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SARA
The Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy
Date | Name | Affiliation | Other Observers | Instrument | Hours Observed | Hours Lost | Reason | Observing Program |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
05/17/2025 | Zach Savery | University of Delaware | Kaylee Grace | CCD | 3 | 7 | Other | Dome had to be closed at ~11 pm Mountain time due to dust/smoke warning. Warning was in affect for the rest of the night. |
05/16/2025 | Zach Savery | University of Delaware | Millie Dill, Kaylee Grace | CCD | 10 | 0 | Other | KPNO Sky cam linked on Weather page is frozen at 22:28 UTC May 15th. Forgot to report yesterday with losing the hours due to the dust/smoke. no other issues |
05/15/2025 | Zach Savery | University of Delaware | Millie Dill, Kaylee Grace | CCD | 0 | 10 | Other | Dust/Smoke particle level in the atmosphere prevented the dome from being opened. |
05/13/2025 | Alejandra Goded | IAC | No | ARC CCD | 2 | 3 | Clouds | Student research projects on exoplanet transit, 2nd half night. |
05/11/2025 | Gary D Henson | ETSU | none | Arc CCD and Spectrograph | 0 | 8 | Clouds | Clouds, some wind, chance of dust. Very poor night so never opened. |
05/10/2025 | William Keel | University of Alabama | 3 cats | ARC CCD | 4 | 0 | No problems to report | Transient followup. Focus=423800; feels like focus has hysteresis of a few hundred units trying to reproduce it (focus did seem to slide around or jump a lot). Guide focus 32050. |
05/07/2025 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | n/a | ARC | 7 | 2 | Clouds | eclipsing binary and other. Mountain closed first two hours for threatening clouds, so no eve flats. All seemed fine till the last hour when target was around +1.5 HA and the focus looked bad and couldn't recover; seemed a spontaneous shift out of nowhere. I was also thrown off for the first few hours of Bessel BV data as I had set the binning to single in the ARC Simple window, but the sequence had previously been used with the setting of the first two filters for 2 and I had BV double binned and my R single binned that worked with my flats obtained in the morning and the darks/bias frames from earlier before sunset, so I've asked on Discord for Bessel BV double binned flats and bias frames if someone can share. Shortly after zenith parking the scope and starting my morning flats I lost connection to both computers and it took a few minutes to regain connection, but all was still as I left it and I rushed to finish flats. I stowed the scope, shut the mirror covers and dome and homed the dome, watching with the camera. |
05/02/2025 | Walter Van Hamme | FIU | Samec | ARC Camera | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | BVRI Observations of Short Period Binaries, ASASSN-V123133.54+683809.2. |
05/01/2025 | Van Hamme | FIU | Samec | ARC Camera | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | BVRI Observations of Short Period Binaries, ASASSN-V123133.54+683809.2. |
05/06/2025 | Kurtis Williams | ETAMU | none | ARC | 6 | 1 | Software/Control PC Issues | Stable, clear night. Sequence froze on ACE software; about 1 total hour lost recovering - quick recovery method worked, but this groggy brain just took 20 min to notice it was frozen and took things very slow during recovery. Temp steady at 8.4C all night; focus steady at 423500 for Bessell V. |
05/05/2025 | Aarran Shaw | Butler | NONE | CCD | 0 | 8 | Humidity | Didn't even open. 100% humidity and threatening clouds. |
05/04/2025 | Martha A. Leake | Valdosta State University | none | CCD | 0 | 9.5 | Other | Combination: Unable to connect to SARA KP (using Radmin), weather issue: 20-35 km/h winds caused Dome Closure:"Domes closed due to Dust/smoke in air" at 2021 NST, Waited an hour after this before filing report. The connection issue may just be Valdosta and our Radmin program. Now we are under a thunderstorm, which was not the case two hours ago. Time here: 12:49 am EDT. I did not open the dome because of the connection issue. |
04/30/2025 | William Keel | University of Alabama | 2 cats | ARC CCD | 9 | 0.2 | Software/Control PC Issues | AGN-ionized clouds. Focus 423600, guider focus 32250. ACE control crashed once, apparently after a filter move took too long. |
04/29/2025 | Matt Wood | ETAMU | NA | CCD | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | CV time series. Great night. Focus 421840. |
04/28/2025 | Matt Wood | ETAMU | NA | CCD | 4 | 4 | Connection Issues | Time series of CVs. About 4 hours in lost contact with SARATEL. Couldn't reconnect. Shut down observatory. Emailed Todd and Peter. |
04/27/2025 | Kurtis Williams | ETAMU | none | ARC | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | Time series photometry. Only minor issue was with autoguiding. I was able to connect camera, focus (eventually), and start guiding, but it never stabilized (star faded error when it wandered too far away). I tried twice with same star and result, then gave up since I didn't need guiding. No other problems. Pointing was excellent. |
04/26/2025 | Matt Wood | ETAMU | NA | CCD | 4 | 4 | Other | KPNO Domes closed due to dust/smoke, so I did, too.
