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Date
Name
Other Observers
Instrument
Hours Observed
Hours Lost
Reason
Observing Program
08/14/2025
Isaiah Cox
Dieter Hartmann
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Clemson blazars.
08/13/2025
Gary Henson
Rutherford
Andor CCD
6
0
No problems to report
Mainly training for Chilean observer, some Cirrus bands so a poor photometric night.
08/11/2025
William Keel
2 cats
Andor CCD #2
3.5
0
No problems to report
Observer training. Focus 127800.
08/09/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
0
11
Clouds
Cloudy all night-- never opened.
08/08/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
0
8
Connection Issues
Unable to connect to CCD computer (made several attempts) -- not an issue with the VPN since I had no problem connecting to the telescope computer.
08/01/2025
William Keel
Sam Grunblatt
Andor CCD #2
0
11
Snow
Webcam at dusk looked as if the whole mountaintop had fallen into diffuse colors.
07/31/2025
Van Hamme
Samec
ANDOR Camera
0
10
Clouds
Observations of near contact binaries.
07/30/2025
Walter Van Hamme
Samecv
ANDOR Cam
0
10
Clouds
Observations of Close Eclipsing Binaries.
07/29/2025
Billy Quarles
ETAMU REU
CCD
0
10
Clouds
Cloudy all day, forecast to persist through the night with >90% coverage. Did not open.
07/29/2025
Billy Quarles
Jacqueline Venuto
CCD
9
0
No problems to report
I was observing the exoplanet/Hot Jupiter HATS-12. Used a focus of 126502 for the entire duration.
07/27/2025
Michael Fauerbach
NA
CCD
2
9
Clouds
Clouds after a couple of hours
07/25/2025
Michael Fauerbach
NA
CCD
9
2
Clouds
Asteroid photometry, intermittent clouds
07/24/2025
Michael Fauerbach
NA
CCD
7
4
Clouds
Asteroid photometry. Clouds throughout most of the night, until it became completely overcast.
07/23/2025
Aarran Shaw
None
CCD Camera
7
4
Clouds
CV candidate. Clouds rolled in at around 2:30am so I called it a night.
07/21/2025
Kaylee Grace
Maura Kelley
CCD
5
0
No problems to report
Did some imaging! No problems to report :)
07/20/2025
Robert Berrington
none
arc
0
10
Clouds
Short Period variable star program. Persistent clouds prevented opening up.
07/20/2025
Billy Quarles
Sierra Kunigus
Andor
10
0
No problems to report
Observing asteroid (5132) Maynard. No issues. Found focus at 128600.
07/17/2025
Stephen Gillam
None
ARC Camera
10
0
No problems to report
Microvariables.
07/15/2025
Billy Quarles
Sierra Kunigus
Andor
9
0
No problems to report
Observing asteroid (5132) Maynard. Found focus at 127401.
07/14/2025
Kurtis Williams
ETAMU REU
Andor
0
12
Clouds
Sky was partly cloudy at sunset with clouds forecast to thicken and a slight chance of rain, so did not open.
07/13/2025
Billy Quarles
Jacqueline Venuto
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
I observed a Hot Jupiter. No problems to report. Used focus 126756.
07/12/2025
Billy Quarles
David von Meyer
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
Observing binary eclipsing stars.
07/10/2025
Kaylee Grace
Maura Kelley
CCD
6
0
No problems to report
Observed some asteroids and some Messier objects!
07/09/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
No problems. Exoplanet.
07/08/2025
Tom Rutherford
Faith Simmons
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
No problems. Exoplanet.
07/07/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
No problems. Comet 3I/ATLAS.
07/05/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
6
1
Other
Scattered clouds for the first hour or so but they eventually cleared. No issues (other than one I created).
07/04/2025
XIANMING HAN
Aidan Cain
ccd
10
0
No problems to report
star
07/03/2025
XIANMING HAN
Aidan Cain
ccd
10
0
No problems to report
star
07/02/2025
XIANMING HAN
Luke Evans
ccd
10
0
No problems to report
star
07/01/2025
XIANMING HAN
Luke Evans
ccd
2.5
8
Clouds
eclipsing binaries
06/30/2025
Robert Berrington
none
arc
0
11
Clouds
Short period variable star program. Cloudy night, and did not open as a result.
06/29/2025
Ava Webber
Dieter Hartmann
Andor CCD
11
0
No problems to report
Clemson Blazar study
06/28/2025
Fauerbach
NA
CCD
12
0
No problems to report
Asteroid photometry
06/27/2025
William Keel
1 cat
Andor CCD #2
10.5
1.5
Clouds
Nebulae and galaxies. Focus 124800.
