SARA 

Patrick Stanley

University of Delaware

Jarrod Bieber

CCD

0

10

Equipment Failure

The CCD imager is reportedly broken

Patrick Stanley

University of Delaware

Angel Strobach, Caitlyn Mattison, Kaylee Grace

CCd

0

10

Equipment Failure

CCD is still broken

Patrick Stanley

University of Delaware

Millie, Kaylee, Zach

CCD

0

10

Equipment Failure

The CDD imager is still broken

Jarrod Bieber

MCAO / Univ. of Delaware

Patrick Stanley, Caitlyn Mattison, Ben Kaiser, Evelyn Palmer

SARA-KP

0

10

Equipment Failure

The CCD imager is reportedly broken, we were not able to observe with SARA-KP tonight.

Billy Quarles

ETAMU

None

Spectrograph

8

0

No problems to report

CCD cooler is still down, used spectrograph instead. Clear skies.

Keefe Kamp

ERAU

Sandlund

CCD

0

12

Equipment Failure

CCD Cooler is still down temp shows 21C

Yep

ASC

?

Spectrograph

0

8

Clouds

Clouds, humidity, wet weather

Gary Henson

ETSU

None

Spectrograph

0

9

Humidity

High Humidity, weather threat all night

Gary Henson

ETSU

none

Spectrograph

0

9

Humidity

Clouds, Rain, storm threat, never opened

Martha A. Leake

Valdosta State University

none

CCD

0

12

Connection Issues

Could not connect with the three computers. Information that CCD camera is not connected at present, although spectroscope may be available. Not ready for spectroscopy, especially without a CCD camera. Did no open. Weather at KPNO is "mostly clear" but there is a breeze tonight.

Alexandra Yep

Agnes Scott College

AST-300 Class

Spectrograph

3

0

No problems to report

Spectrograph and associated equipment all working! Had to cycle the spectrograph cabinet to get ACE to control the spectrograph. Then worked fine. Even the autoguiding worked! Yay! Pleased.

Ken Watanabe

Florida Gulf Coast University

Jonathan Zielinski

CCD

0

8

Equipment Failure

CCD Cooler down. Unable to observe.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

CCD

0

10

Equipment Failure

The CCD cooler is down, so we can't observe for photometry.

Ken Watanabe

Florida Gulf Coast University

Jonathan Zielinski

CCD

0

8

Equipment Failure

Unable to observe due to CCD cooler being down.

Kaylee Grace

University of Delaware/MCAO

N/A

N/A

0

8

Equipment Failure

Couldn't observe due to the cooler issues. Alas, no one in our group had a target for the spectrograph.

Robert Berrington

Ball State University

A486 Adv obs class

arc

8

2

Equipment Failure

Arc CCD camera was warm at the start of the night at -60 C, and cooled to about 67 C. I was not sure if this was because of coming out of monsoon season, and this was the first night that we have been observing. Also amp C was returning only zeros for the bias, but not for something like a flat. Not sure what is happening there. So I switched to Amp B which seemed to be working well.

William Keel

University of Alabama

none

ARC CCD

0

11

Equipment Failure

CCD warmed from -100 to -35 C while running darks and kept going, with dark rate 1 ADU/second per pixel. Peter thinks the dewar has lost vacuum (it was supposed to be pumped again when the mirror went out for recoating...)

Zach Savery

University of Delaware

Angel, Evelyn, and Caitlyn

CCD

0

11

Clouds

There were 30% chance of thunderstorms predicted at KP, so we didn't feel it was worth chancing.

Zach Savery

University of Delaware

Angel, Caitlyn, Ben, Evelyn, Jarrod, and Kaylee

CCD

10

1

Clouds

Lost the first hour right at sunset due to threatening clouds. Towards the morning when switch to a second target, there was a slight tracking issue causing oblong stars that moved across the CCD's frame. However, this was fixed by the telescope itself after a few minutes. Unsure what would have been the cause, maybe jumpy or sticky gear teeth.

Aarran Shaw

Butler

N/A

CCD

0

10

Humidity

Calling this one early, humidity hovering around 80, quite windy, clouds. Basically no chance of observing!

William Keel

University of Alabama

Nobody

ARC CCD

0

9

Clouds

Clouds. Brighter stripes in long darks suggest chip may still be recovering from very bright objects, or may have nonuniform temperature?