Time series of AM CVn. Focus 419400. Autoguider wasn't connecting, but I forgot to ask for help with that and was too lazy to reboot.
|
04/25/2025 | Matt Wood | ETAMU | NA | CCD | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | CV Time series. Focus 419400. |
04/24/2025 | Ken Watanabe | FGCU | Jacob Kinney, Max Smuda | Leach | 3 | 4 | Other | Dome had to be closed due to dust halfway through night |
04/21/2025 | Nayra RodrÃguez Eugenio | IAC | none | ARC CCD | 5 | 0 | No problems to report | Student research projects on exoplanet transit and SN follow-up, 2nd half night. |
04/21/2025 | Ken Rumstay | VSU (Emeritus) | None | CCD camera | 8.5 | 0 | No problems to report | AGN variability program |
04/20/2025 | Billy Quarles | East Texas A&M University | None | CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | TESS eclipsing binaries, clear skies, good night |
04/19/2025 | Billy Quarles | East Texas A&M University | None | CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | TESS EBs, a little hazy, otherwise good night |
04/18/2025 | Todd Hillwig | Valparaiso University | None | CCD | 0 | 10 | Clouds | Domes closed due to threatening clouds, and overcast skies forecast for the remainder of the night, so giving up early. |
04/16/2025 | James Webb | Florida International University | none | CCD | 2 | 0 | No problems to report | Blazars monitoring |
04/15/2025 | Gary D Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | Arc CCD and Spectrograph | 4 | 5 | Wind | Mountain shut down for high winds from about 10 pm to 2:30 am MST. |
04/14/2025 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | n/a | ARC | 4.5 | 4 | Clouds | Eclipsing binary in Bessel BVR captured an eclipse with a late opening of the dome when the mountain opened domes around midnight MST, but clouds plagued sunrise and no flats were obtained. Telescope was found parked at zenith (not the stowed position). |
04/11/2025 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | Exoplanets. No problems. |
04/09/2025 | Tali Natan | University of Delaware | Easton Honaker, Kaylee Grace, Patrick Stanley, Millie Dill, Zach Savery | ASCOM | 10 | 0 | Other | Spectra of bet CMi and T CrB - pointing was off by about 7' in Dec |
04/05/2025 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | n/a | ARC | 5 | 3 | Clouds | EB program. R flats had a strange arcing shadow in bottom left (posted image in Discord kp channel) but didn't see the same thing in B or V, so I avoided R data for the night. Possible issue with first quarter moon near zenith where I was taking them? Clouds middle of night shut down mountain for a few hours. |
04/04/2025 | Martha A. Leake | Valdosta State University | none | CCD | 0 | 9 | Other | Asteroid photometry planned. Combination of late start due to 4 public shows; a message at 11 EDT (17:38 MT):"Domes are Closed due to threatening clouds; followed by an announcement at 20:12 April 4 that domes are OPEN; continued clouds in the area; and some local technical difficulties. Not risking it and not certain that the all clear will hold, so filed this report at 12:59 EDT on April 5, 2025.. |
04/02/2025 | Yong Sheng | Clemson University | Dieter Hartmann | Leach BESSEL R | 4 | 5 | Humidity | Clemson blazar study. Closed due to high humidity (>80%) |
04/01/2025 | Fauerbach | FGCU | NA | CCD | 0 | 10 | Other | Never logged in: Domes are CLOSED due to: dust/smoke in the air |
03/31/2025 | Michael Fauerbach | FGCU | NA | CCD | 3 | 7 | Humidity | Asteroid photometry. Clouds early in the night then suddenly high humidity |
03/29/2025 | Michael Fauerbach | FGCU | NA | CCD | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | Asteroid photometry |
03/28/2025 | Samuel Quinutolo | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University | Collin Sunes | SARA North 0.9m | 4.5 | 1-2 | Clouds | No issues, the TCS froze for a brief moment but returned to normal, weather was fine and the covers were closed, shutter closed, and telescope stowed with no issues except clouds most of the night. |
03/27/2025 | William | Univ. of Alabama | 3 cats | ARC CCD | 7.5 | 0 | No problems to report | AGN-ionized clouds. Focus 484000, guide focus 0. Bias and darks show ~10 ADU gradient along y axis. |
03/25/2025 | Watanabe | FGCU | Max Smuda, Jacob Kinney, Jonathan Zielinski | KP | 2 | 0 | No problems to report | M94 galaxy observation. No issues to report. Telescope parked at zenith, auto dome is off, dome is closed. |
03/24/2025 | Michael Fauerbach | FGCU | NA | CCD | 9 | 10 | No problems to report | Asteroid photometry
After target asteroids got to low, tried to take some pretty pictures, but the telescope was not tracking properly -trailing stars. Closed a bit early. |
03/23/2025 | Ken Rumstay | VSU (Emeritus) | None | CCD camera | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | AGN variability program. As has happened before, when I started light did not reach the camera. Recycling power to the spectrograph bench solved the problem. |
03/19/2025 | Nayra RodrÃguez | IAC | Alejandra Goded | ARC CCD | 4.5 | 0 | No problems to report | Exoplanet transit and SNae follow-up, 2nd half night |
03/18/2025 | Yong Sheng | Clemson University | Dieter Hartmann | Leach Bessel R | 6 | 1 | Software/Control PC Issues | Tracking stopped several times by itself. I finally need to restart the software to solve this issue. |
03/17/2025 | Michael Fauerbach, Ken Watanabe | Florida Gulf Coast University | Max Smuda, Jacob Kinney, Jonathan Zielinski | KP | 0 | 11 | Clouds | Domes closed due to "threatening clouds" |
03/16/2025 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 4 | 0 | No problems to report | Variable Stars. No problems. |
03/15/2025 | Gary Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | CCD & Spectrograph | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | Massive Star Spectroscopy, everything working fine. |
03/13/2025 | Gary Henson | ETSU | none | CCD | 0 | 10 | Humidity | Clouds and Humidity / No observer on schedule but noted poor weather closed mountain so filing report for better usage statistics. |
03/14/2025 | Gary Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | CCD & Spectrograph | 0 | 10 | Humidity | High Humidity, rain & snow threat throughout night. |
03/12/2025 | Yong Sheng | Clemson University | Dieter Hartmann | Leach R | 0 | 11 | Humidity | Clemson blazar study. Didn't open due to humidity. |
03/10/2025 | Gary Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | CCD & Spectrograph | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | Colliding Wind Binaries spectroscopy and Variable Star Photometry |
03/06/2025 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware/Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory | Millie Dill, Zach Savery | CCD | 0 | 11 | Wind | Unable to open due to wind, threatening clouds, and rain/snow :( |
03/05/2025 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware/Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory | Millie Dill, Easton Honaker, Tali Natan | CCD | 0 | 11 | Clouds | Unable to open due to threatening clouds :( |
03/04/2025 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware/Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory | Millie Dill, Easton Honaker, Tali Natan, Zach Savery | CCD | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Observing was good all night! Stayed in the green in terms of dust, so we were able to get ~8 hours of observations of a pulsating WD. |
03/03/2025 | james webb | FIU | none | CCD | 0 | 12 | Other | Blazar monitoring
It was very clear, but I saw this on the kpno web site: Domes are CLOSED due to: dust/smoke in the air
Elevated dust counts and dust settling on surfaces. So I immediately closed the telescope and dome. No sign of this on the all sky camera so i had no idea until I read the dome opening status. No sign of smoke on spacewatch all sky camera.
