Table of Contents
This section describes the main updates to HSpot, relevant to all users, which have been made since the release of the final version version for Phase 2 of the Open Time Call (OT1) was made (HSpot v5.3.2). Users are strongly recommended to read this document in conjunction with the HSpot Users' Guide.
HSpot 6.3.x represents mainly further incremental changes over HSpot 6.2.0 and another round of fine tuning. The biggest change from a user's point of view in HSpot 6.x has been a major update of associated documentation. Most of the changes are related to in-house proposal handling and observational scheduling issues; these are background issues that the astronomer does not see and are hence not documented here. The changes listed are all the changes relevant to users in the different HSpot 6.x releases.
[PHS-1752] No visibility windows for Solar System Objects after 2013 April 20.
- Implication for user: As estimates of the helium lifetime have extended, the margin between the expected end of helium and the end of ephemerids for Solar System Objects and the expected end of helium has meant that there was almost no margin between the two dates and that no visibility windows could be calculated for targets with visibility that was only marginally past the most likely date for end of helium. The ephemerids have been extended to 2013 July 31 so that visibility windows can be calculated until then.
[PHS-1737] HSPOT GUI fails to start up correctly (New installer).
[PHS-1738] HSpot installer will not install on some versions of linux (New installer).
- Implication for user: These two patches fix a series of problems that some users were having using Linux on different platforms, particularly recent releases. Either HSpot refused to install completely, or would install, but would crash on start-up. These issues have been fixed by changing the HSpot installer. HSpot should now install and run correctly on all common flavours of Linux.
[PHS-1760] Background calculation fails for SSOs
- Implication for user: As the helium has lasted longer than was envisiged we found that certain applications within HSpot were failing for Solar System Objects as the ephemerids that they use for their calculations were ending before the likely end of helium. The ephemerids hosted at IPAC that were used for background calculations have been extended well beyond the likely end of helium so that even if the estimate of remaining helium is significantly in error it will still be possible to carry out a full background analysis.
[PHS-1698] HSPOT icons appear garbled when run under new Mac OSX operating system (LION).
- Implication for user: This is one of the muliple minor issues that has appeared with new versions of operating systems due to incompatibilities that have appeared since HSpot was developed initially.
[PHS-1755] Query errors when searching for catalogues in Vizier.
- Implication for user: This bug was due to a change in configuration outside HSpot and meant that HSpot options using Vizier catalogues were failing suddenly. Full functionality has now been restored.
[PHS-1679] Overlay AORs from HROST on HSpot images (also the non-scheduled ones).
- Implication for user: Users can now overlay any observation from the Herschel Reserved Observation list on an image, whether or not that observation has been scheduled already.
[PHS-1590] Add capability to save an image + overlays as FITS.
- Implication for user: Users can now save an image by overlay as a FITS file and not just as a one-dimensional image file (e.g. jpg).
[PHS-1658] Unable to print the cover sheet of a proposal in HSpot.
- Implication for user: A small incompatibility blocked this functionality, which is now restored.
[PHS-1666] HSPOT fails in plotting SSO path for a date close to a turning point of a beginning retrograde motion.
- Implication for user: HSpot would give an error when plotting a path if an Solar System Object was very close to its stationary point and starting to retrograde. This was a rarely-encountered interpolation problem and has been resolved now.
[PHS-1580] HSpot should be able to deal with deprecated mode without crashing.
[PHS-1639] Missing constraints in an xml should be acceptable when loading AORs.
[PHS-1661] HSpot should be able to load only part of an AOR file when problematic AORs are found.
- Implication for user: HSpot was very ungraceful in handling old AOR files which contained AORs using now-deprecated observing modes, or AORs with out of date parameters. Instead of crashing, it now gives a warning and does not load the deprecated or problematic AORs while loading the valid AORs correctly.
[PHS-14] HSPOT fits reader does not follow FITS standards for images.
- Implication for user: HSpot now follows FITs standard.
[PHS-1756] Small updates are required to HSpot Help.
- Implication for user: Further updates have been made in the On-line help to synchronise it with HSpot and to update information. This is the latest in a long series of updates to documentation in HSpot 6.x, some of them major, to keep the on-line documentation up-to-date.
[PHS-1739] New DDT/ToO proposals submitted through HSpot should generate an SMS alert.
- Implication for user: ToO and DDT proposals that are submitted by the user via HSpot trigger an immediate SMS alert to the Herschel Project Scientist, the On-Call Astronomer and the On-Call Mission Planner. This ensures that urgent ToO and DDT proposals submitted to HSpot out of normal working hours are handled more rapidly than when only an e-mail alert is generated that may be missed out of normal working hours.
[PHS-1711] Upgrade spot-common library to 19.9.3.
[PHS-1719] Upgrade spot-common library to 19.9.5.
- Implication for user: Updates to the spot-common library update functionality of HSpot that is provided by the Spot Core (i.e. hard-wired). These are minor upgrades to resolve specific, small issues.