Xianming Han

Butler University

none

CCD

0

10

Humidity

none

Xianming Han

Butler University

none

CCD

0.5

9.5

Humidity

active star.

Alexandra Yep

Agnes Scott College

Mai Le, Gary Henson

Spectrograph

3

0

Software/Control PC Issues

Pretty good for the most part, focusers all working well, got some decent spectra of bright stars. However, the autoguider in X-stage Guider is not working! Isn't receiving anything from Maxim DL into X and Y Corrections, they're just stuck at 0. So, we had to guide manually using ACE SoftPad. Okay for short exposures, wouldn't be okay for long ones. Please fix.

Gary Henson

ETSU

none

Spectrograph

7.5

0

Software/Control PC Issues

Was able to observe, but ARC ccd stopped communication during pre-sunset test exposures and would not re-establish communication with computer. ACE software also not receiving corrections from Maxim guider software. Asked ACE to look into both issues.

Robert

Ball State University

none

arc

0

10

Clouds

clouds and high humidity prevented opening for the evening.

Martha A. Leake

Valdosta State University

none

CCD

0

9

Clouds

Conditions look too likely for thunderstorms and clouds, although the "Domes closed" warning has been removed. Forecast indicates 40-50% Thunder storms and showers. Not opening tonight and filing report early.

Gary Henson

ETSU

none

spectrograph

0

9

Clouds

NOTE: Leake report for 9/2 actually for 9/1 civil date. Clouds, light rain, humidity into early AM hours, never opened. Did set focus for spectrum and fiber for spectrograph and verified calibration lamp positions.

Martha A Leake

Valdosta State University

none

ccd

0

10

Clouds

Did not open: "Domes closed because of threatening clouds" at 10 pm MST (1:00 am EDT) Some precipitation in the area and up to 20% probability this evening and morning. Asteroid light curves will wait. Looks like similar weather all week.

William Keel

University of Alabama

DragonV\Con Live Astronomy

ARC CCD

5

0

No problems to report

Outreach objects, Focus 532500 (became unstable late). Focus close to starting value after monsoon shutdown. QSI camera could not be contacted by MaximDL.

William Keel

University of Alabama

DragonCon Live Astronomy

ARC CCD

0

4

Other

After Peter fixed dome and restored connection to ARC CCD, weirdness in post-monsoon grogginess remained, Zenith twilight sky (where Axis camera confirmed mirror cover was open and telescope pointed out open dome) show a single bright spot with extensions along x and y axes, plus scattered light artifacts. Doesn't look like shutter or filter (initialized both filter wheels). Thought it might be spectrograph pickoff in the beam - it never connected to the controller when I tried selecting its instrument tab.

Todd Vaccaro

Ball State University

n/a

ARC

0

7

Equipment Failure

EB and nova follow up denied mostly due to dome and ARC ccd not funcitioning enough to open (dome not showing position/open status and ccd warm), which is possibly due to extended power outages caused by storms and no one around to personally restart things. Only an hour or two was effectively lost since high humidity kept things shut most of the night.

Todd Vaccaro

Ball State University

n/a

ARC

0

7

Equipment Failure

EB and nova follow up denied mostly due to dome and ARC ccd not funcitioning enough to open (dome not showing position/open status and ccd warm), which is possibly due to extended power outages caused by storms and no one around to personally restart things. Only an hour or two was effectively lost since high humidity kept things shut most of the night.

Xianming Han

Butler University

Aidan Cain

ccd

0

8

Equipment Failure

Telescope dome is not functioning

Xianming Han

Butler University

Luke Evans

ccd

0

8

Clouds

clouds and dust. never opened.

