The Cycle 19 release of APT contains the following changes which may be helpful in preparing Phase II Programs.
- This APT upgrade is required. - Not upgrading to the latest version can cause your proposal data to be lost or corrupted. APT will give you a warning reminder if your version is out of date. Please heed the warning.
- APT's editors now have Undo! - Last year's Phase II survey showed overwhelming support for an undo capability within APT. To use Undo, simply go to menu option Edit>Undo, or click ctrl-z. There is also a Redo option if you end up undoing too much. This capability is limited to the editors - the new undo capability does not extend to the tools (such as the Orbit Planner or Aladin).
- Record of ETC run numbers - As a convenience to both program writers and reviewers, there is now a field on each exposure where you can enter the ETC Run #. Simply clicking on the icon next to this field will display that ETC Run in your web browser! Note that APT will warn you if you do not supply this information for exposures using one of the sensitive detectors (such as the MAMAs).
- Tighter link to the new address database - During Phase I you may have used the new web based application (called the Proposal/Person Application or ProPer for short) for updating contact information and for requesting a new person be added to the STScI database. APT's link to ProPer has been extended so that the contact information in the ProPer database is automatically transfered to the program, unless APT cannot uniquely match a Co-I to our database. You may be asked to select which Jane Doe for a few of your Co-Is but this is a one time fix. If you need to update the information in our database please use the ProPer web page.
- Multiple Contact Co-Is - You can now designate multiple Contact Co-Is for your program. There is a check box at the bottom of each Co-I screen. (A contact Co-I is a person who works with the Program Coordinator during Phase II development, and receives various automatic e-mail notifications throughout implementation and scheduling.)
- Spatial Scans - Fixed target exposures with WFC3 can now scan a target across a detector in order to obtain very high signal for bright targets in single exposures. This option is specified as an exposure level special requirement (below the POS TARG). Once you check Spatial Scan the parameters will become visible.
- WFC3 Science Header Buffer increased - WFC3 science data must be dumped to the recorder when 304 science headers, or 64 MB of image data are stored. Previously, 100 was the limit on the number of buffered science headers. One science header is stored for each UVIS exposure, or each IR readout (16 for a full sample sequence). This will allow for more efficient packing of small images, but note that Orbit Planner processing of such visits will take much longer.
-
Make your own target confirmation charts - APT now has a option to generate the target confirmation charts for the targets in your proposal. This is the same software used to generate confirmation charts after submission. Simply go to File>Export>Export Target Confirmation Charts.
Note that the target confirmation charts will show the effects of proper motion if proper motion was supplied for the target. You will see both the coordinates at the epoch you specified as well as the modified coordinates at the epoch of the DSS image (this is well labeled). This allows you to double check that your supplied proper motion is correct because the object will appear under the cross hairs.
-
Proper Motion can be turned on in Aladin displays - Because proper motion changes which field objects are observed, proper motion is now taken into account in the Bright Object Tool and when Aladin displays bright object results. Here is an example of BOT results with for a target with proper motion. And you can turn this feature on at any time in Aladin by using the "Apply Proper Motion" button in the tool bar of the APT/Aladin interface.
When you turn on the "Apply Proper Motion" view in Aladin, you are seeing the aperture outline placed to show the background field assuming the observation is taken on a date about 6 months from now. Without turning this on you are seeing the field you would have gotten in the background had the observation taken place at the epoch of your supplied coordinates. Of course the image of your fast moving object of interest appears at its location when the selected image was taken - which is probably different than the epoch of the coordinates.
- Caution concerning the two proper motion displays - The display of proper motion that you see in the target confirmation chart and the Aladin display are very different because the purpose of these tools are different. The confirmation chart allows you to sanity check a target's proper motion by propagating the position of the object into the past (to hopefully line up with the DSS image), while Aladin allows you to preview the surrounding field of your observation in the future.
