CHIRON TOOLS: Integrated Target Submission, Scheduling and Observing Systems for a High Resolution Fiber Fed Spectrograph

Abstract

The CHIRON spectrometer is a new high-resolution, fiber-fed instrument on the 1.5 meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-America Observatory (CTIO). To optimize use of the instrument and limited human resources, we have designed an integrated set of web applications allowing target submission, observing script planning, nightly script execution and logging, and access to reduced data by multiple users. The unified and easy to use interface has dramatically reduced the time needed to submit and schedule observations and improved the efficiency and accuracy of nightly operations. We present our experience to help astronomers and project managers who need to plan for the scope of effort required to commission a queue-scheduled facility instrument.