Given the observing time and frequency, task plplt
plots the
expected visibility function for a planet.
You will most likely want to check this visibility function
before observing and discovering that the planet is resolved out!
NOTE that mfboot
and plplt
do not include the effect of the
ATCA's primary beam - the planet is implicitly (and silently) assumed to be
small compared with the primary beam. This may not be the case at 3-mm.
If there is a significant change in the visibility function between baseline
lengths of 0 and 22 metres,
then primary beam effects are important, and you probably do not
want to use the planet (most likely it would be resolved out anyway).
Task planets
can give you basic information about a planet, including
rise and set times (but note these are quoted at the horizon, not the ATCA's
elevation limit), the planet's angular size at a particular time, and its
RA and DEC (note that the
ephemeris used for RA and DEC is not sufficiently accurate to point or
phase track the telescope).
Information on using the ATCA to observe a planet is available
on-line
Miriad manager
2016-06-21