6-2D
Practicing interpreting an npoint
You have done two practice npoints, one manually and one with a command file. Each
time, you created a data file to record the results. Now, let’s try to find the interesting
data in your files.
Open up the data file you recorded—the one that ends in “.rad”—and you will see a
stream of numbers. Partway through, there is a line that starts with *NPOINT max.
After this, there is a number. This number is the number you want; this is the value that
best represents your measurement of the sun. For example, the picture below shows a
sample of what your data file might look like. In this file, the number that you want is
the number “716,” which is after the words “* NPOINT max.”
Now, look at your data files from both the manual and command file npoints. Find the
data (numbers) that you want and fill them in below:
Manual npoint value: _______________
Command file npoint value: __________ (optional)
1) Optional: in which case, manual or command file, did the SRT record more
“energy” from the Sun?
2) Optional: would you expect this to always be the case? Why or why not?