{"id":527,"date":"2018-12-11T12:22:23","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T15:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scidev\/wordpress\/?page_id=527"},"modified":"2026-06-14T11:07:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:07:44","slug":"observing-run","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/observing\/observing-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing an observing run"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Submitting project information<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have been granted observing time at APEX for your project through your partner&#8217;s institution <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/proposing\/\">Call for proposal<\/a>, the next step is to prepare for observations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Observations at APEX are carried out in service mode. Therefore it is necessary that you provide the APEX staff well in advance with all information they need to observe your project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are applying through the <strong>MPIfR queue,<\/strong> you will receive instructions from your partner on how to upload this information into our observing database. Please check the latest information on APEX deadlines and observing macros in the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de\/apex\/proposals\" target=\"_blank\">MPIfR APEX proposals page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the PIs applying through the <strong>ESO, OSO and Chilean queues<\/strong>, this is done through the Phase-2 submission process, where you specify all information related to your project:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ugb-icon-list ugb-icon-list ugb-9684456 ugb-icon-list--v2 ugb-icon--icon-arrow ugb-main-block\" id=\"\"><style>.ugb-9684456 li{--icon-size:20px;margin-bottom:0px !important}.ugb-9684456 li::before{height:20px !important;width:20px !important;background-image:url('data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB2aWV3Qm94PSIwIDAgMTkwIDE5MCIgeG1sbnM9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzIwMDAvc3ZnIiBzdHlsZT0iZmlsbDojMDBkMDg0Ij48cGF0aCBkPSJNNTkuNCAxNzcuNWw4Mi40LTgyLjQtODIuNC04Mi4zLTEwLjYgMTAuNiA3MS44IDcxLjctNzEuOCA3MS44IDEwLjYgMTAuNnoiPjwvcGF0aD48L3N2Zz4=')}.ugb-9684456 li ul{margin-bottom:0px !important}.ugb-9684456.ugb-icon-list ul{columns:1}<\/style><div class=\"ugb-inner-block\"><div class=\"ugb-block-content\"><ul><li>Contact information<\/li><li>Target sources<\/li><li>Frontend and Backend configuration<\/li><li>Observing modes, patterns, and related information<\/li><li>Project requirements<\/li><li>Comments or additional information<\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>APECS setup and observing macros are created automatically from the information you submit through the phase 2 project submission form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ugb-button ugb-button-wrapper ugb-button--design-plain ugb-cbf20c4 ugb-main-block\" id=\"\"><style>.ugb-cbf20c4 .ugb-block-content{justify-content:center}.ugb-cbf20c4 .ugb-button1{background-color:#00d084;border-radius:4px !important}.ugb-cbf20c4 .ugb-button1 .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-cbf20c4 .ugb-button1 svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#222222 !important}.ugb-cbf20c4 .ugb-button1:before{border-radius:4px !important}.ugb-cbf20c4 .ugb-inner-block{text-align:center}<\/style><div class=\"ugb-inner-block\"><div class=\"ugb-block-content\"><div class=\"ugb-button-container\"><a class=\"ugb-button1 ugb-button ugb-button--size-normal\" href=\"http:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/observing\/phase2\/login.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"ugb-button--inner\">Go to Phase2 submission form<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The processing of the completed project submission form is outlined in: Dumke M., &#8220;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/observing\/preparation\/spie2008\" target=\"_blank\">Service observing management at the APEX telescope<\/a>&#8220;, in: Brissenden R.J., Silva D.R. (eds.), &#8220;Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems II&#8221;, Proc. of the SPIE 7016, 70161R-1 (2008)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Source and line information<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have many target sources (more than 10) and\/or want to observe many different spectral lines (more than 5 per receiver), you are asked to prepare source and line catalogs offline and to upload them together with your project submission. Please follow the syntax rules for \t\t<span\t\t\t\tclass=\"sgpb-show-popup sgpb-popup-id-2025\"\n\t\tdata-sgpbpopupid=\"2025\"\n\t\tdata-popup-event=\"click\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<a href=\"#\">APEX source catalogs<\/a>\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t and for \t\t<span\t\t\t\tclass=\"sgpb-show-popup sgpb-popup-id-2031\"\n\t\tdata-sgpbpopupid=\"2031\"\n\t\tdata-popup-event=\"click\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<a href=\"#\">APEX line catalogs<\/a>\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t. Otherwise, you can enter the source and line information directly into the fields provided in the project submission form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the spectral lines of your project are listed in the APEX system line catalogs, it is sufficient to give the line name in the corresponding field of the submission form. The control system will fetch the correct frequency and sideband information from the system catalog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Pointing sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The availability of pointing sources depends on the observing frequency, i.e. the receiver which is being used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Heterodyne catalog<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/observing-run\/line-pointing-catalog-for-heterodyne-instruments\/\">line pointing catalog<\/a> contains stellar sources with strong emission in some molecular line transitions. Typically CO lines are used, but also other maser lines (like H2O or SiO) and HCN lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Continuum catalog<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">APECS setup and observing macros<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The APEX telescope is controlled with the APEX Control System (APECS) Software developed by <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Dirk Muders (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www3.