Moore Observatory CDK20 April 15, 2008 8:17 PM EDT Clear 51F 33% humidity 30.2 in and slowly falling 1 MPH Fixed slew limit logical in the CPU since the last run Removed and reinstalled the RA cog belt Re-set the large cog belt set screw that had worked loose and dropped off Adjusted the tension in the RA drive to minimize backlash without binding Removed the STV and replaced with the Stellacam3 on the video server Trimmed the counterweight position xmtel-4.1-beta xmteld running on pegasus and xmtel + xephem running on wispi moore_dome_control_bytags xmccd-3.0-alpha on pegasus IRVBU filter set installed as 1-5 Removed covers on RA drive because it did not seem to work after balancing Works OK now after CPU reboot Dome is not reading tags 8:57 PM late twilight Pointing toward Cor Coroli east of pier with telescope west basis Focus 252 Set ds9 flip y rotate 90 Faint star image about 2 pixels Field_2 10s R shows trailing Field_3 10s R shows trailing image displaced 10 pixels EW 9:06 PM EDT Used monitor on the Stellacam to set best focus and adjust electronics: Gamma off Gain 67% Slow 6 On the video server the field still looks a little too black Slew to Cor Coroli Field_4 10s R not on target Used finder to center target; pointing was off EW about half a finder field Adjusted Stellacam for 75% gain field_5 10s R target in field pointing north of target 1/3 NS field Moved telescope north 5 minutes of arc Note xmtel in this mode is not updating "telescope" on a click properly Field_6 10s R target is now about 200 pixels south of center Moved telescope north 1.5 minutes field_7 target centered Set xmtel reference to Cor Coroli Offsets: RA = -00:08:27 Dec = -00:03:08 field_8 1s V Cor Coroli overexposed field_9 0.5s V Cor Coroli still overexposed but companion good field_10 0.25s R Cor Coroli still overexposed and companion out of focus? field_11 0.25s R telescope obviously not tracking well bu image sharper than 10 Core image is very nice, some blur, some mistrack field_12 0.25s R Cor Coroli nice field_13 0.25s R Cor Coroli blurred again Seeing averaged over a second or two is probably 2 arcseconds but on short exposures it's 1 or less 09:48 PM EDT field_14 0.25s V Cor Coroli a little RA trailing field_15 0.25s V smear in RA field_16 0.25s V better field_17 0.25s V bad field_18 0.25s V fair field_18 0.25s V fair field_20 0.25s V best Cor Coroli saturated and companion 11000 cts field_21 0.25s B Cor Coroli good field_22 0.25s U Cor Coroli good at but companion only 981 field_23 0.25s I Cor Coroli very sharp field_24 0.25s dark field_25 0.25s dark Centered Stellacam image Adjustment on the Stellacam mount works well along short axis (NS) and not on long axis (EW). I did the long axis centering by loosening the 1/4-20 camera mount screw. It should work both ways but with a triangular pull and a center ball push it's hard to generate an RA offset. 10:23 PM Tried to capture an image with the Nikon Command is gphoto2 --capture-image This put an image in RAM rather than on the card. Don't know why it did this, but I recall that it's necessary to set the Memory Card as a storage option and this option was lost at some point. Here's the command sequence to fix this: john@pegasus:~/observations/20080415> gphoto2 --get-config capturemode Label: Still Capture Mode Type: RADIO Current: Single Shot Choice: 0 Single Shot Choice: 1 Burst Choice: 2 Continuous Low Speed Choice: 3 Timer Choice: 4 Mirror Up john@pegasus:~/observations/20080415> gphoto2 --get-config capturetarget Label: Capture Target Type: RADIO Current: Internal RAM Choice: 0 Internal RAM Choice: 1 Memory card