KFPA Re-commissioning Test Reports

The KFPA was reworked during summer 2010 and restored to the GBT on August 21, 2010. Below we summarize the tests made to confirm the proper operations of the hardware and software. Most of these tests were made during maintenance days, when the GBT was stowed.

W51-NH3-55.png
Image of W51 in the NH3 5-5 line, in the 50 MHz 7+1 mode from TKFPA_30 observation (Left). Strong NH3 5-5 emission is seen at the location of the continuum source (Right). Fainter recombination lines are also visible.

2010 September 6: TKFPA_30

Calibration observations, a deep Nod observation in two beam mode, mapping tests in different configurations

2010 September 3: TKFPA_29

First astronomical observations with re-commissoned receiver. Imaging tests of Shared risk observations.
  • Scans 12-26: W51 NH3 11,22 Map in 4 beam 200 MHz mode.
  • Scans 27-41: W51 NH3 44 Map in 4 beam 200 MHz mode
  • Scans 48-53: Neptune Daisy Map: 23799 MHz (Suspect that Off is only partially off of Neptune)
  • Scans 59-70: Jupiter Daisy Map: 23740 MHz (Suspect that Off is only partially off of Jupiter)
  • Scans 82-93: SFO-38 Several Daisy Maps of NH3 11,22 (50 MHz)
  • Scans 99-113: TMC Map 18865 RaLong Map
  • Scans 119-132: Moon Daisy maps, again may have had off partially on Moon. Need special procedure to compute Off from map.

2010 September 2: TKFPA_28

Maintenance time tests of astrid scripts. No Astronomical Observations.

2010 September 1: TKFPA_27

Maintenance time tests of astrid scripts. Spectral survey of entire frequency range 18 to 26.5 GHz

2010 August 31: TKFPA_26

Maintenance time tests of astrid scripts. Tests of 12.5 and 50 MHz configuration. No useful astronomical observations.

2010 August 30: TKFPA_25

Maintenance time tests of astrid scripts. Tests of different modes.

Successful test of 4 beam, one spectral band observation of Sgr B2. Very short duration observation of Sgr B2 in NH3 with 200 MHz bandwidth. Scans 103 and 118 are towards SGR B2. Scans 104 and 119 are map reference scans. Scans 107 to 117 are mapping scans. The figure below shows regions with NH3 emission plus strong absorption of the continuum component of Sgr B2. A linear fit spectral baseline has been subtracted from the original data cube. The spectrometer was configured for 8192 channels, corresponding to a velocity resolution of 0.31 km/sec.
sgrA-NH3-200MHz.png
Image of Sgr B from a 4 beam, 200 MHz spectral-band observation (Left). Only a very short amount of observing time was available so the telescope moved significantly during the integration time, causing the alternating smearing see in the horizontal scans. Strong NH3 1-1 and 2-2 absorption is seen at the location of the continuum source (Right).

2010 August 26: TKFPA_24

Maintenance time tests of astrid scripts.

2010 August 25: TKFPA_23

Maintenance time tests of astrid scripts.

2010 August 24: TKFPA_22

Maintenance time tests of astrid scripts.

2010 August 23: TKFPA_21

Maintenance time tests of astrid scripts.

-- GlenLangston - 2010-11-18

Topic attachments
I Attachment ActionSorted ascending Size Date Who Comment
TKFPA_29.txttxt TKFPA_29.txt manage 11 K 2010-09-21 - 10:56 GlenLangston Ascii Observing summary
TKFPA_30.txttxt TKFPA_30.txt manage 14 K 2010-09-21 - 10:56 GlenLangston Ascii Observing summary
W51-NH3-55.pngpng W51-NH3-55.png manage 45 K 2010-11-18 - 16:20 GlenLangston W51 Test map
sgrA-NH3-200MHz.pngpng sgrA-NH3-200MHz.png manage 43 K 2010-09-21 - 14:03 GlenLangston Image of sgr A from test observation
Topic revision: r7 - 2010-11-29, GlenLangston
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