MDM Trouble Report for 2009 Apr 18

Telescope: 2.4m
Observer(s): Atlee (OSU)
Instrument: TIFKAM

Problem(s) Encountered:
When I attempted to return the telescope to zenith after taking
twilight flats, the RA encoders stopped responding, and the
telescope slewed all the way to its east stop as a result.  With
help from Bob, I discovered that the RA encoder box had disengaged
from the telescope and needed to be re-attached, which required
Bob to drive up to the mountain to correct the problem.  Once the
encoder was re-attached, the telescope worked correctly for the
rest of the night.

It is also worth noting that the previous problem with the
telescope pointing and repeatability of positions during a dither
sequence was drastically reduced once the encoder was attached more
firmly.  This suggests that the earlier problems I experienced
were not due to any intrinsic limitation in the telescope pointing
but to a failure to get correct feedback from the encoder concerning
the position of the telescope.

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Submitted on 2009 Apr 19 [9:24:30]