Todd Vaccaro

Ball State University

n/a

ARC

0

7

Equipment Failure

EB and nova follow up, but never opened and gave up when dome wouldn't register position or open/closed and ccd was warm and never cooled. My log notes: -Near 8pm EDT I noticed that the KPNO page listed DOMES OPEN, way early and with rain looking clouds all over. Time listed was from ~1am last night, so left over note from when they did open when it cleared, but why did it show up late in the day before the Sun set? It did go back to No Status Found later on before the official word came out that domes were shut after sunset for threatening clouds. -Both CCD/TELE pc's looked freshly rebooted, nothing up, had to log on to tele and reset resolution to 1920x1080. -CCD warm! Can't cool. ACE on tele pc won't show info for Dome: Shutter, Dropout, or Azimuth (status=manual). Rebooting machine, ACE, full reset instructions for camera on both pc's didn't do the trick, even though ccd could take images and would save to my directory (fully saturated bias). Supposedly, it could have been a long power outage (storm?) that drained UPS and needs a manual, on-site reboot of ccd and dome, so never opened. KP domes opened around 21:30 their time, but closed again 1.5 hrs later for high humidity. -11:31 MST double checked that dome looked closed from dome cam (where are light controls?) and the ccd was only down to 24 C, so doesn't look like it was cooling. -Wait for word from Peter and/or ACE to have gone up there in the next day or two and hope that I get my Sat/Sunday nights.

Xianming Han

Butler Univ

Luke Evans

ccd

0

9

Clouds

none. never opened dome

Kurtis Williams

ETAMU

REU students

ARC Camera

0

9

Clouds

Due to threatening clouds, substantial chance of precipitation, and restored but still suspect internet connection, we chose not to attempt to observe. Never opened, never connected.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

CCD

0

9

Connection Issues

Connect is down.

Yong

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

CCD

0

9

Connection Issues

Connection is down.

Robert Berrington

Ball State University

none

arc

3

6

Connection Issues

Lost connection at ~12:45 AM local (KPNO) time, and the connection afterwards was unstable. At a similar time the clouds started to move in, so I called it quits.

Martha A. Leake

Valdosta State University

none

Leach CCD

0

8

Connection Issues

Unable to connect with telescope or camera control. Weather was good. I'm left at sunset there (3 hours here). Found the "original" KPNO weather link by using Favorite Links from the KPNO/NOIR pages. Radmin not able to connect; last week, my connection to CTIO was successful. Despite the outcome tonight, I appreciate all the time at SARA and still hope to visit each site (again for KP) some day.

Wiliam Keel

University of Alabama

None

ARC CCD

0

7

Connection Issues

Telescope remains unreachable due to fiber-optic break between Tucson and mountain. I blame extraterrestrials.

Stephen Gillam

ERAU

None

ARC Camera

0

10

Connection Issues

Micro-variables. Unable to connect to the computers.

Ken Rumstay

VSU (Emeritus)

None

CCD

0

8

Connection Issues

The connection problem with Kitt Peak persists. Not only can we not connect to the computers in the SARA facility, but several NOIRLab websites cannot be reached. Unfortunate; it looked like an excellent night.

Jonathan

FGCU

Xavier

CCD

0

10

Connection Issues

Unable to observe due to connection Issues. Tried connecting to telescope/camera, but could not. Weather conditions also would not load.

Gary Henson

ETSU

Rutherford

Spectrograph and CCD

0

8

Connection Issues

Internet connection to mountain down all night. Couldn't access observatory computers or any NOIRLab sites.

Isaiah Cox

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

CCD

0

8

Connection Issues

Very slow and laggy connection. Was kicked off at one point and took over half an hour to reconnect. Didn't try observing anything for fear of losing access with the dome open.

Billy Quarles

ETAMU

Jackie Venuto

CCD

8

2

Software/Control PC Issues

I was observing the transit of the Hot Jupiter TrES-1b. I was not able to refocus the telescope as the aperture could not read the FWHM of the center. of the target. As such, I was unable to continue until sunrise.

Todd Vaccaro

Ball State University

n/a

ARC

8

0

No problems to report

EB program. Tele pc screen resolution was low and needed to be adjusted in the advanced display settings to get it back to see the whole control window. I tried to connect the auto guider cam, but it didn't want to connect and I was already beginning my Johnson V and Cousins R sequence for my target and didn't pursue getting it to work, so I don't know if there was an actual issue or not.

Billy Quarles

ETAMU

Piper Spraker, Jackie Venuto, David Von Meyer, Sierra Kunigus

CCD

8

0.5

Connection Issues

Variable White Dwarf, Connection issues with VNC, would not let us log in for 40 minutes and timed out on connection. Was able to observe the rest of the night. Likely due to connection issue on mountain. Clear skies and good weather. Focus of 514886

Tom Rutherford

ETSU

None

CCD

2

0

No problems to report

M31. Scope was not in use so I got a quick set of data on M31 just before twilight began.