john@pegasus:~/observations/20080415> gphoto2 --set-config capturetarget=1 john@pegasus:~/observations/20080415> gphoto2 --get-config capturetarget Label: Capture Target Type: RADIO Current: Memory card Choice: 0 Internal RAM Choice: 1 Memory card Forgot that I had another instance of xmtel running on Wispi. This may have been why the telescope pointer icon was not working reliably. DSC_0053.JPG Cor Coroli field 10:33 slew to M3 Capture Nikon image of M3 field DSC_0054.JPG M3 field Shows distinct color differences for stars near M3 We shoult take a Nikon image of Karen's HD field m3_26 1s I M3 nice image but we're off in RA. That should not have happened. Maybe there was a backlash error in the RA zero. m3_27 1s I M3 setting 30 seconds RA to the east. Seems to have been in the wrong direction. Do I have EW flipped on this side of the pier? m3_28 1s I M3 Point now slightly north of M3 recenters image in frame NS. Correct ds9 settings are Invert Y Rotate 270 for pointing to the east (west basis) m3_29 1s I M3 m3_30 2s I M3 trail m3_31 2s I M3 good m3_32 4s I M3 very slight tracking error m3_34 4s I M3 tracking error m3_35 4s I M3 tracking/seeing comparable error m3_36 4s I M3 tracking/seeing comparable error m3_37 8s I M3 tracking error m3_38 8s I M3 tracking error m3_39 8s I M3 tracking error m3_40 8s I M3 tracking error m3_41 8s I M3 tracking error m3_42 8s I M3 tracking error Cannot get good 8s exposure but probability of a 2s exposure is useful m3_43 8s I M3 track ccd test shows usable star 800 cts above bkg m3_44 8s I M3 primary ccd m3_45 8s I M3 track ccd displaced reference star 18 pixels m3_46 1s I M3 track ccd reference star barely detectable above bkg Conclude: Limited to 2s without active guiding Need feedback within 1 second Need stars bright enough to be visible in tracker 11:04 PM m3_47 8s dark m3_48 4s dark m3_49 2s dark m3_50 1s dark m3_51 2s I M3 nice sharp image m3_52 2s R M3 poor m3_53 2s R M3 poor m3_54 2s R M3 poor m3_55 2s R M3 acceptable but not as good as I m3_56 2s V M3 lower signal than R and tracking error m3_57 2s V M3 acceptable but low signal m3_58 2s B M3 not much here needs longer exposure 11:14 PM Checking dome setting. Target azimuth is now 96 degrees. Dome is around 90. Note dome encoder is not reading, but dome is still OK. Moved counterweight down a few mm to add load making drive push load uphill m3_59 2s I M3 nice sharp image m3_60 4s I M3 some trailing m3_61 4s I M3 some trailing m3_62 4s I M3 good m3_63 8s I M3 bad m3_64 8s I M3 very slight error m3_65 8s I M3 bad m3_66 8s I M3 poor m3_67 8s I M3 poor Conclude: Loading to push uphill may improve a little but does not solve the problem of high frequency periodic error. Set TDI declination at 28.353 TDI delay is 40702537 nanosesconds Telescope set ahead of target at 13:40:18 where M3 is 13:42 11:34 PM m3_68 TDI I M3 shows about 6 pixels of drift in RA and a little in Dec Exposure finished about 11:42 Try decreasing TDI delay 6/10000 or 24000 ns. Decrease theta by 6/10000 or about 0.02 degrees. Trying theta 28.33 TDI delay set to 40693706 nanoseconds 11:50 PM starting TDI of M3 m3_69 TDI I M3 looks improved over 68 with trailing 3 or so in RA Trying theta 28.31 TDI delay set to 40686051 nanoseconds 12:03 AM starting TDI of M3 m3_70 TDI I M3 further improved but not quite there yet Dome azimuth is 90 but target is 96. Need to move dome. Lost finder image. The finder image is not quite as nice as the image we have in the RC dome through the Colorado Video averager. Trying theta 28.30 TDI delay set to 40682227 nanoseconds 12:20 AM starting TDI of M3 m3_71 TDI I M3 further