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de\/staff\/dmuders\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dirk Muders<\/a> through a Python-based command line interface. Commands can be entered interactively or by executing a macro. The command line interface also allows to make simple calculations using Python commands and to use Python control structures (e.g. loops) to control the observing program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those who are interested into the syntax details should consult the latest revision of the APECS User Manual. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class='w3eden'><!-- WPDM Link Template: Call to Action 3 -->\n\n<div class=\"well c2a3\">\n    <div class=\"media\">\n        <div class=\"mr-3\" align=\"left\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wpdm_icon\" alt=\"Icon\"   src=\"http:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/wp-content\/plugins\/download-manager\/assets\/file-type-icons\/pdf.svg\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"media-body\">\n            <h3 class=\"media-heading\" style=\"padding-top: 0px;border:0px;margin: 0 0 5px 0;font-size:12pt;\">\n                <a style=\"font-weight: 700\" href=\"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/download\/apecs-user-manual\/\">APECS User Manual<\/a>\n                <span style=\"font-size:8pt;font-weight:300\" class=\"text-muted ml-4\">\n                    <i class=\"fas fa-hdd mr-1\"><\/i> 865.33 KB\n                    <i class=\"ml-3 far fa-arrow-alt-circle-down mr-1\"><\/i> 280 downloads\n                <\/span>\n            <\/h3>\n            Revision 4.6 (Dirk Muders, MPIfR)\n...\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"ml-3\" align=\"right\">\n            <a class='wpdm-download-link download-on-click btn btn-primary btn-sm' rel='nofollow' href='#' data-downloadurl=\"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/download\/apecs-user-manual\/?wpdmdl=2035&refresh=6a2ef96cc7dfe1781463404\">Download<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<style>\n    .well.c2a3 .btn {\n        padding: 11px 30px;\n        font-size: 11pt;\n    }\n\n    .well.c2a3 .media-body {\n        font-size: 11pt;\n    }\n\n    .well.c2a3 .wpdm_icon {\n        height: 42px;\n        width: auto;\n    }<\/style>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You should check sections 3.3-3.5 of the APECS user manual for some practical examples of macros that you could use in your observing run. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Submitting project information If you have been granted observing time at APEX for your project through your partner&#8217;s institution Call for proposal, the next step is to prepare for observations. Observations at APEX are carried out in service mode. Therefore <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/observing\/observing-run\/\" class=\"read-more\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":39,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-527","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","education-hub-thumb":""},"post_excerpt_stackable":"<p>Submitting project information If you have been granted observing time at APEX for your project through your partner&#8217;s institution Call for proposal, the next step is to prepare for observations. Observations at APEX are carried out in service mode. Therefore it is necessary that you provide the APEX staff well in advance with all information they need to observe your project. If you are applying through the MPIfR queue, you will receive instructions from your partner on how to upload this information into our observing database. Please check the latest information on APEX deadlines and observing macros in the MPIfR&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list":"","author_info":{"name":"apex","url":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/author\/apex\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","education-hub-thumb":""},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"<p>Submitting project information If you have been granted observing time at APEX for your project through your partner&#8217;s institution Call for proposal, the next step is to prepare for observations. Observations at APEX are carried out in service mode. Therefore it is necessary that you provide the APEX staff well in advance with all information they need to observe your project. If you are applying through the MPIfR queue, you will receive instructions from your partner on how to upload this information into our observing database. Please check the latest information on APEX deadlines and observing macros in the MPIfR&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"","author_info_v2":{"name":"apex","url":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/author\/apex\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4909,"href":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/527\/revisions\/4909"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apex-telescope.org\/ns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}