|
03/01/2025 | Michael Fauerbach | FGCU | NA | CCD | 0 | 10 | Other | Just when I was about to log in, the Dome Opening Status changed to: Domes are CLOSED due to: dust/smoke in the air. Elevated levels of dust in the air. Never changed during the night. |
02/26/2025 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | n/a | ARC | 8 | 0 | Other | EB program, T CrB monitor and ASASSN 24fw. I noticed that first half of night following things from E to W that the dome would lag tele by almost 40 degrees and there was a slight gradient across the field (no moon). I tried homing the dome and turning auto dome off/on and reset but it still stayed about 33 deg separate. This gradient seemed less or gone when I completely moved to a newly rising object far E for the rest of the night and was only 6 degrees separation of dome/tele, so is this gradient some vignetting??? |
02/25/2025 | William Keel | University of Alabama | 3 cats | ARC CCD | 8 | 1 | Software/Control PC Issues | AGN-ionized clouds. Focus 504700, guider focus 32550. Weird event: started 60m exposure. Looked in later, noticed that the wrong filter was in place. On closer inspection, it had been running shorter exposures in the filter sequence in the sequence tab (though I clicked on the ACE Simple button). Restarted exposure - then countdown clock was running at something like 10x clock speed. I unchecked all lines in the sequence tab and things returned to normal. |
02/25/2025 | Emily Cunningham | Texas A&M University - Commerce | None | - | 11 | 0 | No problems to report | NA |
02/22/2025 | Aarran Shaw | Butler | N/A | CCD | 7.5 | 0 | No problems to report | Great night, my first good night at KP in a while. Observed an intermediate polar. |
02/21/2025 | Ken Rumstay | VSU (Emeritus) | None | CCD camera | 10.5 | 0.3 | Other | AGN variability program.
Telescope pointing and tracking very good. When I started to take evening flat field frames I discovered that light was not reaching the CCD camera. Following Keefe Kamp's (email message of February 16th) I suspected that the spectrograph arm was blocking the beam. Recycling power to the spectrograph remedied the problem. |
02/14/2025 | Gary Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | CCD & Spectrograph | 0 | 10 | Humidity | High humidity, rain and snow threat for night. |
02/13/2025 | Gary Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | CCD & Spectrograph | 0 | 10 | Clouds | Heavy cloud cover all night. |
02/12/2025 | Gary Henson | ETSU | none | CCD & Spectrograph | 0 | 10 | Clouds | Not scheduled for the night, but tracking weather for the week and night would be lost to clouds anyway. |
02/10/2025 | Gary Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | CCD & Spectrograph | 8 | 2 | Clouds | No problems to report, some intermediate cirrus clouds with bright moon first couple hours then mostly clear skies. |
02/08/2025 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | na | ARC | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | Lots of high thin clouds all night with an hour here and there mostly clear, but was still able to get a couple eclipses in. |
02/07/2025 | William Keel | University of Alabama | 3 cats | ARC CCD | 9.5 | 0 | No problems to report | H II regions. Focus 500500, guider focus 32800. Seeing was good, so focus needed frequent tweaking to take advantage. Still see vignetting on W side; did an exI\posure sequence with dome tracking off as a test. |
02/06/2025 | James | Agnes Scott | Roper | ARC Camera | 0 | 8 | Equipment Failure | ARC camera failure |
02/06/2025 | Matt Wood | ETAMU | NA | CCD | 13 | 0 | Equipment Failure | Time series of CVs. Thank you to Kurtis Williams for reminding me the procedure for getting the auto guider working, and to Bill Keel for posting the starting focus value of ~31000 for focus for that.
Problem: The x-stage does not seem to be moving at all. Every position gives the same field. I was fortunate to have a star in the position it is at, but pointed away from the galactic plane it could be an issue. Overall an excellent night. |
02/05/2025 | Matt Wood | ETAMU | NA | CCD | 13 | 0 | No problems to report | Time series obs of CVs. Seeing 1" most of the night. Focus 488300-49100.
CCD only cooling to -33C. Peter checked in early night and noted he'll pump it down again on Thursday. |
02/01/2025 | Martha A. Leake | Valdosta State University | Norlund | Leach CCD | 0 | 12 | Connection Issues | Connection issues may have resulted from recent internet problems at VSU. Not expected as other computers nearby able to connect. Radmin messages noted TPI/IP errors or connectivity failure. No one responded to available telescope. Weather fine. |
01/31/2025 | William Keel | University of Alabama | 1 cat. | ARC CCD | 8 | 3 | Clouds | AGN emission clouds. Focus 489000 (but it slid around a lot, once messing up a 60m exposure). Had to re-initialize guider focus; afterward good value is 31250. Guider x-stage may not be moving. Tried short darks during night and short light exposures with mirror cover closed, trying to track down apparent stray light. |
01/31/2025 | Jadia Ewing | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University | Stephen Gillam | 0.9 meter | 7 | 0 | Other | No big problems to report. Just wanted to note that counts for bias level seemed to come from interference with shutters closed. Was not sure why. Other than that observing was good. |
01/29/2025 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | na | ARC | 0 | 11 | Humidity | Never opened due to high humidity and threat of snow. Connected earlier to check after internet outage that was reported for firewall updates and it seemed fine to the telescope (didn't check cam pc). |
01/26/2025 | Stephen Gillam | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University | TJ Matney | SARA South 0.9m | 9.75 | 0 | No problems to report | N/A |
01/25/2025 | Stephen Gillam | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach | TJ Matney, Jadia Ewing | SARA North 0.9m | 7 | .5 | Wind | MaxIm DL stopped responding at 2030 local time. Restarted program.
