ShowTel: a solar alarm system and real-time monitoring tool for the INAF radio telescopes

Abstract

This technical note describes the open-source Python package ShowTel and guides the user/observer to use this tool properly. ShowTel – successfully tested – is aimed at the real-time monitoring of the operations of a radio telescope during an observing session, such as (1) the status of the antenna control system, (2) general information about the observing session, (3) the angular distance between the Sun (and the Moon) and the radio telescope pointing, (4) the sky position of the Sun, Moon and the astrophysical object under observation, and (5) the Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) of the sky region pointed by the radio telescope, at the running observing frequency. ShowTel appears as an interactive widget that compactly and smartly shows in real-time all this information to the observer, to (1) mitigate unpleasant inconveniences during observation campaigns, and (2) check the proper working of the radio telescope. These inconveniences are reported to the observer thanks to an efficient alarm system, whose sound is audible also when the observer is temporarily far away from the control room of the radio telescope. This Python package is designed for the observing operations of the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT), but it can be easily suitable – with a specific tuning – also for other radio telescopes of the INAF Network (such as the Medicina "Gavril Grueff" Radio Telescope and the Noto Radio Telescope) in the near future. ShowTel represents a crucial tool to complete – and not to replace – the Sun avoidance system soon available in the DISCOS control system of the INAF radio telescopes, to automatically prevent the direct pointing of the antenna in the Sun (or in its proximity) during no-solar observation sessions.

ShowTel will be enhanced through the upgrading of SRT with the new cryogenically cooled receivers, operating in the frequency range 33 – 116 GHz, in the context of the National Operative Programme (Programma Operativo Nazionale-PON); this project will provide in the near future an upgrading with the new receivers up to 116 GHz also for the Grueff and Noto Radio Telescopes, to provide the scientific community with the instrumentation suited to the study of the Universe at high radio frequencies.