a Sun Ultra1
(jupiter), which controls the telescope and cameras,
a Sun Sparc10 (earth), for data analysis and observing
support, and a Sun Sparc5 (saturn) which hosts the e-mail
and web servers. Several PCs and a Mac that are connected
to the network are also available. Cables are available to
connect visiting computers to the network. A shop, a kitchen,
a living room, a terrace, and living quarters for one
person are also available in the support building.
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- At this time, the
observatory library has very few items. Material located
on the Web can be printed in house. It is
recommended to bring all finding charts, and other
observing documents related to your program. In addition,
the KPNO library has many journals and atlases for
consultation.
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Training
- An introductory tour
of the observatory, telescope and equipment is given when
you arrive by an observatory staff member.
Logsheets are provided for bookkeeping. Whereas IRAF
is used for data reduction, note that IDL is not
installed on our computers.
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Observations
- A staff member
supports the observing activities of the visitors, and
the correct operation of all observatory equipment.
Afternoons can be used to check / adjust the set-up, to
acquire flat-fields and darks. During the night
measurements of the seeing (external, and on the images)
should be recorded in the observatory logbook.
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Data
Tapes & Archive
- Observations are
recorded and stored on observatory tapes. We keep copies
of all visitor data to avoid loss of observing time and
for archival purpose. Visitors can bring their own tapes
to copy their data and take them back home. We have the
capability to write standard Exabyte and DAT tapes.
Transferring data over the network is also an option
depending on the size and number of the images. Requests
for archived data can be sent to info@calypso.org.
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Other topics
- Personal or business
mail address:
- Calypso Observatory, Kitt
Peak Observatory,
950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, Arizona
85719
- Phone: (520)
318-8775, Fax: (520) 318-8776
- Telescope and
Instrument Manuals
- IRAF
documentation
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www@calypso.org
Last updated: July 26, 2002
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