06/26/2025
Aarran Shaw
N/A
CCD
8.5
0
No problems to report
CV candidate. Cut run short due to having to catch an early flight. Best focus found at 124700
06/25/2025
Billy Quarles
Sierra Kunigus
Andor
0
12
Clouds
Clouds and chance of rain in the forecast. Didn't open.
06/23/2025
Tomomi Otani
None
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Hot subdwarf photometry time series. It was a good night.
06/22/2025
Tomomi Otani
None
CCD
6
0
No problems to report
Hot subdwarf photometry time series. It was a great night.
06/21/2025
Robert Berrington
none
arc
3.5
6.5
Clouds
Short Period variable stars. Night was not a very good night with periodic clouds interfering with observing. Decided to call it quits at ~12AM.
06/20/2025
Martha A. Leake
none
Andor CCD13
13
0
No problems to report
Asteroid photometry and other objects. Pointing was great, connections good, sky clear.
06/18/2025
Xianming Han
Luke Evans, Aidan Cain
ccd
8.5
0
No problems to report
asteroid
06/18/2025
Billy Quarles
Sierra Kunigus
Andor CCD
6
0
No problems to report
Observing asteroid 6377 Cagney. Drop out says closing but not closed when logged on. Light clouds around sunset, dissipated by 12 AM UTC. Found focus at 124800.
06/16/2025
Billy Quarles
David von Meyer
CCD
7
3
Clouds
Observed Hot Jupiter. No problems to report.
06/15/2025
Isaiah Cox
Dieter Hartmann
CCD
0
11
Clouds
Cloudy all night.
06/13/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
0
11
Clouds
06/12/2025
Keefe Kamp
None
CCD
0
10
Clouds
Observatory was in the cloud layer
06/11/2025
Keefe Kamp
None
CCD
2
8
Clouds
Feild Observations around Be Star. No problems to report. Clouds rolled in 2 hours in.
06/09/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
0
11
Clouds
Couldn't get connected to the VPN. Night was cloudy until around midnight so might not have mattered.
06/10/2025
Tom Rutherford
Gary Henson
CCD
11
0
No problems to report
Exoplanet. No problems-- all went well.
06/08/2025
Garima Rajguru
Dieter Hartmann
Andor CCD
10
0
No problems to report
Clemson Blazar Study
06/07/2025
Robert Berrington
none
arc
0
10
Clouds
Night started clear, but clouded up just in time to start on my object. It remained cloudy the rest of the night.
06/05/2025
Michael Fauerbach
NA
CCD
8
2
Clouds
asteroid photometry. Clouds at sunset and early in the morning, but no technical issues.
06/04/2025
Michael Fauerbach
na
CCD
9
0.5
Software/Control PC Issues
asteroid photometry had some issues with the telescope not moving at the beginning of the night. A telescope computer reboot did the trick.
06/01/2025
Michael Fauerbach
NA
CCD
9
0
No problems to report
asteroid photometry. Plenty of cirrus clouds and the Moon, but no technical issues to report
05/30/2025
Ken Watanabe
Jonathan
Andor
12
0
No problems to report
Observed AGN target, everything shut, telescope parked.
05/28/2025
William Keel
3 cats
Andor CCD #2
11
0
No problems to report
AGN-ionized clouds. Focus 127500. Pointing good. Retrieved data using Google Drive through the VPN firewall thanks to a tip from Todd Hillwig.
05/26/2025
XIANMING HAN
none
ccd
0
11
Clouds
never opened
05/23/2025
XIANMING HAN
Luke Evans, Aidan Cain
ccd
10.5
0
No problems to report
asteroid
05/22/2025
XIANMING HAN
Luke, Aidan
ccd
11.5
0
No problems to report
asteroids
05/21/2025
Xianming Han
Luke Evans, Aidan Cain
ccd
11.5
0
No problems to report
asteroids
05/18/2025
Zach Savery
Millie Dill, Kaylee Grace
CCD
0
13
Clouds
Was cloudy all night, also had a decent chance of rain
05/16/2025
Ava Webber
Dieter Hartmann
Andor CCD
7
4
Software/Control PC Issues
The camera did not connect to the telescope as it should have when exposures were initiated. Peter helped fix the problem, and then I was able to observe the rest of the night.
05/18/2025
Tali Natan
None
CCD
0
11
Clouds
Trying to get photometry on B star; unable to observe due to dense cloud cover
05/17/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
0
11
Clouds
Cloudy-- never opened.