Closed dome at 220 local time due to sustained high wind. |
01/25/2025 | Stephen Gillam | ERAU | None | Leach camera | 1 | 9 | Clouds | Microvariables. |
01/23/2025 | Hodari James | Agnes Scott | AST 200L Students | ARC Camera | 5 | 0 | No problems to report | AST 200L Training |
01/22/2025 | William Keel | University of Alabama | 4 cats | ARC CCD | 5 | 6 | Clouds | AGN-ionized clouds; did extra flats and targets at a wide dec range to check recent possible dome issues. Focus 481600, guider focus 0. I saw a recurrence of the weird QSI multi-image readout problem (where the same star would show up multiple times on the same column, usually cured by repeating the exposure). |
01/20/2025 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 6 | 0 | No problems to report | No problems, although I could never get a good focus. M31, variable star. |
01/19/2025 | Robert Berrington | Ball State University | none | arc | 10.5 | 0 | No problems to report | Connection was slow at the beginning of the night, and terminated my connection a few times, but did not affect the observations. |
01/17/2025 | Yong Sheng | Clemson University | Dieter Hartmann | Leach BVRI | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Clemson University transients study. |
01/10/2025 | Yong Sheng | Clemson University | Dieter Hartmann | CCD BVRI | 0 | 12 | Equipment Failure | The dome is not communicating, can't open the dome. |
01/07/2025 | Berrington | Ball State University | none | arc | 0 | 12 | Other | Mountain was closed due to dust and smoke warning. |
01/08/2025 | Gary Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | CCD & Spectrograph | 0 | 11 | Clouds | Very dusty atmosphere reported by WIYN and 4M LTO's for entire night. Closed right after getting brief flats. |
01/04/2025 | Yong Sheng | Clemson University | Dieter Hartmann | CCD BVRI | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Clemson transients study. |
01/05/2025 | Gary Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | CCD & Spectrograph | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | No Problems, H-alpha monitoring M31 and Massive Star Spectra |
01/03/2025 | William Keel | University of Alabama | not even time for cats | ARC CCD | 1 | 11 | Clouds | Clouds thickened fast. Focus 533000, guider focus 32250. |
01/02/2025 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | na | ARC | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | EB program BVR filters. |
12/29/2024 | Billy Quarles | East Texas A&M University | None | CCD | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Observed TESS eclipsing binaries |
12/28/2024 | Yong Sheng | Clemson University | Dieter Hartmann | CCD | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Clemson blazar and transient study. |
12/19/2024 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware/MCAO | Millie Dill, Zach Savery | Andor CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | Observed a pulsating white dwarf. No problems to report. |
12/19/2024 | Millie Dill | University of Delaware/MCAO | Kaylee Grace and Zachary Savery | CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | |
12/17/2024 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware/MCAO | Millie Dill, Zach Savery | Andor CCD | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Observed a pulsating white dwarf! No problems to report. |
12/14/2024 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | na | ARC | 2.5 | 8 | Clouds | EB program. No probs, though focus seemed really high from last month. |
12/10/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler Univ | none | ccd | 9 | 2 | Software/Control PC Issues | eclipsing binaries.
The CCD computer rebooted itself for no apparent reasons. |
12/08/2024 | James Webb | Florida International University | none | CCD | 0 | 8 | Connection Issues | Blazars variability
Logged into camera and telescope computer early to take bias images. Then the ACE program on the telescope control computer failed to respond to commands. I could use other programs, but ACE refused to respond to any commands. Worked for a hour or so before giving up. I am using an old computer so it could have been communication issues with my PC and RADMIN. Tried to log into the SARA North computer with my office computer this morning and it will not respond.
Jim |
12/08/2024 | Martha Leake | Valdosta State University | Marissa Norlund and Romeo Montague | ARC CCD | 12 | 0.5 | Other | Students observed various objects; I observed asteroids and comets. East of the pier, we noted a trailing, probably not the same issue as the west (no problems there, and I reached 2.5 HA without problem; the short streak was similar to the old bounce that was observed after slewing and beginning too soon after. It was noticeable when beginning observations at the new location. Weather great, no information suggesting wind gusts. |
12/06/2024 | Ken Rumstay | VSU (Emeritus) | None | CCD camera | 12 | 1 | Clouds | AGN variability program. The KPNO 4-m operator reported domes closed at start of night, due to threatening clouds. Got the OK to open after about an hour.
