Guide camera failure

Monday, April 21, 2025 6:32 AM

Problem(s) Encountered:

Star guiding problem: the position of the guide star in the workspce2 is offset with about 2000 in x axis, 1000 in y axis. Everything else is good. 

Solution:

Came in and found that guiding was at least used last night.  Using comp lamps, checked to see how things looked and well, it looked a bit strange.  Unsure what we were seeing, pulled the camera & filter wheel and removed the bottom plate of the MIS.  All optics looked ok, but were dusty.  Cleaned guide optics and verified that the optical path looked to be what we were expecting.  Did also find that the Xe lamp was failing—changed that out and it is now OK.Closed everything up but things still looked odd—almost like the camera was being vignetted.  But did not notice any obstructions in the light path when it was all opened so I started to wonder about the camera itself.  Pulled the camera and when its lens tube was removed, found that the FLI camera shutter has failed.  The petals simply flop around.  Testing verified that user control does nothing.  Swapped in the spare FLI camera and all appears well again.End points to note:This was the noisier of the two guide cameras, so this also deals with that issue.  That said, the camera still seems reasonably functional so I will check with FLI to see if the shutter assembly is worth repair.The spare FLI installed was my only spare.  So this can get added to the list of items that are getting a bit more stressful on the list of failures.  Update: 

I’m not an expert on the ins-and-outs of the Raritan systems anymore – we don’t have any at OSU – but it seems totally believable that the Raritan would log out if the machine it is connected to glitches.

 I believe those Raritans are long past their supported lifetime, so it is also possible you are seeing signs of elderly equipment failure. [Mason/OSU]