05/14/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
0
11
Clouds
Clouds-- never opened.
05/13/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
0
11
Clouds
Clouds-- never opened.
05/12/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
6
4
Clouds
Exoplanet. No issues, but clouds came in just after midnight. Pointing still very good.
05/10/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
Exoplanets. An excellent night. Target was almost dead center so the pointing issue seems to have been resolved.
05/03/2025
Billy Quarles
None
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
TESS EBs, clear skies, good night
05/02/2025
Todd Hillwig
None
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Pointing was good. Some high thin clouds, but all else went well.
05/01/2025
Michael Fauerbach
NA
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
Asteroid photometry. Time on camera computer within 1sec of actual time. Pointing was good.
04/28/2025
Todd Hillwig
None
CCD
8
0
Other
Telescope pointed about 12 arcminutes East of target. Computer time was correct (to within a second or so, as far as I could tell), so not sure what the cause was.
04/27/2025
Robert Berrington
none
Andor
10
0
Equipment Failure
Everything worked correctly except that the pointing of the telescope was consistently off by 950 seconds. To place the object in the center of the field required an offset applied of 950 seconds. This offset meant that the object was not within the camera field of view when the telescope was pointed to the object. The telescope control computer's clack was checked to see if it was off, but it was found to ahead of the time servers by approximately 5 seconds (4.7 seconds).
04/26/2025
Martha A. Leake
none
Andor
12
1
Software/Control PC Issues
Software limit to western sky reached by previous observer. I was able to combine tips from Tom R. and Todd H. and the manual to use the softpad to back out of the HA = 05 22 55.2 position, using the finer motions, watching the horizon map in the manual, and reaching a point (at Dec of -32 degrees) that the program allowed me to go to Zenith Park and proceed with observing. Took darks and biases, morning flats, images, and started transfer of data. Next biggest issue was pointing; it seemed like I was off an entire frame. Bill's suggestion considered. No asteroid photometry this night, but did get some observations to complement classes. Weather excellent. Reached sub arc second FWHM twice. Needed to finish up by 7:15 am, and did, although report filed at 1 pm. All disconnected at present. Zenith pa
04/25/2025
Mariel Lares Martiz
none
0.6
9
0
Software/Control PC Issues
When attempting to park the telescope at zenith to take twilight flats, the system displayed a "Reached software W limit" error. This prevented the telescope from moving further or completing the park to the zenith position. Additionally, it did not allow me to move the telescope manually or park it at coordinates (00:00:00, +15:00:00) or stow it. The issue could not be resolved during the session.
04/22/2025
Ken Watanabe
Jacob Kinney, Max Smuda
Andor
4
0
No problems to report
AGN target 3C 279. No issues. Dome closed and parked at requested position
04/21/2025
Kurtis Williams
none
Andor
12
0.5
Software/Control PC Issues
white dwarf time series. Weather was good. Only technical problem was needing to abort a series due to accidentally setting the binning to 1x2. The standard recovery didn't work, so had to try the auxiliary instructions. That worked but was slow due to lag. Accidentally closed ACE while shutting down for the night. Clocks were exact on Camera computer and 1.0 s fast on telescope computer. Pointing off by 9 arcmin west. Lots of lag on camera computer.
04/20/2025
Matt Wood
NA
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
CV Time Series. Bill's offset (RA,DEC) = (+750,30) still good. SARACAM/SARATEL clocks were wrong by +00:01:31 and -00:00:11 respectively. Synced TEL and eventually got CAM set correctly manually. Peter will look at this later today (via Discord communication).
04/19/2025
Matt Wood
NA
CCD
10
2
Clouds
Time series of CVs. Thanks to Todd for recovery after I had ACE freeze from errant keyboard stroke.
04/18/2025
William Keel
1 cat
Andor CCD #2
6
5
Clouds
AGN hosts. Focus 128100. Most targets found after offset +750", -30" from telescope pionting.
04/17/2025
Henry C Sanders
N/A
ARC Camera
6
0
No problems to report
ERAU, observing to get data for EP425 Observational Astronomy class, observed four T Tauri Stars for project, no issues encountered at all, and no suggestions to be made.
04/16/2025
Yong Sheng
Dieter Hartmann
Andor CCD griz
11
0
No problems to report
Clemson blazar study. The night went well.
04/14/2025
Ava Webber
Dieter Hartmann
Andor CCD griz
10
0
Software/Control PC Issues
When the Bessel R filter is in wheel 1, the camera stays idle and doesn’t expose when it’s switching from wheel 2 to wheel 1
04/10/2025
JamesASC
Kayla, Lucia, Lia, Faith
ARC Camera
5
0
Clouds
RA offset, and cloudy, but we were able to make it work and get some good data.