The telescope tracking and pointing were good, but had some trouble identifying an optimum focus. At one point, advancing the focus setting by a few thousand didn't seem to result in any change in the image quality (FWHM). |
12/02/2024 | Michael Fauerbach | FGCU | NA | CCD | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | Asteroid photometry
it was a good night. |
12/04/2024 | Van Hamme | FIU | Samec | ARC Camera | 11 | 1 | No problems to report | Photometric observations of contact binaries, ASASSN-V J011224.78+324555.3 and ASASSN-V J070545.44+834129.8. |
11/29/2024 | Millie D. | University of Delaware and MCAO | Kaylee G., Zachary S. | CCD | 0 | 9 | Clouds | Observing pulsating white dwarf HL Tau 76. Thick cloud coverage -- reported to last the rest of the night. Did not attempt to open dome due to this. |
11/23/2024 | Yong Sheng | Clemson University | Dieter Hartmann | CCD | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Student teaching, transient monitoring |
11/23/2024 | Billy Quarles | East Texas A&M University | None | Leach Camera | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Eclipsing binaries. Excellent night, no problems to report. |
11/19/2024 | Yong Sheng | Clemson University | Dieter Hartmann | CCD | 11 | 1 | Other | The tracking went bad sometimes and it was unpredictable. The time lost due this issue. |
11/21/2024 | Hodari James | Agnes Scott College | Students | Arc Camera | 4-5 hours | 4 hours | Software/Control PC Issues | Observing variability of active K Dwarfs. Issues with the telescope Focus. Could not get it focused after the first hour. |
11/18/2024 | Todd R Vaccaro | Ball State University | Bob and Wyatt | ARC | 12 | .2 | Software/Control PC Issues | Eclipsing binaries. Early on, within the first hour or so of tracking on a target tracking was lost and auto dome switched off, lost a few data points in eclipse egress. No other problems except focusing issues. Also, the first attempt to move the telescope continues to hang and needs to be told twice. |
11/17/2024 | Gary D Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | CCD & Spectrograph | 11 | 0 | No problems to report | Spectroscopy of Massive Stars & Photometry of Exoplanet Light Curves, excellent night all-around |
11/13/2024 | Yong Sheng | Clemson University | 9 | ARC CCD BRIV | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | Teaching students for optical observing experience. |
11/16/2024 | Stephen Gillam | ERAU | Thomas Matney | ARC Camera | 6 | 0 | Humidity | Micro Variables |
11/09/2024 | Jadia Ewing | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University | Stephen Gillam | SARA North 0.9-m Telescope | 9 | 0 | Other | A bit of trailing issues. Tends to trail to the right and had to correct for trailing. Other than this, it was good. |
11/08/2024 | Aarran Shaw | Butler University | N/A | Leach camera | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | CV candidates. Excellent night, no problems to report. |
11/07/2024 | William Keel | Unievrsity of Alabama | 3 cats | AFRC CCD | 6 | 0 | No problems to report | (2nd half of night after ASC observers, to whom I apologize for miscopying my own schedule entry) AGN ionized clouds. Focus 318000, guider focus 32050. |
11/07/2024 | Oralyn | Agnes Scott College | Dr. James | Kitt Peak Telescope | 4 | 0 | No problems to report | Observing Program: ASC PHY420 |
11/07/2024 | Samuel Quinutolo | Embry Riddle Aeronautical University | Jadia Ewinf | 2-1 Meter | 9 | 2 | Software/Control PC Issues | I am wrapping up and then started getting pop ups for anti virus software on the CCD Computer and the Telescope computer, I already wrote a report, but I have not seen this before and wanted to report this ASAP as I do not want to leave with potentially something harmful happening. |
11/07/2024 | Samuel Quinutolo | Embry Riddle Aeronautical University | Jadia Ewing | 2-1 Meter | 9 | 2 | No problems to report | Dome Shutter view camera is still down, we used low light exposures to ensure that the dome was closed after observation and stowed the telescope. |
11/05/2024 | William Keel | University of Alabama | 2 cats | ARC CCD | 11.5 | 0 | No problems to report | AGN-ionized clouds. Focus 325500, guider focus -600. (Lost one hour to feline exposure interference; I had forgotten that touching any key during an exposure will abort it, so stacking other windows on top may be wise). Guider focus was not changing with JOG buttons, even after re-initializing (which left it at focus 32050). |
11/05/2024 | Jadia Ewing | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University | Samuel Quinutolo, Stephen Gillam | 2.1 meter | 9 | 0 | Other | Camera not connecting/could not connect to the observatory. Focusing a bit off. The focus would jump at about a factor of 10. Other than that, smooth observing. |
11/03/2024 | Matt Wood | A&M-Commerce | None | CCD | 0 | All | Clouds | Clouds expected until midnight, which was after my primary target would have set, so I offered up the night, but no takers. |
10/26/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler University | Basra, Erickson, Nixon, McDonough | ccd | 11 | 0 | No problems to report | eclipsing binaries |
10/25/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler University | Basra, Erickson, Nixon, McDonough | ccd | 11 | 0 | No problems to report | eclipsing binaries |
10/24/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler University | Basra, Erickson, Nixon, McDonough | ccd | 11 | 0 | No problems to report | eclipsing binaries |
10/23/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler University | Basra, Erickson, Nixon, McDonough | CCD | 11 | 0 | No problems to report | eclipsing binaries |
10/30/2024 | Tomomi Otani | ERAU | None | CCD | 7.5 | 0 | No problems to report | Hot subdwarf photometry time series |
10/29/2024 | Tomomi Otani | ERAU | None | CCD | 7 | 0 | No problems to report | Hot subdwarf photometry time series |
10/27/2024 | Aarran Shaw | Butler | None | Leach Camera | 10 | 0 | Software/Control PC Issues | Perfect night! Observed CVs and CV candidates.
