RetroCam Software Documentation - Macros

The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science (Carnegie Observatories), Pasadena, CA


Location of this document: http://instrumentation.obs.carnegiescience.edu/Software/RetroCam/macros.html


The RetroCam GUI can be controlled by Macro files. These files consist of simple ASCII text which will be executed line by line; there are no conditionals or branches in the order of execution.

List of commands
exptime #
Set the exposure time to '#' seconds.
read
Start an exposure sequence.
move dx dy
Move the telescope by (dx,dy) arcseconds.
coord dx dy
Move the telescope by (dx,dy) arcseconds and move the guider-box in the opposite direction.
pause {some text}
Display a dialog-box ("some text") and wait for the user to press the "OK" button.
sleep #
Wait for '#' seconds.
exit
Terminate the macro.
Example-1: Take a sequence of darks (Filter=dk)
exptime 3
read
exptime 5
read
exptime 8
read
exptime 13
read
exptime 21
read
Example-2: Take two (guided) exposures
read
coord 15 15
read
coord -15 -15
Example-3: Take two (un-guided) exposures
read
move 15 15
read
move -15 -15


2016-01-06 Christoph C. Birk, Carnegie Observatories