MDM Trouble Report for 2005 Dec 8

Telescope: 2.4m
Observer(s): Frank (OSU)
Instrument: CCDS & Retrocam

Problem(s) Encountered:
Initially big problems when pointing : at first, even one bright star could 
not be found within about two degrees of the telescope's assumed pointing. After this
was finally possible, the slewing to the next bright star posed the next problem : again,
the telescope moved into location that were more than 2 degrees off the chart.
Numerous painstakingly long exercises in stowing the telescope at zenith and trying the 
pointing ab initio were finally rewarded....
Then the dome started occulting the view WITHOUT notifying the observer.
Next, we were totally out of focus : despite great changes in temperature the focus has changed 
by more than 250 units from last night !!
After a loss of about 2.5 hours, the machines were then ready to cooperate - with occasional hickups :
from time to time, the telescope 'jerked' out of it current position by about 20 arcseconds, causing the guider to go haywire.
Usually these jumps are preceded by 'wiggles' of increasing amplitude, but sometimes they happen out of the blue.
Interestingly enough, the pointing after such a jump then stays quite stable for a while.

Additionally, I noticed that the direction of E-W motion for the handle paddle changed at some point !!!???? How is that possible ?

Minor problem : could not close the dark hatch despite valiant efforts !
 

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Submitted on 2005 Dec 8 [7:08:20]