Issue on telescope PC: Keyboard input wasn't working properly - I couldn't type numbers or capital letters. Very weird. Had to bring up the virtual keyboard on the PC. Could be issue with my Macbook (though everything worked fine on the camera PC) but I thought I'd report it. |
10/20/2024 | Gary Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | Spectrograph & CCD | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | Comet and Massive Star Spectra, M31 H-alpha nova monitoring. Spectra guiding worked very well, did have brief instance of ACE program losing communication with control card (a bit worrisome, it's getting OLD) |
10/18/2024 | Gary D Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | Spectrograph & CCD | 7.5 | 0 | No problems to report | Spectra of Comet Atlas, Massive Binary, M31 Nova monitoring |
10/13/2024 | Michael Fauerbach | FGCU | NA | CCD | 7 | 1 | Clouds | asteroid photometry. Full Moon and high clouds were not ideal, but no technical issues to report. |
10/11/2024 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 0 | 11 | Connection Issues | Connected during the day to get flats, etc. CCD computer dropped off-line and could not connect to it or the observatory computer after that. No issues connecting to the telescope computer though-- it worked fine except that the CCD would not open through it either. |
10/09/2024 | Aarran Shaw | Butler | None | Leach Camera | 0 | All | Software/Control PC Issues | |
10/09/2024 | Matt Wood | A&M Commerce | None | CCD | 3 | 9 | Clouds | Clouds at beginning of night. In middle of night Camera computer rebooted itself with Virus Install as best as I can tell. This terminated the data collection. I couldn't find the restart instructions on either computer desktop. I restarted ACE on SARATEL, but when I tried to start the camera it had a failure mode. It's late enough in the night that I decided to give up. |
10/08/2024 | Matt Wood | A&M Commerce | None | CCD | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Time series photometry of cataclysmic variables. Had a difficult time with getting a good focus. Ended at 338400 later in night through IR Block filter. |
10/06/2024 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 11 | 0 | No problems to report | M31, Exoplanet. No problems. |
10/02/2024 | William Keel | University of Alabama | 4 cats | ARC CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | AGN extended clouds. Focus 333000, guider focus 4000. Guide camera did some weirdness at the start of the night (multiple images, not cooling) but settled down and ran fine for ~6 hours (2 disconnections - if you catch it right away and reconnect, guiding can resume). Peter connected, changed Windows settings in device manager to not power down USB ports to save power. |
10/01/2024 | Ken Rumstay | VSU (Emeritus) | None | CCD camera | 0 | 12 | Clouds | I was unable to observe; I offered the night to anyone who could use it, but had no takers. That turns out to have been a moot point; apparently domes on the mountain were closed all night due to "threatening clouds". |
09/30/2024 | William Keel | University of Alabama | 2 cats | ARC CCD | 8.5 | 1.5 | Software/Control PC Issues | AGN extended ionized clouds. Focus 333500, guider focus 4000. Tonight featured an epic duel with the autoguider. Long email is being sent to Gary and Peter with details. Guider settings with ARC camera; X rate +1, Y rate +1, angle=0. |
09/28/2024 | Ken Rumstay | VSU (Emeritus) | None | CCD camera | 10.5 | 0 | No problems to report | AGN variability. Good night, though seeing was not the best. The telescope systematically points slightly east of target after slewing. Also, on a few occasions an exposure would self-abort soon after starting. Was able to restart each time. |
09/26/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler Univ | none | ccd | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | eclipsing binary |
09/23/2024 | Mariel Lares-Martiz | ERAU | Caballero-Nieves | Spectrograph | 2 | 7 | Other | Maxim DL crashed while trying to operate the spectrograph. Seemed to work fine when relaunched. Could not get the stars to focus on the fiber plate. The Fiber focus maxed out at 2491, but the stars were still donuts. We could not find the fiber (due to not trying in the early evening) so decided to close for the night. Did not seem to be at the same coordinates in the spectrograph guide book. |
09/23/2024 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | N/a | ARC CCD | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | EB program and T CrB monitor |
09/20/2024 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 0 | 8 | Humidity | Humidity-- never opened. |
09/17/2024 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 4 | 5 | Humidity | The night started off clear but humidity began to rise so closed up around midnight. |
09/15/2024 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 0 | 9 | Clouds | Clouds and Humidity-- never opened. |
09/15/2024 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | N/a | Arc CCD | 5 | 6 | Clouds | Eclipsing binary. Tele PC still has a desktop resolution issue (no time to reboot machine to see if that fixes). Focus is hard to figure out, though clouds and humidity were a problem second half of the night (mnt closed b/c of humidity in the end). |
09/14/2024 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | N/A | ARC ccd | 8.5 | 1.5 | Humidity | Eclipsing binary star, T CrB monitor B and V. Always seems like the first attempt to move the tele doesn't work, have to stop it and try GO again. CCD pc connection quit on my RADMIN window 3 or 4 times, tele maybe once. The Tele pc display through RADMIN was very large and no setting in RADMIN or the display resolutions on tele pc made a difference, but no time to reboot machine, so I suffered the scrolling bars to see all of ACE. Tracking was not very good in the last hour or so at HA 4+ and before 2 airmasses. Focus may not be the best as I was at 520,000 and over 3" seeing seemingly all night till reopening and pulling it back a few thousand to get nearly 2" for the rest of the night. |
09/11/2024 | Walter Van Hamme | FIU | Samec | CCD | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Observations and analyses of short period Algols. ASASSN-V J223921. (Note: for some reason the entire image of the SARA observatory was not visible in Windows 10 and Windows 7 could not login in.)
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09/11/2024 | Van Hamme | FIU | Samec | CCD | 7 | 4 | Equipment Failure | I shut down since the camera stopped taking images. I accidentally put in 2500 seconds for B and had to cancel and abort to change to the correct value and the camera stopped taking images. I forgot how to reset myself. Please reset for tomorrow. I took flats for myself and another observer.
