Focus-Guider Interplay and Telescope Run Away

Friday, December 22, 2017 3:02 PM

Problem(s) Encountered:

Over the course of this observing run we have noticed that when

we change the focus using the GUI, the guider has been freezing,

especially with movements more than ten units. Simply stopping

and starting the guider again seems to fix the problem.


Twice during the night the telescope jumped so far that the

guider could not find the star. We had to stop the observations

and reposition the telescope. (Note typing s will abort an

exposure and save it when using Prospero.)


Solutions:

It is believed that DFM Inc. has incorporated a software fix for the guider hanging when making large focal adjustments.


Telescope “jumping” during observations is a bit more concerning but hard to diagnose.  Note that in Prospero, s will save and stop an exposure.