Tom Rutherford

ETSU

None

CCD

2

0

No problems to report

M31. Scope was not in use so I grabbed an observation of M31 just before twilight at the end of the night.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

Leach Bessel R

9

0

No problems to report

Clemson transients study.

Gary Henson

ETSU

none

Spectrograph

8

0

No problems to report

Spectroscopy of Colliding Wind Binaries (WR star) Still had guide camera hang up twice, even after computer restart.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

Leach Bessel R

9

0

No problems to report

Clemson transients study.

Gary Henson

ETSU

none

Spectrograph

8

0

No problems to report

Spectra of Colliding Wind Binaries - NOTE: Guide camera stopped responding twice during long exposures. Restart of CCD computer seemed to fix problem, perhaps a Windows garbage file issue with repeated I/O steps over time.

Stephen Gillam

ERAU

None

Leach Camera

9

0

No problems to report

Microvariables. No problems.

Kaylee Grace

University of Delaware/MCAO

Millie Dill, Zach Savery, Jarrod Bieber, Evelyn Palmer

CCD

9

0

No problems to report

Observed a pulsating white dwarf. The weather was beautiful, and observing went well. If the filter wheel at KP could be cleaned in the near future it would be much appreciated as its getting rather dusty. It's getting more difficult to find good places to put our target and comparison stars.

Kaylee Grace

University of Delaware/MCAO

Millie Dill, Zach Savery

CCD

0.5

8.5

Humidity

Took calibration frames and then got told there were threatening clouds and not to open. The warning was lifted at 2:38 AM KP time, but ~2 hours of observing time isn't great for our purposes.

Kaylee Grace

University of Delaware/MCAO

N/A

Andor CCD

0

10

Clouds

Cloudy and rainy :(

Xianming Han

Butler University

Luke Evans, Aidan Cain

ccd

4

4

Clouds

active star, clouds

Xianming Han

Butler University

Luke Evans, Aidan Cain

ccd

6

2

Other

stars, dusk in the early evening

Xianming Han

Butler University

Luke Evans, Aidan Cain

ccd

7

1

Clouds

Active star, clouds came in the morning

Xianming Han

Butler University

Luke Evans, Aidan Cain

ccd

8

0

Other

The Chrome web onedrive is locked to Ball State University. No one can access onedrive unless you are with Ball State University. I tried to click find if there is a way to untie Chrome from Ball State University without success.

Todd Vaccaro

Ball State University

n/a

ARC

7

1

Other

Eclipsing binary. The filter wheel 1 failed a couple times and required an initialization and cancelling/starting sequence (Bessel BVR) and first time went unnoticed for 30 minutes since it looked like the auto guider was going fine. I also spent over an hour on finding the right focus for the science cam, which ended up being 449249 to begin with and around midnight AZ time reduced about 1k to bring back into focus. I'm not sure MaxDL is giving the right arc sec seeing or if the small aperture size was deceiving me early on or what? The ccd pc doesn't seem to have a way to sync the clock? The server doesn't seem to be set on that machine to allow it to be done while the tele does, though I didn't think doing it put it spot on and it always was 0.5 or so off (more off on the ccd pc, but it finally came back as spot on in the internet browser).

Todd Hillwig

Valparaiso University

Osterhus, Blanton, Wood, Webber

CCD

8

0

No problems to report

The dome was not aligned properly at the beginning of the night. It was off by about 15 degrees and our first flat fields showed this clearly in the shape of the dust donuts. Adjusted by hand for flats. Sent the dome home after that and didn't notice any other problems during the night.

Todd Hillwig

Valparaiso University

Webber, Osterhus, Wood, Blanton

CCD

4

5

Clouds

Clouds for first half of night (thin clouds for 2 hours after that, but was able to be open).

Hillwig

Valparaiso University

Wood, Webber, Osterhus, Blanton

CCD

0

9

Other

Dust/smoke in the air, domes never opened.

Todd Hillwig

Valparaiso University

Blanton, Wood, Webber, Osterhus

CCD

8.5

0.5

Clouds

Evening flats are not usable because the dome was vignetting the telescope. Donuts on the images were slightly cut off on one side. Moving the dome clearly improved this until the donuts were completely round and symmetric. Had to turn off auto dome and manually move the dome to different azimuths until the donuts were round. Have three more nights on the telescope, so will try to get usable flats tomorrow.

