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Tarleton Observatory Computer Use: Rules, Procedures and Policies

The program for Astronomy Education and Research is part of the college of Science andTechnology at Tarleton State University and as such is required to abide by policies, rules and procedures set out by Texas Administrative Code (TAC 202) and Tarleton State University Standard Administration Procedure for Computer Use (www.tarleton.edu/policy/documents/27.99.99.T1.01.pdf).

The program provides computing facilities at its two locations, the observatory building at the Hunewell Ranch and room 103A in the science building. Faculty, staff students, and contracted companies who use these facilities are expected to read, and understand the documents on computer use. These facilities are for explicit use of Astronomical research and the local administrative staff will implement all necessary procedures to ensure appropriate use and maintain security. This document is to help users to adopt standard procedures for the use of the computers.

Standard Procedures

  1. Any issues related to computers should be first communicated to Dr. Goderya and Mr. Larry Barr either via email or verbal.
  2. Student needing to use the observatory and computers for Astronomical research should ask their faculty mentor to send an email request to Observatory staff with student ID numbers.  This request will initiate the following.
    1. Set up of access code to the key lock box to retrieve the observatory building key.
    2. A request will be sent to the Dean to obtain access to the science building and room 103 after hours and campus security office will be notified of the student using the facility after hours.
    3. A key to room 103 will be issued.
    4. Computer account will be setup for the student.
  3. Once accounts are setup student will need to go and reset their password or temporary password will be given to the student.
  4. We have installed legal and licensed copies of software on these computers and are required to keep documented proof of purchase of the licenses.  If you have a need to install specific software for your research and it requires administrative access, then send in a request to the administrator. You may be required to purchase and provide a legal software disk and a copy of the license. Usually this is done by the faculty mentor.  If a software does not require an administrative access and you can install it in your local user account, then be aware that you are required to ensure that you have a legal copy, proof of purchase and a license, in case we are audited and ask to produce documentation, you and your faculty mentor will be the responsible persons and will be contacted by the administrator to provide documentation.
  5. Specific Instructions for each computer are given below and users need to be familiar with of their use. In general computers should not be shutdown and left that way. Also when you are done using the computers log off so other users can use them.

