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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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. |
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