To be filled and returned by the visiting astronomer :

Account (NIS) name :

Disk Space is on :

Name of the user(s) :

Account issued on ;

Expected usage till :

Information for visiting astronomers at the GMRT

Astronomers visiting the GMRT are assigned temporary computer accounts. Please obtain the login username and password from the telescope operator on duty at the control room. Each visitor is allocated disk space on a specific PC, which is listed in the attached sheet. Please try and use only one PC that has been allotted to you. During your visit you have priority for use of this PC, and can request anyone else using the PC to vacate it for you. These accounts can also be used to login to any of the Linux PCs in the imaging terminal room. Most PCs have a /scratch area which can be used for temporary data storage. The /scratch area is cleaned automatically after 72 hours of creation of files. While your observations are in progress, you also have first priority for use of the PC “astro0” in the control room.

The disk space allocated to you is the directory /analysis/visitorX (where visitorX is the account that you have been provided with) on your PC. Your account has been configured to run AIPS as well as the GMRT offline analysis software. To run AIPS simply type “aips” at the command prompt. The AIPS data areas are in the /analysis/visitorX directory. Please note that all data associated with a given account will be deleted once the visitor leaves. It is the responsibility of the user to back up the data. Visitors should bring their own media (DVDs or DAT tapes) for backup. 4Mm DAT drives are available on machines gtac1 and gtac2. All machines have DVD writers.

PRINTING:- The default printer is in the terminal room and is called “npt5200”. The colour printer in the control room 'npr5550' can also be used.

CONNECTING OWN LAPTOP:- If you wish to use your own laptop, several ethernet ports are available in the terminal room. Please configure your laptop to use “DHCP” (proxies, mac-address, etc not required). Please bring suitable converter plugs to suit Indian system. For help on any computer related issues, please approach Mangesh or Sumit from the computer section during office hours or the telescope operator on duty if outside office hours.

CONVERTING THE RAW FILES TO FITS:- listscan and gvfits are the utilities used to convert raw (lta and ltb data) files produced by GMRT to FITS format. Please check the observing log for the link to your raw data. Run listscan on your raw files [lta/ltb] to generate <file>.log and <file>.plan files. Edit the log files appropriately. Run gvfits on the edited log files to obtain FITS files. If you want combined sideband data, then combine the USB and LSB data using the utility ltamerge before running listscan and gvfits. Please visit http://www.ncra.tifr.res.in/~aips/ for more help on GMRT data reduction.

Wish you pleasant stay and observing at the GMRT.

Sumit Mirajkar

2006-09-12T16:33:23