MDM Trouble Report for 2017 Aug 21

Telescope: 1.3m
Observer(s): Clarkson, Aufdemberge, Vowell (UM-Dearborn)
Instrument: ANDOR

Problem(s) Encountered:
Communication loss when attempting to slew to target. Telescope stop -->
telescope start --> TCS restart (& re-initialize) --> jskycalc restart resumed 
communication.

Pointing error discovered immediately after this problem; the telescope slew-to-target
missed the target, a miss later determined to be about (13.25, 0.5) arcmin in (RA, dec), 
or > 5 times the width of the field of view.

We were able to correct the pointing and resume science with a minor 
modification of the example  reset telescope coordinates  procedure in the 
jskycalc13m manual; instead of looking for a bright star, we used nova.astrometry.net 
to determine the current field center and then fed those coordinates into jskycalc in order
to  reset telescope co-ordinates.  Once this procedure was complete, the slew-to-target
was close enough to correct that the science target fell within the field of view and could
be centered using the paddle controls. At the end of the night, with the telescope at zenith, 
the encoders showed (-004, -009), which seems acceptably close to recommended rough 
values. This procedure requires the internet connection to work, but it does remove the need 
to hunt for a bright object and is reasonably quick.

The communication/pointing error probably led to about 45 minutes' lost time on the 
science target.

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Submitted on 2017 Aug 22 [4:20:18]