MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2004 Apr 07

Observer(s): armstrong
Institution(s): columbia

Instrument: templeton/direct

Worked for 10 hours (all night)
Conditions were Mixed most of the night.
Problems were encountered, see the separate trouble report for details.

Seeing and Weather:
   Beg: Seeing 2.3 arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Calm
   Mid: Seeing 2.0 arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Calm
   End: Seeing 2.1 arcsec, Clear, Winds Calm

Observing Summary:

Think the dome may be haunted: 

Beginning of night, I filled the dewar and opened louvres 
and shutters  (telescope at zenith, of course.)
Came into the control room and worked online for a while.  

About 30 minutes later, hit 'start' on TCS switch panel, 
autodome on, drives on, autoguider on, dome free, mirrors open.
(Tracking not on yet.)

I only heard one mirror cover open, so went out into dome to check --
and the telescope was pointed 2 hours west!

I do not remember what coordinates were entered into the TCS PC
at the time.  I should have recorded this, but I was too concerned
with getting the mirror covers to open:

After slewing to zenith and closing/reopening mirror covers, 
still only one would open.  So I closed again, turned everything
off and back on.  Still only one would open.  Called Jules, who
instructed me to:
slew 4 hours west -- to verify that the WEST COVER WAS OVER THE
SOUTH COVER.  So used ladder and rope to hook onto west cover and
pull it up, to free south cover.  That fixed it.



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Submitted on 2004 Apr 8 [5:13:33]