improved Try one more to see what it does theta 28.28 TDI delay set to 40674585 nanoseconds 12:39 AM starting TDI of M3 m3_72 TDI I M3 perhaps slightly better than 70 but worse than 68 The changes in delay have had little effect. Perhaps there is something else going on with the timing that is bluring in RA? May be related to the stepping I saw in a image for the opposite basis where the TDI line transfer was in the wrong direction. Crashed ds9 while trying to overlay two TDI's. I think the error came from the cross-section view module I had running, and a failure in scaling. Restart xmccd with basename betalyr_. 1:23 AM Slew to beta Lyra. M3 had moved too close to the meridian and Lyra is rising. betalyr_1 2s I Altitude is low and the image seems to have a little blur/haze but this one is good. CCD had warmed up and needs to be re-cooled. Dark won't work on this image. Pointing quite good. betalyr_2 2s I CCD now at -19 and stablizing at -15 1:32 AM Slew to M57. m57_2 2s I Nothing visible. m57_3 20s I Test to see what's here. Faint ring. We're slightly off in RA. m57_4 20s R Change filter to bring out H\alpha. Maybe a little frost on the CCD. Warming and recooling might have caused some problems here. Tracking just a little off, but this is good for 20s. Probably need to refresh the CCD dessicant. m57_5 20s R m57_6 20s R m57_7 10s R Trying for one good one. m57_8 10s R As good as it gets. There's a little frost. Shows nice ring structure. 1:41 AM m57_9 10s dark frame m57_10 10s V should be OIII and H\beta but is poor tracking and needs longer exposure. m57_11 10s V poor m57_12 10s V good 1:45 AM DSC_053 Nikon image but dome is blocking 1:57 Am Slew to Nova Cygni V2491 XEphem reports an alitude of 22 degrees v2491_13 1s V v2491_14 1s B v2491_15 1s U faint v2491_16 1s I v2491_17 1s R V2491_18 1s dark -14.8 C stable 2:04 AM DSC_057 is Nikon image of the field shows trees but good color v2491_19 2s R seeing v2491_20 2s R tracking v2491_21 2s R v2491_22 2s V tracking v2491_23 2s V v2491_24 2s B tracking v2491_25 2s B v2491_26 2s U some signal here and acceptable tracking v2491_27 2s I tracking v2491_28 2s I companion faint to NE of HD186377 v2491_29 2s I companion faint to NE best v2491_30 2s dark v2491_31 2s dark 2:22 AM v2491_32 2s I HD186377 is the bright star in the north. Captured a jpg frame centered HD186377_V2491_22.jpg and another centered on the nova V2491_32.jpg Repeated Nikon exposure now that the object is out of the trees 2:45 AM DSC_058 Nikon image of V2491 region v2491_33 10s I as finder field with some image tracking blur v2491_34 10s I has about 13,000 cts in the likely target v2491_35 10s R v2491_36 10s R v2491_37 10s V v2491_38 10s B very bad tracking v2491_39 10s B v2491_40 10s dark v2491_41 2s I v2491_42 2s R v2491_43 2s V v2491_44 2s B v2491_45 2s dark From IAUCIRC 8935 and CBAT V2491 R.A. = 19h43m01s.96, Decl. = +32o19'13".8 (equinox 2000.0) Reported to be 9th mag on the 12th Revised pointing so that EOD in xmtel produced 2000.0 given here 3:17 AM v2491_46 2s I tracking v2491_47 2s I DSC_059 Nikon image of V2491 region v2491_48 2s I Tracking seems to worsen as we go up from the horizon. The counterweights are loaded slightly heavy so we are pushing uphill. Higher angle, more torque needed. I suspect it will work better the other way. Identified the nova and created a labelled jpg V2491_48.jpg 3:29 AM v2491_49 2s I v2491_50 2s R tracking v2491_51 2s R v2491_52 2s V v2491_53 2s B v2491_54 2s U no signal v2491_55 2s dark Shutdown Need to get flats. Note: replace RA drive motor with new spare to test planetary gear assembly for periodic error.