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Becoming Environmentally Conscious with ICE (1Dec92) (from KPNO, NOAO Newsletter No. 32, 1 December 1992) With the dawn of the ICE age at Kitt Peak comes the opportunity to create observing scripts to automate some frequently performed observing tasks. Most users have used ICE only as a pleasant, simple way to take and store their data and examine the results. However, the "E" in ICE stands for "environment," and many observers may benefit from the powerful possibilities inherent in unleashing the "full power of IRAF." Using ICE, the observer can construct simple observing scripts that may make his/her life much easier. These scripts can be as simple as stringing together a series of OBSERVE commands, or as complex as doing an automated, guided, image grid. Unfortunately, most observers are either unaware of this possibility or too harried at the telescope to take advantage of the intrinsic scripting potential of IRAF/ICE. To improve this situation, a set of example IRAF/ICE observing scripts has been created. The template scripts are usable "as is" by the observer and have been organized on the mountain workstations as an IRAF package for ease of use. This package comes complete with help pages. The package is also available downtown on ursa. The real power of these templates is that they can be modified to do custom observing procedures. The template scripts live in a sub-directory of the observer's home directory called "scripts". A typical customization session might look like this: cl> cd scripts cl> edit obslooper.cl [edit the "obslooper" file to do something else] cl> cd cl> obslooper [run "obslooper" to do this new, modified thing] More complete information can be found in the revised ICE manual and in the README file found in the "scripts" subdirectory on the mountain, or by contacting dsilva@noao.edu. Creating custom scripts based on the examples provided should be fairly straightforward. However, no scripter should be without a copy of An Introductory User's Guide to IRAF Scripts by Ed Anderson and Rob Seaman. This document is available from NOAO Central Computer Services (try e-mail to Jeannette Barnes at jbarnes@noao.edu). It is also currently in the white IRAF binders (the Telescope Scientists' selection of "IRAF's Greatest Hits") found at every ICE'd KPNO telescope. The current task list is described below. Our intent is that these scripts be templates for observers to modify and use for their own nefarious purposes. Additional suggestions are encouraged and welcomed. It is intended that these scripts will evolve with time. Suggested changes and/or new scripts may be sent to one of the authors using the task CONTRIB (see help page for more details). Disclaimer: These scripts are provided on an "as is" basis. We have made a good faith effort to check them for errors, but they are "experimental" and not considered to be part of the fully supported IRAF/CCDACQ/ICE system. Permission is given to copy and modify these scripts at will as long as the original scripts are not used for commercial purposes. (We could be making money off of this?) Observers use these scripts at their own risk. (But then, what else is new?) The currently available scripts (22 October 1992): boaa_constrictor - acquire a guided square grid of images (0.9-m, 4-m only) contrib - contribute an observing script to the moderator domeflats - acquire UBVRI domeflats at 0.9-m dostds - acquire images of standard star fields obslooper - template script to repetitively run some set of observing tasks photstds - IMEXAMINE front-end to do quick-look stellar aperture photometry reformat - reformat CCD to centered square region tcpcom - an external program to issue TCP commands from ICE (0.9-m, 4-m only) Dave Silva, Phil Massey, Rob Seaman
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