Description of Computers and their acceptable use

Computers in Room 103A in the Science building

  1. File-Server:  This computer stores all the images obtained by the telescope and can also be used to store all reduced data as well as derivative works and text documents.  Shut down and restart features are disabled as the computer needs to be accessible at all times from different computers. Do not forcefully shut down the computers without proper authorization from the administrators. Direct access to users will not be provided, however the computer's hard drive (1TB) is sharable and users can map the drive in their local account and access all the data that is available to them.  Currently there is no mechanism to make archives and backups of the originals and users should be aware of that. Also all raw images obtained from the telescope are the property of Tarleton Observatory and should not be deleted from the camera computer.  Also proper approvals should be obtained from the PI of that project before the data is shared with other users. In general raw images are for the exclusive use of the PI of the project for the first year, after which Tarleton observatory reserves the right to share that data with other users if requested.
    1. All the raw data from the observatory is backed up on the File-Server in the folder called "NightlyObservations" under subfolder "DailyDump form Camera-obsv-Nightly Observations". Users can copy data from this folder; however do not save any data in this folder to prevent the original data being overwritten.
    2. All reduced data should be saved in the folder "Users Reduced-Data". Users should create a folder with their user name so that other users can know who it belongs too.  It is a good idea to put a small word document in that folder and describe what that data is and who is the PI for the project in case appropriate permission are need for other use.
    3. Users have access to all the old data prior toJune 1, 2001. If you retrieve data from these folders, you should save your new work in "User Reduced-Data " folder.
  2. Astronomer-103A:  This computer is provided fo astronomical computing and to access the observatory computers. Users can access this computer remotely via RealVNC. Shut Down and Restart features are disabled. Do not forcefully shut down the computer without proper authorization from the administrator. Remember that this computer is remotely accessible by other users and if you have your email or personal information up they will be able to see it and use it. The following licensed software are available on this computer;
    AIP4Win- not yet installed
    IDL
    SAS: not yet installed
    MaxIM DL: not yet installed
    Astrometrica
    LibreOffice (equivalent to Microsoft Word)
    SSH and SFTP
    RealVNC viewer
  3. Telescope-103A:This computer is provided mainly to access the observatory computers remotely during the night and for astronomical computing and data reduction during the day time.  Shutdown and Restart is allowed in case the computer hangs up; however users should not shut down these computers when they leave the room. The following software is available for use on this computer.
    AIP4Win (not yet installed)
    Astrometrica
    LibreOffice (equivalent to Microsoft Word)
    RealVNC viewer
  4. Camera-103A: This computer is provided mainly to access the observatory computers remotely during the night and for astronomical computing and data reduction during the day time.    Shut down and Restart is allowed in case the computer hangs up; however users should not shut down these computers when they leave the room. The following software is available for use on this computer.
    Astrometrica
    LibreOffice (equivalent to Microsoft Word)
    RealVNC viewer
  5. Sci-103A-1:This computer is for general purpose computing and can also be used to access the observatory computers.  Shut down and Restart is allowed in case the computer hangs up; however users should not shut down these computers when they leave the room. The following software is available for use on this computer.
    Astrometrica
    MaxIM DL
    AIP4Win (not yet installed)
    Microsoft Office
    RealVNC viewer
  6. Sci-103A-2: This computer is for general purpose computing and can also be used to access the observatory computers.  Shut down and Restart is allowed in case the computer hangs up; however users should not shutdown these computers when they leave the room. The following software is available for use on this computer.
    Astrometrica
    Microsoft Office
    RealVNC viewer
  7. Sci-103A-3: This computer is for general purpose computing and can also be used to access the observatory computers. It is not on the observatory network but on the Tarleton network.  Students can particularly access their Tarleton H drive. Shut down and Restart is allowed in case the computer hangs up; however users should not shut down these computers when they leave the room. The following software is available for use on this computer.
    MaxIM DL
    Microsoft Office
    RealVNC viewer
    SAS
    IDL

Computers at the Observatory

  1. Camera-Obvs: This computer is reserved for bringing up images from CCD and Guide Camera's using MaxIM DL. Users should only use this computer to bring up MaxIM DL via the telescope computer.   Users are not allowed to install any kind of software even if it does not require admin access.  Remote Restart is allowed in case the computer hangs up, however, it should not be shut down since once the computer is physically off it cannot be rebooted remotely. Users are also specifically asked not to use the Browsers to visit social websites or view their emails. Remember this computer is remotely accessible and other user can view the screen when they login.
  2. Camera-2-Obvs: At present this computer is reserved for the seeing monitor and it's under development. Further details will be provided later. Users cannot access this computer at present.
  3. Telescope-Obvs: This computer is reserved for the telescope. Users should only use this computer to bring up ACE software and control the telescope.   Users are not allowed to install any kind of software even if it does not require admin access.  Remote Restart is allowed in case the computer hangs up, however, it should not be shut down since once the computer is physically off it cannot be rebooted remotely. Users are also specifically asked not to use the Browsers to visit social websites or view their emails. Remember this computer is remotely accessible and other user can view the screen when they login.
  4. Astronomer-Obvs: This computer is reserved for auxiliary observatory equipment that requires remote access or use equipment that is independent of the telescope and the science camera. It can be accessible remotely via RealVNC.   Remote Restart is allowed in case the computer hangs up, however, it should not be shut down since once the computer is physically off it cannot be rebooted remotely. Users can use the Internet browsers however, remember that this computer is remotely accessible and other user can view the screen when they login.  The following applications are installed on this machine.
    WeatherLink: This software is to display the weather station data.  This application need to remain running at all times from the observer account so that it can send the weather data to the telescope computer. Do not shut down this computer. If you do log off the observer account for some reason then once you are done log back in to the observer account and restart the WeatherLink software and lock the computer instead of logging off.
    Stellarium: This is planetarium software.
    Skype: To enable voice communication between observers at the observatory and remote users.
  5. Suraj-Obvs: This is a Linux based system and we have plans to install IRAF and other Linux based astronomy applications on it.

This document is subject to revision as and when it becomes necessary