04/09/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
5
0
No problems to report
No issues except that the scope is mispointing. The target is just out of the field of view (by a little over half a field) to the east so scope is pointing too far west by 7-8 arc minutes. Checked the system clock and it seems to be behind by about 1 minute, 20 seconds so perhaps it is a time issue and not a pointing issue.
04/07/2025
Yong Sheng
Dieter Hartmann
Andor CCD griz
10
1
Connection Issues
During start of the night, the remote connection experienced persistent connectivity issues. The Radmin suffered frequent disconnections, accompanied by significant latency. I couldn't take any flats due to this connection issue.
04/06/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
When I first logged in, the telescope was at the western pointing limit, as if the previous observer had not parked it before closing up. Telescope returned to zenith without issue. No problems the rest of the night. Exoplanets were the target for the night.
04/04/2025
Billy Quarles
None
Andor
10
0
No problems to report
Observed TESS EBs, clear skies, excellent night.
04/03/2025
Ken Rumstay
None
CCD camera
10.5
0
No problems to report
AGN variability. No problems, save for telescope consistently slewing to a point about ten arcminutes west of target. An excellent night, with sub-arcsecind seeing.
03/30/2025
AST 200L
N/A
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Tracker was slightly off.
03/29/2025
Kaylee Grace
Tali Natan, Easton Honaker, Zach Savery
CCD
12
0
Software/Control PC Issues
Imaged a bunch of Messier Objects as part of our Messier Marathon! The sequencer wasn't saving images when we first attempted to use it, but closing and reopening the window seemed to fix it. The biggest issue was that our slewing seemed to always be off by about 2 arcminutes in right ascension, meaning that many of our objects were out of frame when we were supposedly at them. There was also a moment when auto done stopped working, after turning it off and back on all was well again.
03/28/2025
William Keel
1 cat
Andor CCD #2
9
0
No problems to report
AGN-ionized clouds. Most targets needed offsets 600" W to center. Focus 128400.
03/26/2025
Ken Watanabe
Max Smuda, Jacob Kinney
CT
1
10
Other
Managed to take bias/ darks and opened dome fine with tracking. When taking images, it looks like the mirror cover hadn't opened even though it said it had. Closed mirror cover and dome, set to park.
03/26/2025
Emily Cunningham
NA
-
9
0
No problems to report
-
03/22/2025
Henry C Sanders
N/A
FLI
7
0
No problems to report
ERAU EP 425 Class, for observation project. My project is on observing T Tauri Stars. I observed CE Antliae, TW Hydrae, T Chamaeleontis and CT Chamaeleontis. I used the g filter, i filter, and Ha 6563 filter. I encountered a problem with the filter wheel but I resolved it by using the "INIT wheel" buttons and returning the wheels to their home positions with an extra step in my sequence. Other than that, conditions were good and I got some good images.
03/20/2025
Yong Sheng
Dieter Hartmann
Andor griz
11
0
No problems to report
Clemson blazar study.
03/14/2025
Walter Van Hamme
Samec
Andor CCD
11
0
No problems to report
Observations of Southern Contact Systems.ASASSN-V J084417.51-181959.7, ASASSN-V J134702.89-572523.8.
03/13/2025
Walter Van Hamme
Samec
Andor Camera
12
2
Other
Observations of contact binaries. Needed MAXIM DL but could not locate it.
03/12/2025
Tom Rutherford
Henson
CCD
6
0.5
No problems to report
Variable star, exoplanet. No problems other than the scope was mis-pointing by quite a bit. G. Henson got that taken care of and everything seems to be working well.
03/08/2025
Martha A. Leake
Marissa Norlund
Andor CCD
12
0
No problems to report
Student training; observed clusters and nebulae, then continued with southern objects for class. All worked well, thanks to Ken's hints, Marissa's skill, good weather, and a lack of glitches. Transferring files now and will close VPN after that. Renamed the Tarantula Nebula.
03/04/2025
Billy Quarles
None
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
Observed TESS EB, clear skies, excellent night.
03/01/2025
Mariel Lares Martiz
none
FLI imager in the 0.6m
7
0
No problems to report
I shared the night with Dr. Otani. I started at 10pm eastern time. The observation session was conducted successfully without any incidents. Data collection proceeded as planned.
03/02/2025
Ken Rumstay
None
CCD camera
8.5
0
No problems to report
AGN variability program. Had to cycle power to the camera computer before starting. The telescope tracking was very good, but pointing was poor. The telescope consistently slews to a point west (by as much as 10') and north of target. A good night; one arcsecond seeing.
