Configurations¶

Observator/Telescope Configuration¶

The observator is the core of this program, it calculates all the variables needed to make predictions on what action is optimial. Many of these variables are dense, so they are given default values, but explained briefly here, and broken into major groups

Observatory¶

Variables relating to the location of the observatory/telescope itself

Parameters:

name (str) – (optional) Name of the obseratory being simulated
latitude (float) – latitude position of the obseratory, in decimal degrees
longitude (float) – longitude position of the obseratory, in decimal degrees
elevation (float) – elevation above sea level, in meters

name: "Stone Edge Observatory"
latitude: 38.28869
longitude:  -122.504
elevation: 2215.0

Slew¶

Measuring the amount of time needed to transition between each pointing

Parameters:

default_transition_time – (optional) Automatic time between observations (in seconds)
slew_expr – Time required to transition between sites (in seconds per degree)

default_transition_time: 0.0
slew_expr: 1.7

Bands¶

Optical settings for the filters used during observations

Parameters:

wavelengths – Pairing of filter names and wavelengths they observe
filter_change_rate – Time required to change filters (in seconds)
fwhm – Full width at half maximum; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_width_at_half_maximum

wavelengths:
    - 'u': 380.0
    - 'g': 475.0
    - 'r': 635.0
    - 'i': 775.0
    - 'z': 925.0
    - 'Y': 1000.0
filter_change_rate: 0.0
fwhm: 0.45

Weather¶

Constants for deteriming sight due to weather conditions

Parameters:

seeing – % visablity
cloud_extinction – Rate clouds appear
weather_sim – Include a rudimentary weather simulation based on historical data
weather_config – Setting for the Weather engine class

seeing: 0.9
cloud_extinction: 0.0
weather_sim: False

Camera¶

Constants for the time it takes for the camera behind the telescope to operate

Parameters:

shutter_seconds – Time shutter requires to move from open to closed, thus preventing a clear observation (in seconds)
readout_seconds – Time required for the camera to process the data, so another observation cannot be taken directly after another (in seconds)

shutter_seconds: 0.0
readout_seconds: 27.0

Location¶

Observation taken as the default

Parameters:: location – Define the default locations. Either a pair of Right Ascension and Declination arrays (in degrees), or ‘n_sites’ to define a random selection.

location : {'n_sites': 10}

Skybright¶

Parameters to use the package SkyBright to SkyBright can be found here- https://github.com/ehneilsen/skybright

Parameters:

use_skybright – Define if skybright is used
skybright – Path to the configuration file used to initalize

use_skybright: False
skybright: {"config":'default'}

Survey Configuration¶

This configuration file deterimes how the survey is executed, what sites are considered “valid”, what the stopping condition is, and what deterimes the quality of each observation. It also sets inital conditions.

Timestep¶

How many seconds are between each step of the survey

Parameters:: timestep_size – Timestep (in seconds)

timestep_size: 300

Start Time

When to start the survey

Parameters:: start_time – If decided, the time in Mean Julian Date. If not, the string “random”.

start_time: "random"

Penality¶

The reward given to a site that is considered invalid at the current timestep.

Parameters:: invalid_penality – Penality value

invalid_penality: -100

Reward¶

Reward for each observation

Parameters:

monitor (float, int) – Variable to use as reward, must be in variables
min – If a smaller reward is better
threshold – (optional) Value the reward must clear in order to be considered a valid reward

reward
    - "monitor": "airmass"
    - "min": False

Constaints¶

Dictionary of constraints the observations must fall under to be considered valid

Parameters:

name] ([variable) – Variable to used as a metric for validity, must be in variables
value – Threshold value to consider
lesser – If a value smaller than the threshold is considered valid

constaints:
    - "airmass":
        - "value": 2.0
        - "lesser": True
    - "alt":
        - "value": 20.0
        - "lesser": False

Stopping¶

Dictionary of values used to deterime the conditions used to stop the simulation Timestep deterimes the number of iterations the simulation will run, the rest are optional.

Parameters:

name] ([variable) – Variable to used as a metric for validity, must be in variables
value – Threshold value to consider
lesser – If a value smaller than the threshold is considered valid

stopping:
    - "timestep": 400
    - "reward":
        - "value": 200.0
        - "lesser": False

Save¶

Location to save resulting survey, if so desired.

Parameters:: save – String of the path to save the results and configuration file

save: "./equatorial_survey/"

Variables¶

List of variables used in the survey.

All possible variables are:

[‘lst’, ‘pt_seeing’, ‘band_seeing’, ‘fwhm’, ‘moon_ha’, ‘moon_elongation’, ‘moon_phase’, ‘moon_illumination’, ‘moon_Vmagintude’, ‘moon_seperation’, ‘moon_ra’, ‘moon_decl’, ‘moon_airmass’, ‘airmass’, ‘az’, ‘alt’, ‘ha’, ‘sun_ha’, ‘sun_airmass’, ‘sun_ra’, ‘sun_decl’]

Parameters:: variables – List of string names of the variables used in the survey.

variables: ["airmass", 'alt', 'ha', 'moon_airmass', 'lst', 'sun_airmass']

Configurations¶

Observator/Telescope Configuration¶

Survey Configuration¶

TelescopePositioningSimulator

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