Astronomy Report – December 13th

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astronomy-report]

Name: Cesare Guariniello
Crew: 288
Date: 13 Dec 2023

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one): cloudy weather at MDRS. Will check MLC.
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: cloudy weather, working on imagery from previous night
Images submitted with this report: M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) imaged with MDRS-WF. 40 captures of 30 seconds each in R, G, B, and Lum.
Problems Encountered: None, but M31 captures with the MLC telescope were flat

MUSK OBSERVATORY
Solar Features Observed: None
Images submitted with this report: None
Problems Encountered:
Telescope had wrong home location: fixed. Now the home location is the same as the switch location (aligned with the pier, facing North).
Telescope seem to have been abused a little:
The whole section with the prominence tuning knob was loose and “rotating”. Tightened.
Prominence tuning knob was unscrewed almost entirely (one inch of the golden part showing).
Blocking filter/diagonal pushed too far inside, with the silver line invisible. Pulled out and put in proper order.
Eyepiece thumb screws insanely tight. Never happened before. We tried to unscrew one of them with pliers and it snapped before it began unscrewing (photo attached) which, according to the crew engineer, can happen only if it is bound at the collar. This means that someone tried to screw it very hardly, so that it became embedded in the collar. We can try to remove the remaining piece, but it will likely require drilling. The other screw was holding enough that I used the eyepiece and the CCD, but ONLY with the diagonal pointing up, for safety.
On closing the dome, the bottom shutter did not close. We troubleshot with the Program Director, tried various batteries, tested the wires, until attaching a battery directly to the motor. The fuse works, other connections work, the top shutter works. After excluding everything else, we think it is the motor. Since it is raining, we uncoupled the ball screw from the motor, closed the bottom shutter manually and secured it with ropes. We will run more troubleshooting tomorrow.

Astronomy Report – December 14th

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astronomy-report]

Astronomy Report
Name: Cesare Guariniello
Crew: 288
Date: 14 Dec 2023

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one): MDRS-WF and MLC-RCOS16.
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: Barnard 33 (Horsehead Nebula) and M42 (Orion Nebula)
Images submitted with this report: None.
Problems Encountered: MDRS-WF reports a Camera Error on Skynet Live

MUSK OBSERVATORY
Solar Features Observed: None
Images submitted with this report: None
Problems Encountered: None. I took a photo of the decoupled ball screw. However, the crew Engineer Jesus and I found that the motor works, so we re-coupled the ball screw, and tested both the full opening motion and closing motion of both the top shutter and bottom shutter.

Astronomy Report – December 11th

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astronomy-report]

Astronomy Report
Name: Cesare Guariniello
Crew: 288
Date: 11 Dec 2023

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-WF
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: PGC69327,
Images submitted with this report: None
Problems Encountered: None

MUSK OBSERVATORY
Initial photos of Astronomy laptop and Musk observatory will be sent tomorrow.

Solar Features Observed: None
Images submitted with this report: None
Problems Encountered: None

Astronomy Report – December 12th

[category 

astronomy-report]

Astronomy Report
Name: Cesare Guariniello
Crew: 288
Date: 12 Dec 2023

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-WF and MLC-RCOS16
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: PGC69327, M31
Images submitted with this report: None
Problems Encountered: None, the telescopes are imaging right now

MUSK OBSERVATORY
Astronomy laptop and astronomy box are in the right location. The dome operates correctly (first slide is a little noisy out of friction). However, the telescope appeared to have the wrong orientation, as per photo attached. After turning it on, it went to “star alignment”, so I just used “last alignment”, which send it to what usually was the Home Location, aligned with the column and pointing towards the back of the dome. The alignment was very accurate. On sending the telescope back to the Home Location, it went back to the location to which I initially found it, that is sideways. If necessary, I can reset the Home Location to what was the usual location in the past years.

Solar Features Observed: None
Images submitted with this report: None
Problems Encountered: Telescope seems to have the wrong Home location

Astronomy Report – December 12th

[category  astronomy-report]

Astronomy Report
Name: Cesare Guariniello
Crew: 288
Date: 12 Dec 2023

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-WF and MLC-RCOS16
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: PGC69327, M31
Images submitted with this report: None
Problems Encountered: None, the telescopes are imaging right now

MUSK OBSERVATORY
Astronomy laptop and astronomy box are in the right location. The dome operates correctly (first slide is a little noisy out of friction). However, the telescope appeared to have the wrong orientation, as per photo attached. After turning it on, it went to “star alignment”, so I just used “last alignment”, which send it to what usually was the Home Location, aligned with the column and pointing towards the back of the dome. The alignment was very accurate. On sending the telescope back to the Home Location, it went back to the location to which I initially found it, that is sideways. If necessary, I can reset the Home Location to what was the usual location in the past years.

Solar Features Observed: None
Images submitted with this report: None
Problems Encountered: Telescope seems to have the wrong Home location

Astronomy Report – November 9th

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astronomy-report]

Name: Luis Diaz
Crew: 285
Date: 11/09/2023
MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested: MDRS-WF
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: Helix Nebula and Soul Nebula
Images submitted with this report: –
Problems Encountered: Mount error and Camera Error most of the night.
MUSK OBSERVATORY
Solar Features Observed: – Sunspot, very defined filaments and solar flares.
Images submitted with this report: – Solar quadrant.
Problems Encountered: –

Astronomy Report – November 7th

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astronomy-report]

Crew 285 Astronomy Report 07-11-2023

Name: Luis Diaz
Crew: 285
Date: 11/07/2023
MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested: MDRS-WF
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: *Waiting for good weather…
Images submitted with this report: Triangulum Galaxy (M33)
Problems Encountered: –
MUSK OBSERVATORY
Solar Features Observed: –
Images submitted with this report: –
Problems Encountered: –

Astronomy Report – November 6th

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astronomy-report]

Name: Luis Diaz
Crew: 285
Date: 11/06/2023
MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested: MDRS-WF
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: *Weather: Bad | Dome: Closed.
Images submitted with this report: Rosette Nebula
Problems Encountered: –
MUSK OBSERVATORY
Solar Features Observed: –
Images submitted with this report: –
Problems Encountered:

Astronomy Report – November 5th

[category 

astronomy-report]

Name: Luis Diaz
Crew: 285
Date: 11/05/2023
MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested: MDRS-WF
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: I’m waiting because we have clouds.
Images submitted with this report: Horsehead and Flame nebulas
Problems Encountered: –
MUSK OBSERVATORY
Solar Features Observed: –
Images submitted with this report: –
Problems Encountered: –

Astronomy Report – November 4th

[category 

astronomy-report]

Name: Luis Diaz
Crew: 285
Date: 11/04/2023
MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested: MDRS-WF
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: Accumulate more light for Helix Nebula, Horsehead Nebula and maybe others.
Images submitted with this report: –
Problems Encountered: –
MUSK OBSERVATORY
Solar Features Observed: Sunspot, very defined filaments and solar flares.
Images submitted with this report: – Full sun (mosaic of 2 photographs)
Problems Encountered: –

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