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09/07/2024 | Martha A. Leake | Valdosta State University | none | ARC CCD | 9 | 0.5 | No problems to report | Asteroid photometry for light curve and M31. Conditions were great, no storms as hinted by KPNO. Used JPL Horizons and SkyView Virtual Observatory to spot the asteroid. Pointing still west and south of center. Left the telescope in zenith park. Are the other stow positions still recommended? Thanks. |
09/04/2024 | Zach Savery | University of Delaware/MCAO | Kaylee Grace, Millie Dill | CCD | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | Photometric time series observations of G29-38 taken throughout the night. The dark frame counts are very similar to the bias frame ones. |
09/03/2024 | Zach Savery | University of Delaware/MCAO | Kaylee Grace, Millie Dill | CCD | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | Please ignore the previous 9/3 report, I messed up the date for the 9/2 observing. Photometric time series observations of G29-38 taken throughout the night. The dark frame counts seem to be at the same level as those for the bias frames. |
09/02/2024 | Zach Savery | University of Delaware/MCAO | Kaylee Grace, Millie Dill | CCD | 9 | 1 | Clouds | Cloudy during the first hour that target was observable. Telescope computer display was weirdly zoomed in. Photometric time series observations taken of G29-38 throughout the whole night. Kaylee fixed the telescope computer display issue. |
09/03/2024 | Zach Savery | University of Delaware/MCAO | Kaylee Grace, Millie Dill | CCD | 9 | 1 | Clouds | Cloudy during the first hour that object was observable. Telescope computer was displaying weird, very zoomed in. Photometric time series observations of G29-38 taken throughout the whole night. Kaylee fixed the display issue with the telescope computer. |
09/01/2024 | William Keel | University of Alabama | DragonCon Live Astronomy | ARC CCD | 6 | 0 | No problems to report | Outreach targets. Focus 506400, guide focus 3800. Dark current closer to std value. Guider disconnected when turned off after first target and would not reconnect later (didn't much want to do a ground-up system restart in front of an audience). 5m exposure tracked OK over most of sky. VNC, RAdmin both show only part of telescope computer display. |
08/31/2024 | William Keel | University of Alabama | DragonCon Space Track | AFC CCD | 0 | 5 | Clouds | Clouds never quite broke up enough during our half-night. |
08/30/2024 | William | University of Alabama | DragonCon Space Track | ARC CCD | 0.5 | 3 | Clouds | Outreach. Clouds allowed a quick set of flats but that was all. The dark current is about 80 ADU/hour rather than the usual ~2, while the Leach CCD connector client panel says -2 C and the ACE control panel says -89. That looks more like the higher temperature, or at least not what's usual around -90. |
07/15/2024 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware/MCAO | Easton Honaker, Tali Natan, Millie Dill | N/A | 0 | 8 | Clouds | Cloudy with a chance of rain. Not surprising since it was the last scheduled night before shutdown! |
06/27/2024 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 6 | 1 | No problems to report | No problems although clouds rolled in about an hour before morning twilight. |
06/28/2024 | Kurtis Williams | TAMU-C | none | ARC camera | 0 | 7 | Clouds | Clouds shut mountain for entire night. |
06/24/2024 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 0 | 7 | Clouds | Never opened due to clouds. |
06/21/2024 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 0 | 7 | Clouds | Clouds and dust. |
06/20/2024 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 0 | 7 | Clouds | Dust and clouds-- did not open. |
06/19/2024 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware/MCAO | Easton Honaker, Millie Dill, Tali Natan, Ben Mayhew, Zach Savery | CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | Observed a hot Helium atmosphere WD. The filter wheel is quite dusty (at least the Bessel V that we used) and a cleaning of it the next time someone's at KP would be much appreciated. No issues other than that! |
06/15/2024 | Martha A. Leake | Valdosta State University | none | ARC CCD | 8.3 | 0 | No problems to report | Observed asteroid Heard and M57. Weather clear without smoke or dust. Noted pointing still to west slightly, but was able to find the subject in a busy field. According to WIYN data, seeing was 1 arc second, at least in second half. Used SkyView VIrtual Observatory and JPL Horizons Web to find and track asteroid. |
06/14/2024 | William | University of Alabama | 3 cats | ARC CCD | 7 | 0.5 | Equipment Failure | AGN with extended emission clouds. Focus 507000, guide focus 0. Guide camera disconnected soon after local midnight and I never did get it to reconnect with MaxIm. (I did not try the power cycling that has sometimes been needed before, because that also warms up the CCD and takes ~1 hour out of the night) |
06/13/2024 | Tomomi Otani | ERAU | None | CCD | 6 | 2 | Clouds | Hot Subdwarf photometry time series. No issue occurred. |
06/13/2024 | Oswalt | ERAU | Boyer, Reynolds, Curtis, McGinley | Andor Camera | 5 | 5 | Clouds | Smoke or dust contributed to problems. |
06/11/2024 | Sherman Losey | TAMUC | Fardowsa Abdulle, Kurtis Williams | ARC Camera | 6 | 0 | No problems to report | White Dwarf photometry
Good weather and no problems. |
06/07/2024 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | N/A | ARC CCD | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | No real problems, but lost focus at end and never seemed to recover as good as it was. Best focus was around 2", seeing should've been at least that good. Eclipse timing in B and V with some early data on recurring nova T CrB pre outburst. |
06/05/2024 | Todd Hillwig | Valparaiso University | Leah Shafer, Hunter Wood | ARC CCD | 6 | 0 | No problems to report | Finished a little early...morning drive down to Tucson for our flight out. |
06/04/2024 | Todd Hillwig | Valparaiso University | Hunter Wood, Leah Shafer | ARC CCD | 8 | 0 | Software/Control PC Issues | Focus was still at non-physically high values. Ran to zero and reset. No focus problems after that. |
06/03/2024 | Todd Hillwig | Valparaiso University | Leah Shafer, Hunter Wood | ARC CCD | 8 | 0 | Software/Control PC Issues | The focus values ran away positive, eventually stopping at an encoder reading of 1269999. However, the actual telescope focus did not appear to change at all. Since the focus was good and we did not know what would happen if we attempted to change it, we did not do so. |
06/02/2024 | Todd Hillwig | Valparaiso University | Hunter Wood, Leah Shafer | ARC CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | On site observing. No issues. |
06/01/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler University | none | CCD | 8.5 | 0 | No problems to report | eclipsing binary. The network for Kitt Peak is perfect today. |
05/31/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler University | none | CCD | 8 | 0.5 | Connection Issues | eclipsing binary.