Zach Savery

University of Delaware

Millie Dill, Kaylee Grace

CCD

0

10

Other

Dust/smoke prevented dome opening

Ken Watanabe

FGCU

Max Smuda

KP

0

11

Other

Dome is closed due to dust in air

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.

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

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.

Alejandra Goded

IAC

No

ARC CCD

2

3

Clouds

Student research projects on exoplanet transit, 2nd half night.

Gary D Henson

ETSU

none

Arc CCD and Spectrograph

0

8

Clouds

Clouds, some wind, chance of dust. Very poor night so never opened.

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.

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.

Walter Van Hamme

FIU

Samec

ARC Camera

10

0

No problems to report

BVRI Observations of Short Period Binaries, ASASSN-V123133.54+683809.2.

Van Hamme

FIU

Samec

ARC Camera

10

0

No problems to report

BVRI Observations of Short Period Binaries, ASASSN-V123133.54+683809.2.

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.

Aarran Shaw

Butler

NONE

CCD

0

8

Humidity

Didn't even open. 100% humidity and threatening clouds.

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.

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.

Matt Wood

ETAMU

NA

CCD

8

0

No problems to report

CV time series. Great night. Focus 421840.

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.

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.

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.

Matt Wood

ETAMU

NA

CCD

8

0

No problems to report

CV Time series. Focus 419400.

Ken Watanabe

FGCU

Jacob Kinney, Max Smuda

Leach

3

4

Other

Dome had to be closed due to dust halfway through night

Nayra Rodríguez Eugenio

IAC

none

ARC CCD

5

0

No problems to report

Student research projects on exoplanet transit and SN follow-up, 2nd half night.

Ken Rumstay

VSU (Emeritus)

None

CCD camera

8.5

0

No problems to report

AGN variability program

Billy Quarles

East Texas A&M University

None

CCD

10

0

No problems to report

TESS eclipsing binaries, clear skies, good night

Billy Quarles

East Texas A&M University

None

CCD

10

0

No problems to report

TESS EBs, a little hazy, otherwise good night

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.

James Webb

Florida International University

none

CCD

2

0

No problems to report

Blazars monitoring

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.

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).

Tom Rutherford

ETSU

None

CCD

9

0

No problems to report

Exoplanets. No problems.

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

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.

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..

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

Leach BESSEL R

4

5

Humidity

Clemson blazar study. Closed due to high humidity (>80%)

Fauerbach

FGCU

NA

CCD

0

10

Other

Never logged in: Domes are CLOSED due to: dust/smoke in the air

Michael Fauerbach

FGCU

NA

CCD

3

7

Humidity

Asteroid photometry. Clouds early in the night then suddenly high humidity

Michael Fauerbach

FGCU

NA

CCD

8

0

No problems to report

Asteroid photometry

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nayra Rodríguez

IAC

Alejandra Goded

ARC CCD

4.5

0

No problems to report

Exoplanet transit and SNae follow-up, 2nd half night

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.

Michael Fauerbach, Ken Watanabe

Florida Gulf Coast University

Max Smuda, Jacob Kinney, Jonathan Zielinski

KP

0

11

Clouds

Domes closed due to "threatening clouds"

Tom Rutherford

ETSU

None

CCD

4

0

No problems to report

Variable Stars. No problems.

Gary Henson

ETSU

Rutherford

CCD & Spectrograph

9

0

No problems to report

Massive Star Spectroscopy, everything working fine.

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.

Gary Henson

ETSU

Rutherford

CCD & Spectrograph

0

10

Humidity

High Humidity, rain & snow threat throughout night.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

Leach R

0

11

Humidity

Clemson blazar study. Didn't open due to humidity.

Gary Henson

ETSU

Rutherford

CCD & Spectrograph

10

0

No problems to report

Colliding Wind Binaries spectroscopy and Variable Star Photometry

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 :(

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 :(

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.

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.

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.

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???

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.

Emily Cunningham

Texas A&M University - Commerce

None

-

11

0

No problems to report

NA

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.

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.

Gary Henson

ETSU

Rutherford

CCD & Spectrograph

0

10

Humidity

High humidity, rain and snow threat for night.