03/01/2025
Tomomi Otani
Keefe Kamp, Priyadashini Gokul-Dass
CCD
3
1.5
Equipment Failure
This is the report for the first half of the night (until midnight). Public outreach. The pointing was off (~about min in RA); however, the offset value was different depending on the sky. And we had trouble pointing to the object.
02/28/2025
James
AST 200 Lab
ARC Camera
4
0
Connection Issues
Observing AST 200L
02/23/2025
Walter Van Hamme
Samec
ANDOR Camera
8
0
No problems to report
Observations of interacting Binaries, ASASS084417, ASASS1347.
02/22/2025
Walter van Hamme
Samec
ANDOR
8
0
No problems to report
Observations of interacting Binaries, ASASS084417, ASASS1347.
02/26/2025
Kaylee Grace
Millie Dill, Zach Savery
CCD
9
0
Software/Control PC Issues
When we initially logged on, the Camera Computer wasn't responding. After a restart through the ACE Switch Rack, it was working fine, no further issues with that. The telescope was not tracking very well, it was moving slightly south in Dec over the course of the night, but not so fast that we couldn't correct for it. We imaged a helium atmosphere white dwarf.
02/25/2025
William Keel
2 cats
Andor CCD #2
9
0
No problems to report
Camera PC was unreachable in afternoon - rebooted and restarted software. Late in night, telescope tracking started to wander, very slowly writing in cursive on the sky. For last 3 targets (2hr E - 2hr W, dec -26 to -37) no more than half of 5-minute exposures were untrailed. Got "FAULTY ABSOLUTE DEC ENCODER" message when parking telescope at +30.
02/20/2025
Aaran Shaw
N/A
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Perfect conditions, observed a radio-selected X-ray binary candidate all night
02/21/2025
James
AST200L Students
ARC Camera
5
0
No problems to report
AST200L Class Observing
02/17/2025
Berrington
none
arc
10
0
No problems to report
Short-Period Variable stars. Other than the guide camera not working, it was a good, clear and productive night.
02/18/2025
Kaylee Grace
Zach Savery, Millie Dill
CCD
11
0
No problems to report
Observed a pulsating star. Telescope computer was a bit laggy, but no large issues. Clear night!
02/14/2025
James
Roper, Sandrini
ARC Camera
5
0
No problems to report
All was fine
02/10/2025
Kaylee Grace
Zach Savery
CCD
0
10
Other
Unfortunately our target object is just too close to the almost full moon. Every now and then we could get one or two good images, but between the moon and this one bank of clouds overhead, we called it. Beautiful night on the webcams! Not so much through the CCD.
02/06/2025
Kurtis Williams
Emily Cunningham
Andor
8
0
No problems to report
Time series photometry of white dwarfs. Excellent night, no problems.
02/03/2025
Ava Webber
Dieter Hartmann
Andor griz
8
0
No problems to report
Clemson Blazar Study
02/01/2025
Tomomi Otani
Erin Abraham, Keefe Kamp
CCD
6
0
No problems to report
01/31/2025
Hubbard James
AST-200L class
arc camera
5
0
Software/Control PC Issues
guiding appeared to be off.
01/30/2025
Aarran Shaw
N/A
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Observing a bright radio-selected XRB candidate
01/29/2025
Robert Berrington
none
arc
8
0
Other
Upon connecting to the telescope control computer, I immediately noticed that it must have been that the prior observer forgot to park the telescope. I found the telescope over at ~+6 hrs stopped at the west limit. I promptly backed off using the ACEpad and immediately moved to zenith. While this did not cause any time loss, It was clear that the prior observer did not finalize the night correctly.
01/27/2025
Antonio
Dieter
CT
8
0
No problems to report
Observed 4FGL J0303, 4FGL J0533, SDS J122101 and monitored the variability of 4FGL J0719
01/26/2025
Kaylee Grace
Zach Savery
CCD
9.5
0
Software/Control PC Issues
The telescope computer is running pretty laggy. No crashes or anything, just took quite a bit to respond to clicks. It was a beautiful night! Observing a WD, and saw the comet in the webcams thanks to Bill!
01/25/2025
Kurtis Williams
Olive (feline)
Andor
9
0
No problems to report
Night from VSU; excellent weather, subarcsec seeing(!) if Maxim FWHM is correct. Time series photometry in Luminance 5 filter. Time.is suggests computer clock is off by 4.4 sec. Lots of lag all night.
