Observing Session - Delrin and Autoguiding

Time/Date

20230425T1845-20230426T0130

People

OBS/AstroPol: Onkar, Tara, Shrey briefly

Viewers: Azzan, "lrtole", Craig Younkings

Guests: 2 cool guys

Spaces Occupied

401, 433C, dome

Goals

1. Install mirror door piston thing
2. Observe/Autoguiding study of:
   1. Venus
   2. Denebola
   3. 3C273
   4. M104

Log

1. Startup
   1. Opened dome approx. 6:45PM
   2. Turned on fan/vent
   3. connected cameras via sharpcap on data computer (dc)
   4. opened phd2 and connected mount
   5. opened dfmtcs, ascom, ts6 on control computer (cc)
   6. flipped on drives, autodome, track, MTR DRIVER CHASIS and unlatched halt motors
2. Mirror door piston thingy
   1. installed delrin part onto the mirror door piston
      1. very tight fit, holes not completely lined up but made do
   2. attempted installation onto motor assembly
      1. way way wayyyyyyyyyyy too tight, got it on most of the way but had to brute force it on
      2. could not get it on the last bit, possible error in the threads/tap of inner lead screw bit
   3. brought the piston/delrin assembly down to control room for further inspection by eric
3. slewed to moon
   1. did this approx 8:00PM
   2. pointing way off, eyeballed it onto view and set object position
   3. still too bright to set focus yet
4. Venus
   1. very bright
   2. hard to get in focus
   3. took 10 frames 2 min apart each in visible and ultraviolet filters using the ASI294MM
5. Denebola
   1. easier to get in focus
   2. set object position
   3. took 10 frames 2 min apart each in visible and ultraviolet filters using the ASI294MM
   4. 
6. Mars
   1. blurry but pretty
   2. took 10 frames 2 min apart each in visible and ultraviolet filters using the ASI294MM
7. Quasar Hunting
   1. 8C 0958+561
      1. Transits at 20:53
      2. cant find it
   2. NGC2079
      1. nice tiny smudge on finder
      2. took capture
      3. 
   3. M104
      1. took a capture in V, R and B for 60s exposures each
      2. looks great in V
      3. had autoguiding going at 30s exposures on the finder for this one
      4. taking 5 min exposures in v, b and r
   4. 3c273
      1. success
      2. 
      3. 5 frames taken 1 min apart in V filter at 1 min exposures
      4. phd2 autoguiding to something
      5. taking a 5 min exposure in U and UV
      6. 
      7. also doubles as proof autoguiding is working due to lack of smearing
8. Disaster
   1. WE SAVED ALL OF OUR ON AXIS IMAGES UP TO THIS POINT AS PNGS NOOOOOOO
   2. sad.jif
   3. switched over to fits and confirmed settings for everything else
   4. retook r, v, and b images for M104, 5 min exposure per frame
   5. retook r, v, b, and uv images for 3C273, 5 min exposure per frame
   6. all non-png files are labeled as example_FITS for easier navigation
   7. that freaking sucks, here's a sombrero
   8. 
9. Closing up
   1. slewed to zenith
   2. turned off all MDC switches
   3. closed dome shutters and visually confirmed closure
   4. uninstalled on-axis camera
   5. turned off exhaust fan
   6. turned off remote network power switch
   7. turned off all programs on dc and cc
   8. cried about bad images

ToDo

1. fix delrin parts or thread them slightly bigger
2. take a shot for every png image taken

Notes

• galaxies are cool 
• DISASTER, most of our images were in PNGS, pls refer to the ones labeled "fits" to find the actual fits images
  • IM SORRY

Weather

Wunderground is reporting ~10% cloud coverage and weather.gov is reporting slightly higher (~20%). Transparency and seeing are average/below average. Again, not ideal conditions, but we live in Maryland so I'm keeping my standards low.

Data

Normal place, synced to Google Drive