MDM Trouble Report for 2012 Feb 21

Telescope: 2.4m
Observer(s): Kay et al. (Columbia)
Instrument: Mk III + Nellie + 600/5800

Problem(s) Encountered:
1. All day, until ~ midnight, we had frequent problems with the
link to the ccd controller.  An observation wouldn't start or
wouldn't complete, a read-out image would have a single constant
value, we would lose the ability to type in the Owl fits header
window, or the dewer temp would be reported to be +294 C (that one
makes your heart pound).  Sometimes the error  not connected to
any controller  would appear.  The fix that always worked was to
hit the Setup tab in the main Owl window, then  Apply  the setup
without any changes.  Things would come back, at least for awhile.
We didn't have any problems in the second half of the night.

2. After focusing the telescope in the slit viewer, we noticed
that in the spectrum of a star, in the spatial direction, was
double peaked.  Adjusting the focus so that the spectrum was
focused in the spatial direction made the slit-viewer images
horribly out of focus.  Called Bob Barr, who thinks that a lens
in the camera in place for Modspec needed to be changed.  We
determined the best focus for the spectrum and the slit viewer
and worked by acquiring the targets and guide stars with the
slit-viewer focus, guiding, changing the focus for the spectrum
(and the guider), exposing.

3. Not as major, we had a lot of trouble with the guider at
first.  Guide stars would not be in the guider images. In the
end we sent the probe to the origin, after which all worked
well.

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Submitted on 2012 Feb 22 [5:26:31]