MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2002 Jul 11

Observer(s): Pogge
Institution(s): OSU

Instrument: MDM8K

No Observing (see comments below)
Conditions were Overcast most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:

Observing Summary:

Monsoons are here with a vengeance.  Two back to back storms
dumped rain and lit up the sky with lightning.  Cleared
partially at about midnight, but didn't bother to open.

MDM8K TCS software is done and installed at both the 2.4m
and 1.3m telescopes.  Hooks are also in place in the user
menus for launching xtcs4 (with reminders in the mdm8k
command used on vesuvius and etna to launch detcom).

A webpage summarizing the TCS commands, header info, and
commands can be seen in

  http://chichon.kpno.noao.edu/Manuals/mdm8ktcs.html

I have replicated most of the ccdcom TCS command set for the
2.4m (offset, focus, and sleep), so 2.4m observers with
the MDM8K can execute focus and mosaic scripts.  Tests
with the telescope live (but looking at the dome) verify
all functions.  Some time was also spent making error
messages instructional (e.g., TCS link disabled, us 'tcs on'
to enable).

Will put hardcopies of the documentation in the observer's
handbooks before I leave.  Copies of the new detcom
and xtcs4 software have been backed up to OSU.

I think we can call this project done except for observer
acid testing.

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Submitted on 2002 Jul 12 [8:36:21]