SARA 

Tom Rutherford

ETSU

None

CCD

5

0

No problems to report

Variable stars.

Kurtis Williams

TAMUC

Various felines

Andor

11

0

No problems to report

White dwarf time series. Computer clock off by 5.4s. No other problems; very nice night. Focus study at 129000 all night

Hodari-Sadiki Hubbard-James

Agnes Scott College

Maddy Buisch, Sasha Arbogast, Linda Ho, Maddie Hoffman, Olivia Joyner, Isabel Masawi, Namu Xiangze

ARC

6

4

Clouds

No Connection Issues. Clouds started to move in towards the middle of the night.

Scott Joffre

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann, yong Sheng

ccd

7

0

No problems to report

No issues. Pointing still slightly off but consistently so

Kaylee Grace

UD/MCAO

Millie Dill, Zach Savery, Tali Natan

CCD

9

1

Connection Issues

Imaged pulsating white dwarf EC14012. Had some issues with VNC Viewer towards the end of the night, kept freezing to the point where I had to restart my computer and re-log into the VPN for it to connect again. Called the night shortly after that as it started to make us nervous.

Antonio Circiello

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

Andor CCD griz

8

0

No problems to report

Clemson blazar study

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

Andor CCD griz

8

0

Software/Control PC Issues

The slewing was very slow at the beginning for around 10 minutes, but went back normal later.

Martha A. Leake

Valdosta State University

none

Andor

1.5

8.5

Equipment Failure

Several positive fixes for the telescope weren't enough. The same non-connection exists and may be the reason that sidereal time ran backward. Using the Andor camera from the Camera telescope does not afford the choices in saving your images or setting up a proper script. I was able to open and close dome, mirror covers, and use dome automation, but did not progress to tracking an object. Sara Observatory computer and its cameras were useful.

William Keel

University of Alabama

None

Andor CCD #2

0

9

Software/Control PC Issues

CCD can be operated from the camera window on the connector-client pane from the CCD computer, but trying to connect the OBSERVATIONS panel from the ACE control system on the telescope computer always waits a bit and says "could not connect to the camera. Please check that the camera computer is powered on and the ACE Node Service is running". This persists across restarts of the node service, connector client and ACE control. I got as far as finding a focus, then figured out why I could not identify any fields. The indicated UT, LST and RA all jump backwards (by up to 2 hours) every minute or two while the telescope is either stationary or tracking. It insists that it's December 30, 2023. Dome is closed, drive off, telescope parked at what may or may not be the meridian at +20.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

Andor CCD griz

0

8

Equipment Failure

A problem with the CCD camera at SARA-CT. It has not been fixed.

Tom Rutherford

ETSU

None

CCD

0

9

Equipment Failure

CCD camera would not download images-- seemed to hang on "exposing," but I don't know if it was actually exposing at all since it wouldn't download or save anything.

William Keel

University of Alabama

none

Andor #2

0

9

Equipment Failure

CCD temperature was cycling between -10 and -50 C, while telescope computer froze repeatedly. Brian Brondel checked in did some diagnostics and power cycling, with no joy. The last straw was the readout freezing while trying to do a series of darks to see whether the temperature was really doing that or it was a sensor issue.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

Andor griz

8

0

No problems to report

Clemson University blazar study.

Ken Rumstay

VSU (Emeritus)

None

CCD camera

9

0

No problems to report

Telescope tracking very good; telescope points north of target after slewing. Had to re-establish VPN connection several times. A Full Moon made for a bright sky.

Kaylee Grace

University of Delaware/MCAO

Millie Dill, Zach Savery

CCD

8

0

No problems to report

we looked at pulsating helium atmosphere white dwarf EGGR 63. realized our problem the last two nights was trying to slew from the H.A. tab instead of the R.A. tab. we are always learning! VNC had some connection issues again but it is hard to say if that's due to our less-than-ideal internet, the VPN connection, or something else.