OBSERVE

   

When designing an observing strategy in detail, you may want to know more than just which calibration sources are near your targets. You may for example wish to estimate the calibration time overhead by calculating drive times, or to know if observations in the compact arrays will be affected by shadowing, etc. The VLA Calibrator List and a full model of the VLA on-line system (able to compute drive times and shadowing, etc.) are both included in the OBSERVE program. This program is designed to generate the text file that you would give the VLA operators in order to run the observations themselves, but it may also be useful if you want to pre-plan an observing run in detail. OBSERVE runs on Sun and IBM RS6000 workstations. It can be obtained from the NRAO by two routes:

1. by anonymous-ftp from directory pub/observe on ftp.aoc.nrao.edu (the preferred route), or
2. by regular mail on request from Theresa McBride in Socorro (tmcbride@nrao.edu, 505-835-7245); be prepared to specify the machine type (SUN, IBM) and a medium (diskette, Exabyte, DAT, etc.) on which you want receive the program.

Most users find that it takes a few hours to become conversant with OBSERVE. So, leave time to familiarize yourself with the program before you first use it! It is not something to be learned in a hurry just before a key deadline..... Help with OBSERVE is available from the AOC Data Analysts--Kevin Healy (505-835-7239) and Meri Stanley (505-835-7238)--or by E-mail from analysts@nrao.edu.