Gary Henson

ETSU

Rutherford

CCD & Spectrograph

0

10

Clouds

Heavy cloud cover all night.

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.

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.

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.

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.

James

Agnes Scott

Roper

ARC Camera

0

8

Equipment Failure

ARC camera failure

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

Stephen Gillam

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

TJ Matney

SARA South 0.9m

9.75

0

No problems to report

N/A

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.

Stephen Gillam

ERAU

None

Leach camera

1

9

Clouds

Microvariables.

Hodari James

Agnes Scott

AST 200L Students

ARC Camera

5

0

No problems to report

AST 200L Training

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).

Tom Rutherford

ETSU

None

CCD

6

0

No problems to report

No problems, although I could never get a good focus. M31, variable star.

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.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

Leach BVRI

12

0

No problems to report

Clemson University transients study.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

CCD BVRI

0

12

Equipment Failure

The dome is not communicating, can't open the dome.

Berrington

Ball State University

none

arc

0

12

Other

Mountain was closed due to dust and smoke warning.

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.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

CCD BVRI

12

0

No problems to report

Clemson transients study.

Gary Henson

ETSU

Rutherford

CCD & Spectrograph

9

0

No problems to report

No Problems, H-alpha monitoring M31 and Massive Star Spectra

William Keel

University of Alabama

not even time for cats

ARC CCD

1

11

Clouds

Clouds thickened fast. Focus 533000, guider focus 32250.

Todd Vaccaro

Ball State University

na

ARC

12

0

No problems to report

EB program BVR filters.

Billy Quarles

East Texas A&M University

None

CCD

12

0

No problems to report

Observed TESS eclipsing binaries

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

CCD

12

0

No problems to report

Clemson blazar and transient study.

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.

Millie Dill

University of Delaware/MCAO

Kaylee Grace and Zachary Savery

CCD

10

0

No problems to report

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.

Todd Vaccaro

Ball State University

na

ARC

2.5

8

Clouds

EB program. No probs, though focus seemed really high from last month.

Xianming Han

Butler Univ

none

ccd

9

2

Software/Control PC Issues

eclipsing binaries. The CCD computer rebooted itself for no apparent reasons.

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

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.

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).

Michael Fauerbach

FGCU

NA

CCD

8

0

No problems to report

Asteroid photometry it was a good night.

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.

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.

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

Dieter Hartmann

CCD

12

0

No problems to report

Student teaching, transient monitoring

Billy Quarles

East Texas A&M University

None

Leach Camera

12

0

No problems to report

Eclipsing binaries. Excellent night, no problems to report.

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.

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.

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.

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

Yong Sheng

Clemson University

9

ARC CCD BRIV

9

0

No problems to report

Teaching students for optical observing experience.

Stephen Gillam

ERAU

Thomas Matney

ARC Camera

6

0

Humidity

Micro Variables

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.

Aarran Shaw

Butler University

N/A

Leach camera

10

0

No problems to report

CV candidates. Excellent night, no problems to report.

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.

Oralyn

Agnes Scott College

Dr. James

Kitt Peak Telescope

4

0

No problems to report

Observing Program: ASC PHY420

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Xianming Han

Butler University

Basra, Erickson, Nixon, McDonough

ccd

11

0

No problems to report

eclipsing binaries

Xianming Han

Butler University

Basra, Erickson, Nixon, McDonough

ccd

11

0

No problems to report

eclipsing binaries

Xianming Han

Butler University

Basra, Erickson, Nixon, McDonough

ccd

11

0

No problems to report

eclipsing binaries

Xianming Han

Butler University

Basra, Erickson, Nixon, McDonough

CCD

11

0

No problems to report

eclipsing binaries

Tomomi Otani

ERAU

None

CCD

7.5

0

No problems to report

Hot subdwarf photometry time series

Tomomi Otani

ERAU

None

CCD

7

0

No problems to report

Hot subdwarf photometry time series

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.

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)

Gary D Henson

ETSU

Rutherford

Spectrograph & CCD

7.5

0

No problems to report

Spectra of Comet Atlas, Massive Binary, M31 Nova monitoring

Michael Fauerbach

FGCU

NA

CCD

7

1

Clouds

asteroid photometry. Full Moon and high clouds were not ideal, but no technical issues to report.

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.