MDM Trouble Report for 2026 Jan 08

Telescope: 2.4m
Observer(s): John Thorstensen (Dartmouth)
Instrument: OSMOS

Problem(s) Encountered:
Around 5:30 AM I went from targets in the northwest to a target
in the southeast.  I realized I wasn't hearing the dome move, 
so I went out to investigate and it indeed was stuck very close 
to the park position.  I tried cycling the power on the dome 
rotation by turning it off and on using the TCS program.  When
I cycled the power off I heard some noise stop, as if the motor
had been laboring; turning it on again seemed to make a small
lurch but it didn't keep going. 

I noticed a strong odor in the dome around this time, which 
could have been the motor overheating. It was stuck and
trying to move for at least several minutes, maybe as much as 
10 minutes. I do hope it's not damaged! 

Fortunately the dome was stuck on the contact and I was able to 
close it normally.  

Before I did that I went to close the mirror covers; on the first
attempt the north, south, and east petals indicated closed, but
the west cover indicated open -- as it was, when I checked in
the dome.  I got out of this by re-opening the covers, and then
closing them a second time.  This time they all did come 
down. 
 

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Submitted on 2026 Jan 9 [6:35:07]