ITAS-18

The Main Screen

The Main Screen is divided into several regions and special purpose windows may appear superimposed onto this screen. The upper quarter of the screen contains four types of information. As noted above the top line contains the visual cue that tracking is in progress. More specifically, this is the tracking command string which is issued to the Superior card 4-5 times per second. Every time the color of the blinking Y changes, a new command has been issued. You will notice that during hand paddle moves or automatic moves, the Y does not change color since no tracking commands are being issued then.
Below the tracking message is the version number of the software and the starting time stamp. When you send the telescope HOME, you will see an ending time stamp below the starting time, the length of the run, and the observer's ID. The log file is then updated on the hard drive.
The display at the upper right contains the actual commands being issued to the Superior card (on the telescope control computer). Notice that the display is further divided into RA Command (Right Ascension axis), DEC Command (Declination axis), and Reg Command (Register commands). The command will appear in white as it is sent and will change to cyan as it is received from the Superior as an echo. Each command is checked character by character to ensure accuracy in transmission. It is not necessary that you understand these messages, but their display and color changes may be vital clues to any problems that arise.
Below the command lines are two areas that give visual feedback about hand paddle use. When a paddle button is pressed, you will see the direction indicated (e.g., Manual West) followed by the rate at which the telescope is moving (either guide, set, or slew). See the section on the hand paddle for the operation of the directional and rate switches.
The lower three-quarters of the screen is itself divided into two parts. The left side is the system display. The entries are:

UT	->	-	the Universal Time
Operat	->	-	the telescope's operational status. A variety of messages may appear here, such as Ready, Moving, Select Group, Focus, Advance, Backup, Jump, Exposing, Writing File, Dark, Bias, or Clear.
Object	->	-	the current object.
Filter	->	-	the current filter.
Last File Saved	->	-	the last CCD image written to the hard drive.
Now Saving File	->	-	the current CCD image being written to the hard drive.

The right hand side of the screen contains both the Main Menu and the data screen. Each of the many menus of ITAS-18 are discussed below. General rules for the use of the menus are:


Select a menu item by placing the highlight bar on the item using the cursor keys and pressing .
Backup to the previous menu by pressing ESC.
The highlight bar will wrap around in both directions in most menus.
Items can also be selected using the "hot keys" indicated.