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Instrument modes for Photometer and AOTs

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Instrument modes and AOTs
The observing modes are combinations of instrument modes and satellite pointing modes.

Instruments modes for photometer
 Pointing modes
Dual-band photometry stare/raster with/without nodding
Single-band photometry stare/raster with/without nodding

These observing modes are accessible to the observer through Astronomical Observation Templates (AOT) which are "filled out" throug a graphical user interface, HSpot. One of the three different AOT has been defined for the photometer. All further details of the observation are defined as parameters within the AOT through HSpot. Regular integration periods on the internal calibration sources are inserted automatically. The AOTs are in process of definition and will undergo further optimization.


PACS photometer AOTs. Three observing modes are offered with the photometer AOT
Point source Photometry : This mode is devoted to target a source which is completely isolated and point-like or smaller than one blue matrix A typical use of this AOT is for point-source photometry. It uses chopping and nodding, both with amplitude of 1 blue matrix, and dithering with a 1 pixel amplitude, keeping the source on the array at all times.
Small source photometry : This mode is devoted to target sources that are smaller than the array size, yet larger than a single matrix. To be orientation independent, this means sources that fit in 2'x2'. This AOT uses chopping and nodding, but thus time the source cannot be kept on the array at all times.
Large area or extended source mapping : This mode is necessary to map sources larger than the array size, or to cover large contiguous areas of the sky, e.g. extragalactic surveys. There are two ways to perform this kind of observations :  
Scanning without chopping   and   Rastering without chopping

More details, see PACS SPIE document or see Observer Manual

Documents

"PACS Observer's Manual" is the reference manual for PACS observers and the Herschel Observation Planning Tool is the Herschel-Spot (HSpot) User's Guiden.

Credits

The contents of this page are based on the PACS observer's Manual produced by Bruno Altieri, Roland Vavrek and the PACS Instrument Control Centre and the Herschel Pointing Modes document.

For more information, see Observer Manual

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This file was last modified on 21 May 2007.