MDM Trouble Report for 2007 Feb 5

Telescope: 2.4m
Observer(s): Thomas Brink (University of Michigan)
Instrument: 8K

Problem(s) Encountered:
The problem I mentioned in the nightly report regarding the dome azimuth encoders was an operator error caused by setting the dome azimuth encoders to an incorrect value.

The second problem I mentioned was in regards to a possible tracking problem.
I went to a target at 5h 32m 32s -1deg 17arcmin 1.2arcsec at UT=7:04.  It was at an airmass of ~1.8.
When I got there I turned to the guide camera tv to select a guide star, and noticed all of the stars drifting up off of the screen.  I was using the south guide camera.
I noticed, looking at the tcs display, that the RA was holding constant, but the dec was increasing at a rate of about 2 arcseconds per second.
I resent the coordinates using the xtcs, and went back on target.
This time I quickly centered on a guide star.  But it had trouble keeping it in the box.
At first the star was trying to escape out the left side of the guide box. The correction (dx) printed on the guider information monitor was about -10 (-1 is normal).
A few minutes later it was trying to escape out of the top left corner of the guide box (dx ~ -10, dy ~ 10)
And later still it was trying to escape out of the top of the box (dx ~ 1, dy ~ 10).
Eventually, after about 15 minutes, the star slipped out of the guide box, and attempts to continue guiding failed.
I then opened the manual to see if I could find any information on this sort of problem.
I later (~15 min) glanced over at the guide camera tv, and noticed the stars on it were stationary again.
Apparently the problem was resolved.
Bob Barr has suggested that possibly a button on the hand paddle was accidentally pressed down by a book perhaps since the guiding rate in coincidentally 2 arcsecs per second.
I'm pretty sure that was not the case, but I can't rule it out with 100% confidence.

------------------------------

Submitted on 2007 Feb 6 [8:23:46]