MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observing Report for 2016 Jan 19

Observer(s): Alper
Institution(s): Dartmouth

Instrument: Modspec/Echelle

Worked for 9 hours (most of the night)
Conditions were Mixed most of the night.
Problems were encountered, see the separate trouble report for details.

Seeing and Weather:
   Clouds from 17:30 until 1:00.
   Beg: Patchy Clouds, Winds Calm
   Mid: Overcast, Winds Calm
   End: Clear, Winds Calm

Observing Summary:

The night started out with patchy clouds, which intensified to
a dense cover but then eventually cleared.

The dome AC computer seems to be holding steady, so Eric's
repairs might've worked!

Unfortunately, the dome itself continues to wildly misbehave.
At about 12:45 AM LST, the dome entered its 'fugue state' once
again, spinning for 11 seconds on, 3 seconds off. This time I
cut auto and put it on manual, slewed to the azimuth, reset the
encoders, cut power, climbed the ladder and unplugged/replugged
the encoder box. This seemed to fix it, as Eric said it might.
Oldest trick in the book: did you try turning it off and on
again?

However, later in the night a new problem arose: at ~5:00 AM LST
the dome didn't track correctly with the telescope - it went
about 25 deg ahead in the azimuth. I manually put it home and
reset the encoders, to which it then performed normally again...
until ~6:30 AM LST when the exact same thing happened. Same
solution (we were closing up shop anyway), but distressing.

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Submitted on 2016 Jan 21 [15:10:33]