01/22/2025
Walter Van Hamme
Samec
ANDOR Camera
9
0
No problems to report
Observations of interesting contact systems, BC Eri, ASASSN1347-57,
01/21/2025
Walter VanHamme
Samec
ANDOR camera
9
0
No problems to report
Observations of interesting contact systems, BC Eri, ASASSN1347-57,
01/20/2025
Robert Berrington
nonw
arc
7
0
No problems to report
no problems.
01/19/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
5
0
No problems to report
Mp problems. Exoplanet.
01/18/2025
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Exoplanet. No problems!
01/10/2025
Kaylee Grace
Millie Dill, Zach Savery
CCD
9
0
No problems to report
Observed a pulsating white dwarf. Beautiful weather, no problems to report.
01/09/2025
Kaylee Grace
Millie Dill, Zach Savery
CCD
9
0
Software/Control PC Issues
Telescope computer appeared to have turned off/was unresponsive between closing last night and attempting to connect today. A restart from the switch rack fixed it, and we had no more issues. Observed a pulsating white dwarf.
01/08/2025
Kaylee Grace
Millie Dill, Zach Savery
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Our object rose early in the night so we stopped observations ~90 minutes earlier than we probably could have gone. All was well! No problems to report.
01/05/2025
Ava Webber
Dieter Hartmann
Andor griz
6
0
No problems to report
Clemson Blazar study
01/05/2025
Ava Webber
Dieter Hartmann
Andor griz
6
0
No problems to report
Clemson Blazer study
12/29/2024
Robert Berrington
none
arc
7
0
Equipment Failure
Guide camera appears to be producing images, but the light from the telescope is not making it to the camera. I do not know if this is known, but at time of twilight flats, I took a guide camera image and minimal light was making it to the camera even just prior to sunset.
12/09/2024
Walter Van Hamme
Samec
Andor Camera
8
0
No problems to report
Observing and analyzing interesting contact binaries.
12/21/2024
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Exoplanets. No problems.
12/22/2024
Garima Rajguru
Dieter Hartmann
ANDOR CCD griz
9
0
No problems to report
Clemson Blazar Study
12/20/2024
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Exoplanets. No problems.
12/19/2024
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
8
0
No problems to report
Exoplanet. No problems.
12/17/2024
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
0
8
Connection Issues
Could not connect to the CCD computer-- tried several times. Tried resetting the outlets, through the observatory computer, as well but that did not help.
12/10/2024
Ava Webber
Dieter Hartmann
Andor griz
9
0
No problems to report
Clemson Blazar study
12/08/2024
Tomomi Otani
None
CCD
6
0
No problems to report
subdwarf B photometry time series
12/08/2024
Tomomi Otani
None
CCD
6
0
No problems to report
sdB photometry time series.
12/05/2024
William Keel
Sam Grunblatt, AY203, 1 cat
Andor CCD #2
8.5
0
No problems to report
Class project, AGN hosts. Focus 127700. Telescope positions pretty far off; typical offsets to target (-920", -150")
12/04/2024
William Keel
San Grunblatt, AY203 students, 2 cats
Andor CCD #2
8
0
No problems to report
Class project data, AGN hosts. Focus 126700. Pointing pretty far off - typical offsets needed to center target after slew were (-800", -250").
11/30/2024
Yong Sheng
Dieter Hartmann
CCD griz
9
0
No problems to report
Clemson University blazar study
11/28/2024
Kaylee Grace
Millie Dill, Zach Savery
CCD
10
0
No problems to report
Observed WD 0420-478. No problems to report! Was a clear night with no connection issues.
11/27/2024
Millie D.
Kaylee G. and Zachary S.
Andor CCD
10
0
Connection Issues
Observing white dwarf W 0420-478. Issues: telescope computer kept disconnecting and then would freeze. Ra and Dec were only visible, hit esc and it went away. However, it would still freeze so it would take a while for it to go to original format.
11/28/2024
Millie D.
Kaylee G., Zachary S.
Andor CCD
10
0
No problems to report
Observing white dwarf WD 0420-478
11/22/2024
William Keel
2 cats
Andor CCD #2
8.5
0
No problems to report
AGN hosts, H II regions. Focus 127700.
11/21/2024
William Keel
Dean Townsley, AY203 class
Andor CCD #2
8.5
0
No problems to report
Class projects. Focus 127200. There are still low-airmass regions of the sky where 5-minute exposures trail in changing directions.
11/20/2024
William Keel
Sam Grunblatt, AY203 class
Andor CCD #2
8.5
0
No problems to report
Class objects, AGN hosts. Focus 128500.
