Chandra CIAO

Introduction

This note explains how to set up the CIAO software for the Chandra satellite. We currently maintain several versions of this software. We no longer keep a 32bit version of CIAO. New users are advised to use the newest version.

Documentation

Documentation is available here.

Initialisation

Depending on which shell you are running (bash shell or t/c-shell), you run the appropriate script which sets various environment variables for CIAO. If you are not sure which shell you are running, the command 'echo $SHELL' will tell you. Most users will be using the bash shell.

Bash shell users

For setup in an interactive shell copy and paste this command:

source /usr/local/ciao64/ciao-4.15/bin/ciao.sh

If you want a more memorable shortcut way of running the command
above, put the following line into your ~/.bashrc file. Then next time
you log in, you only need type 'ciao' so initialise the software.

alias ciao='source /usr/local/ciao64/ciao-4.15/bin/ciao.sh'

Tcsh shell users

Copy and paste the following command to initialise ciao in the t/c-shell.

source /usr/local/ciao64/ciao-4.15/bin/ciao.csh

If you want a more memorable shortcut way of running the command above, put the following line into your ~/.cshrc file. Then next time you log in, you only need type 'ciao' so initialise the software.

alias ciao 'source /usr/local/ciao64/ciao-4.15/bin/ciao.sh'

Version

The latest version is 4.15.1 (Feb 2023)

Testing

After initialisation type a CIAO command such as:

check_ciao_caldb

Usage

Initialise and use the ciao commands.

Local Modifications

We maintain several older versions of ciao to retain compatibility with older data reductions and publications. Substitute the version number required for the current version in the initialisation command.

Related Software

MARX

Rhys Morris

Last modified: Tuesday, 07 February 2023