The Internet connection to both telescope and CCD computers are slow and keeps disconnecting. This did not happen on the previous day. |
05/30/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler University | none | CCD | 8.5 | 0 | No problems to report | eclipsing binary |
05/29/2024 | Kent Montgomery | A&M-Commerce | Caitlin Bell, Eloise Bradicich | CCD | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | No problems |
05/28/2024 | Kent Montgomery | A&M-Commerce | Caitlin Bell, Eloise Bradicich | CCD | 6 | 0 | No problems to report | Some thin clouds early but cleared up nicely |
05/23/2024 | Tom Rutherford | ETSU | None | CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | Everything worked well-- a few high cirrus clouds passed by this morning, but didn't cause any issues. |
05/21/2024 | Todd Vaccaro | Ball State University | Robert Berrington | ARC CCD | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | Tested the spectrograph, noted that the instructions show a figure of the FLI CCD at 10 deg C and large dark current obscurred long exposures of faint spectra, so set to -40 and seemed to fix. Initially moving the telescope required it to be sent to the target twice before it would move.
EB program for eclipse timings and light curves with spectra for velocities and detecting certain elements. |
05/19/2024 | Gary D Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | Spectrograph & CCD | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | Another excellent night with all equipment working well. |
05/18/2024 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware/MCAO | Millie Dill, Easton Honaker, Tali Natan, Zach Savery | CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | Observed a pulsating white dwarf. Stunning night! |
05/16/2024 | Gary D Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | Spectrograph & CCD | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | All working fine tonight, weather cleared just after sunset. |
05/15/2024 | Kurtis Williams | TAMU-C | none | ARC | 2.5 | 5 | Clouds | White dwarf time series photometry. Nice start to night until clouds rolled in (forecast was for mostly clear skies, but storms formed over the mountains) |
05/14/2024 | Ken Rumstay | VSU (Emeritus) | None | CCD imager | 9.5 | 0 | No problems to report | AGN variability program. The telescope tracking was very good. When slewing to a new object, the telescope points slightly northwest of target. Optimum focus (V filter) = 787000 at an ambient temperature of 55 Fahrenheit. |
05/13/2024 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware/MCAO | Millie Dill, Easton Honaker, Tali Natan, Zach Savery | CCD | 8 | 1 | Clouds | Observed a pulsating WD. Too cloudy at the beginning of the night, but once it cleared up about an hour or two in we were good for the rest of the night! |
05/12/2024 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware/MCAO | Millie Dill, Easton Honaker, Zach Savery | CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | We observed a pulsating WD for the night. |
05/11/2024 | Kaylee Grace | University of Delaware | Millie Dill, Easton Honaker, Zach Savery | CCD0 | 10 | 0 | Software/Control PC Issues | We observed a pulsating WD for the night. The filter wheel could use a cleaning. At one point the camera computer said it was restarting and then turned off. It had to be cycled to come back on but after that, we had no issues. |
05/10/2024 | Jim Webb | FIU | none | CCD | 2 | 5 | Connection Issues | Blazar microvariablity
local network a little flakey, worried about losing connection before closing dome.
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05/09/2024 | Tomomi Otani | ERAU | none | CCD | 7 | 0 | No problems to report | Photometry time series. It was a great night. |
05/07/2024 | William Keel | University of Alabama | 3 cats | ARC CCD | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | Giant ionized clouds around AGN. Focus 783000, guider focus 25000. |
05/06/2024 | Aarran Shaw | Butler University | None | Leach Camera | 5 | 3 | Other | Delayed opening due to WIYN weather report saying there was dust/smoke. Managed to open at 0630 UT, observed one known intermediate polar and another suspected intermediate polar. Once open, conditions were good! |
05/03/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler Univ | none | ccd | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | eclipsing binary |
05/02/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler Univ | none | ccd | 8 | 0 | No problems to report | eclipsing binaries |
05/01/2024 | Xianming Han | Butler University | none | ccd | 7.5 | 0 | No problems to report | eclipsing binary |
04/30/2024 | Matt Wood | A&M Commerce | NA | CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | Time series AM CVn and DQ Her. No problems. Great night. |
04/29/2024 | Matt Wood | A&M Commerce | NA | CCD | 10 | 0 | No problems to report | Good night. Sub arc sec seeing with IR Block filter. Focus 781316 with outside temp 15 C |
04/27/2024 | Gary D Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | Spectrograph & CCD | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | Another excellent night for weather and equipment all working fine. |
04/24/2024 | Gary Henson | ETSU | Rutherford | Spectrograph & CCD | 9 | 0 | No problems to report | Excellent clear night, telescope and all instruments working fine. |
04/21/2024 | Stephen Gillam | ERAU | Siriah Eaglin, Sally Kingan | ARC Camere | 7 | 3 | Software/Control PC Issues | Microvariables. Two hours from sunrise the camera client failed. The camera did not download. I closed and restarted the camera client. I was able to take a series of images without incident. Then the temperature readout flipped to -1000. The camera was still reading out and the background appeared normal so the camera had not warmed up. Then the filter wheel #1 started moving on its own. I reinitialized #1 wheel and it worked for a few minutes. Then the ACE client failed and the dome control failed. I closed and restarted the ACE telescope control and everything worked again. I also closed and restarted the Leach Camera client on the camera computer. The dome interface reported that it was ajar though I had not tried to close it. I then closed the dome and it appeared to work correctly. All the clients are functioning again. |
04/20/2024 | Gillam | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Universty | Barnier, Eaglin | ARC Camera | 9 | 0 | Clouds | Microvariables. Scattered clouds from 11-12 MST. Poor RA tracking in last half of observation. focus = 765382. |
04/13/2024 | Martha A. Leake | Valdosta State University | none | ARC CD | 12 | 0 | No problems to report | Asteroid photometry and Eagle Nebula. All worked well and weather was good, too. Pointing was very good. |
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