11/19/2024
Isaiah Cox
Dieter Hartmann
CCD
9
0
No problems to report
Clemson blazars
11/02/2024
Yong Sheng
Dieter Hartamann
Andor CCD griz
9
0
No problems to report
Clemson blazar study
11/16/2024
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
6
1
Connection Issues
Exoplanet. Had trouble connecting to the camera computer at first-- G. Henson was able to get that sorted out and all worked well from then on out.
11/13/2024
William Keel
Sam Grunblatt, AY203 class
Andor CCD #2
8.5
0
No problems to report
Class project images - planets, stars, nebulae, clusters, galaxies. Focus 128500. Tracking accuracy varies wildly around the sky - longest exposures with round images range from 2-10 minutes depending on location.
11/09/2024
Martha A. Leake
none
Andor CCD
9.5
0
No problems to report
I didn't have any takers for Nov. 8, so I used it for imaging galaxies, nearby stars, hoping to use those in class.. Weather great. Typical offset to south and west.
11/08/2024
Berrington
none
arc
7.5
0
No problems to report
Telescope functioned properly except for one issue that did not stop observations. That is the connection issue with the guider.
11/06/2024
Walter Van Hamme
Samec
ARC Camera
9
0
No problems to report
Observations of WW Phe Light curve.
11/05/2024
Antonio Circiello
Dieter Hartmann
SARA CT
9
0
No problems to report
observed the following sources: 220100-300000, RBS 0097, 4FGL J0250.3-2422, BZQ J0324-2918, 4FGL J0501.0-2423.
11/01/2024
Kurtis Williams
none
Andor
0
11
Other
Observer was traveling to ETSU and forgot to put the night up for general use.
10/28/2024
Walter Van Hamme
Samec
ANDOR Camera
10
0
No problems to report
Observations of WW Phe.
10/27/2024
Walter VanHamme
SWamec
ANDOR Camers
9
null
No problems to report
Light curve Observations of WW Phe.
10/26/2024
Martha A. Leake
none
Andor
11
0
No problems to report
Asteroid light curve and southern objects. Wonderful night. Noted objects 4-5 arcminutes south of center of frame.
10/25/2024
Catalina Ávalos-Vega
-
CCD
7
null
No problems to report
Transit observed from 04:00 to 09:00 UT. Focus: 129551, and exposure time of 180s. No problems to report.
10/18/2024
Stephen Gillam
Jadia Ewing
Nador
7
0
Other
Pointing was off about 8 arcminutes in the west direction
10/18/2024
Stephen Gillam
Jadia Ewing
Nador
7
0
Other
Pointing was off about 8 arcminutes in the west direction
10/16/2024
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
9
0
No problems to report
Exoplanet. No problems at all-- everything worked well.
10/14/2024
Michael Fauerbach
NA
CCD
8
1
Clouds
focus on Trojan asteroid 317. Full Moon and clouds were not ideal and clouds got thick for a while in the middle of the night. Camera computer is 17seconds fast and I was unable to correct this. Pointing was off in both RA and DEC -object outside the FOV of telescope.
10/15/2024
William Keel
Sam Grunblatt, Astro 203 class
Andor CD #2
6
0
No problems to report
Class targets and operations demo. Focus 128100. Typical offset to center target after telescope slew was (-740",-300"). Pleased to find that HA limit for LMC is greater than 6 hours.
10/13/2024
Stephen Gillam
None
CCD Camera
0
9
Clouds
Microvariables.
10/10/2024
Catalina Ávalos-Vega
-
CCD
2
8
Humidity
The cloud level decreased during the night, however the humidity remained high during the night, reaching 80% > humidity. On the other hand, the temperature with the dew point had a difference of less than 5 units during the night. Therefore, only calibration images were taken.
10/08/2024
Billy Quarles
Matt Wood
CCD
0
12
Humidity
Closed due to humidity; increasing cloud cover for next 12 hours
10/06/2024
Catalina
-
CCD
null
null
Clouds
No observation due to the dense clouds in the sky.
10/02/2024
William Keel
4 cats
Andor CD #2
10
0
No problems to report
AGN hosts, nebulae. Focus 126800. Only issue was that tracking became very poor near 3 hours east, -10 degrees.
10/02/2024
Catalina Ávalos-Vega
-
CCD
6
1
No problems to report
Observation started at 22:30 UT and ended at 7:30 UT. During the night transit of TOI-4282 was observed with filter i' (00:57-05:41 UT) and focus 127201. Good weather conditions.
09/30/2024
Easton Honaker
Kaylee Grace, Zach Savery, Millie Dill
Andor
0
10
Clouds
Did not observe due to cloud coverage. Tried offloading older data following instructions from Discord. Could not because no internet on any computers. Radmin file transfer requires a windows computer but CTIO VPN is nearly impossible to install on windows. VNC file transfer requires a paid subscription.
09/29/2024
Stephen Gillam
Samuel Quinutolo, Jadia Ewing, TJ Matney
ARC Camera
9
0
Other
ROAp stars. At around 11:40 pm, we found the dome azimuth was very different to the telescope azimuth. i.e. Done: 317 deg vs. tele: 61 deg. Our images were not occluded or vignetted so we surmised that the dome encoder was reading incorrectly. An hour later the azimuths agreed again within a few degrees.
09/25/2024
Catalina Ávalos-Vega
-
CCD
7
2
No problems to report
The photometric quality of the night improved during the night. Transit of TOI-181 observed using SDSS i' filter. Good weather conditions. The camera PC is still not connected to the Internet.
09/21/2024
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
0
8
Clouds
Clouds-- never opened.
09/14/2024
Robert Berrington
none
arc
10
0
Connection Issues
Telescope and new Cisco AnyConnect VPN connection worked as expected for most of the night. At the beginning, before flat time the VPN connection was very unstable and quit several times. But once flats started the connection did not disconnect. I will note that it appears that the Dropbox connection does not appear to work under the new VPN connection. Therefore, must be downloaded via the Radmin file transfer protocol, and is considerably slower than transfer via Dropbox method
09/13/2024
Martha A. Leake
none
Andor CCD
10
0
No problems to report
Asteroid rotation rate and objects in southern sky. Some pointing issues, to south and west, but easy to work around. Weather good. Took flats in morning.
09/09/2024
Aarran Shaw
None
ARC Camera
2.5
7
Clouds
Gave it a good old college try but the clouds were too thick and variable. Showed no sign of getting better in the forecast. Gave up 2220 EDT
09/07/2024
Kurtis Williams
none
Andor
0
10
Clouds
09/07/2024
Catalina Ávalos-Vega
-
CCD
null
null
Clouds
High clouds, the observation could not be carried out.
09/01/2024
William Keel
DragonCon Live Astronomy
Andor CCD #2
3
0
No problems to report
Outreach objects. Focus 127200. Still no joy connecting to, for example, Dropbox to retrieve data.
08/31/2024
William Keel
DragonCon Space Track
Andor CCD #2
4
0
No problems to report
Outreach - galaxies, nebulae, JWST. Focus126200.
08/30/2024
William Keel
DragonCon Space Track
Andor CCD #2
3
0
No problems to report
Outreach - galaxies, nebulae. Focus 124800.
08/29/2024
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
3
7
Clouds
Clouds came in after about three hours so closed up. Exoplanet.
08/27/2024
Michael Fauerbach
NA
CCD
2
9
Clouds
Asteroid photometry. Cloudy early one then there was a 2-3h gap in the clouds before it got cloudy again.
08/26/2024
Michael Fauerbach
NA
CCD
11
0
No problems to report
Asteroid phptpmetry Camear PC is ~47 seconds fast.
08/26/2024
Catalina Ávalos-Vega
-
CCD
7
1
No problems to report
Transit of exoplanets. Clouds present in the observation. Telescope closed due to increasing clouds at 07:00 (UT).
08/20/2024
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
7
3
Clouds
Exoplanet. Clouds for the first few hours, but clear afterwards.
08/18/2024
Robert Berrington
none
arc
null
10
Clouds
clouds, did not open.
08/16/2024
Yong Sheng
Dieter Hartmann
Andor griz
0
10
Clouds
Many clouds all night, I can't observe at all.
08/15/2024
Tom Rutherford
None
CCD
0
10
Clouds
Cloudy all night-- never opened.
08/12/2024
Catalina Ávalos-Vega
-
CCD
12
null
Software/Control PC Issues
Observation night: [22:02 - 10:00 UT]. Objects observed: Satellites trails, NGC 5236 and TOI-307 transit. The ACE interface clock is advanced by about 2 seconds. This had an impact on the predictions of satellite positions at night. On the other hand, the camera computer still does not have Internet access.
08/07/2024
Michael Fauerbach
NA
CCD
11
0
No problems to report
asteroid photometry. As was mentioned before the lack of internet connectivity on the Camera computer is an issue -cannot check pointing accuracy). Time on the camera computer is off, too. I did not find a way to reset it to the actual time. This is a huge problem when sharing data with other observers or comparing data collected over several nigths.
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