Current Log Posts
Name epjmm15
Affiliation sjs
Date April 9, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:30
Objects Observed m101
Log I tried but there was some sort of light or clouds in the way that did not allow me to image. Will try again some other time.
Name epjmm15
Affiliation sjs
Date March 26, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed M42
Log I got some nice exposures of M42, but then came clouds.
Name Sandi Jawda
Affiliation Lund University/Vänerparken
Date March 23, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 08:00
Objects Observed M97, NGC5774
Log Weather was good.
Present during observervation: Sandi, Hilda, William, Gustav and their supervisor Anna Arnadottir.
Name Emil Pellett
Affiliation SJS
Date March 17, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Objects Observed NGC2237, M1
Log M1:
H-alpha – 700 sec, 200 sec
g-band – 200 sec
r-band – 200 sec
NGC2237:
H-alpha – 3*900 second
g-band – 180 sec
r-band – 180 sec
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation SEO
Date March 8, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Objects Observed Asteroid 29796
Log Obtained only ~20 images, then the clouds rolled in :(…
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation SEO
Date March 1, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Objects Observed Asteroid 29796
Log Obtained a full night’s worth of observations. Asteroid 29796 has a relatively small amplitude lightcurve. These are difficult to measure with SEO (sky noise, etc. is pretty high). Still, you can see a period, 5-6 hrs?
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date February 26, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 10:00
Objects Observed Asteroid 19361
Log Decent skies. Upped exposure time to 180s with good results (SNR=40). Problem is that this asteroid is a very long period rotator – or at least it seems so. Maybe more than 70 hours? Will move on. Not enough time in the day…err, night…for this one.
Name flydisney
Affiliation McQuown Scholars
Date February 11, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:30
Objects Observed 68109
Log I had a weird camera area where all of the pixels where the same color (a light gray) until reloaded the page and relogged. After I relogged the camera was fine. I took 20 pictures and then after A substantial amount of time took another small set until weather forced me to stop.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date January 30, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 00:00
Objects Observed Asteroid 28256
Log Obtained 6.5 hours of 28256. Lightcurve amplitude is relatively small and the weather included intermittent clouds, but there is a period there – around 6 hours? Will try again on 1/31.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date January 29, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:00
Objects Observed Asteorid 15989
Log Obtained ~ 6 hrs of measurements for 15989. The same asteroid which was observed on 1/25. Weather was good. This asteroid is a keeper with a period of around 5.5 hours.
Name Tim Clason
Affiliation McQuown Scholars
Date January 29, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:45
Objects Observed Asteroid 68109
Log I am slowly gathering data to find the light curve of 68109 and 5100. Today I observed 68109 cause 5100 was not visible at the time observed.
Name Alex Scerba
Affiliation McQuown Scholars
Date January 27, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:15
Objects Observed M-42
Log This is my first observation using Stone Edge. Took 20s Clear, R-Band, G-Band, I-Band, and Dark.
Name Angel C
Affiliation McQuown Scholar
Date January 27, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:30
Objects Observed NGC 2244
Log My first Stone Edge Photo
Name Adam Huber
Affiliation McQuown Scholars
Date January 27, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Objects Observed m76
Log First Stone edge photo. Took 80sec I-Band, G-Band, R-Band, and Dark.
Name Brenna O’Brien
Affiliation Yerkes Observatory
Date January 27, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:15
Objects Observed NGC 457
Log Looked at the Owl Nebula
20 seconds in G band
20 seconds in I band
20 seconds in R band
20 seconds in clear
60 seconds in clear
20 second dark
Name Briana Thompson
Affiliation McQuown Scholars
Date January 28, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed M31
Log With Amanda during SEO workshop; RGB Filters at 30 sec exposure for each
Name epjmm15
Affiliation SJS
Date January 26, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:30
Objects Observed Venus, mars
Log Venus
g=.01
r=.01
i=.01
z=.01
mars
g=.03
r=.03
i=.03
z=.03
The telescope worked very well, no problems. I could change the binning, I did everything at bin=1
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date January 25, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:00
Objects Observed 15989
Log Clouds were off and on, but not enough to stop observations. I have not processed the images yet. Will do so soon. Rough start on telescope…DNS server misconfigured, tx taux failed, etc., but Dick fixed all!
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date January 6, 2017
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:00
Objects Observed 24014
Log Obtained 3 hours of 24014 ahead of measurements for 16542. Decent SNR. Asteroid rotation is pretty much locked up now at ~3.75 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date December 29, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:00
Objects Observed 24014
Log Obtained ~9 hours of 24014. It is a bit of a strange bird. The last couple of nights have shown similar, but smaller amplitude variations than I saw earlier. Sometimes, I think Canopus is to blame. For now, though, there is no other reasonable target out there. I tried something a bit different this time around with regards to telescope pointing. I used my pinpoint script to do plate-solved adjustments of the telescope tracking between observations. It did not add considerably to the overall delay between measurements and may help to address some strange star matching issues with Canopus (i.e. when the FOV is moving around a bit, which it does with SEO). This system worked like a champ for the first few hours – consecutive FOVs were dead-on. However, drift occurred later in the night. Don’t see how this could happen unless the pinpoint script was failing for some reason. Added some debugging and a fallback action just in case. Let’s see what happens on 12/20.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date December 27, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:00
Objects Observed 24014
Log Obtained ~9 hours of 24014 observations. Clouds moved in late in the night. Slit closed automatically. When I was alerted, I took a look at cloud data and it did not seem overcast. Reopened slit and resubmitted sequence, but clouds were coming and going.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date December 26, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:00
Objects Observed 4434 Nikulin
Log Obtained 6+ hours of observations of 4434 Nikulin. Seeing was so-so. Data was a bit messy. Nikulin is a long period rotator. I will move on.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date December 25, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:00
Objects Observed 24014
Log Obtained approximately 5-6 hours of observations before the clouds moved in. Or did they? I am not sure about the cloud reading in “tx taux”. I will set my max cloud threshhold higher (e.g. 0.75) and use the actual images to decide. Also, I was unable to get flats, so I have not analyzed the data yet. The image format has changed due to the scan strip, now in pixels 1-14. Will get some flats tonight, hopefully.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date December 22, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:00
Objects Observed 10037 1984 BQ
Log Obtained ~8 hours of observations of 10037 1984 BQ. Telescope worked well. Clouds moved in and (a new update to the) script closed observatory and posted an alarm to Slack. Decided I need something more persistent to wake me up! I think I have obtained enough data to call this asteroid done and ready for the thesis! This is the first set of asteroid measurements that will be derived from 100% SEO observations.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date December 21, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:00
Objects Observed 10037
Log Obtained approximately 3-4 hours of 10037 before clouds moved in. Good, low noise (+/- 0.03 mag). Stopped imaging. Restarted imaging around 1300 once clouds cleared and got another 1.5 hours. 10037 has a very high amplitude lightcurve, e.g. +/- 0.5. Period is probably close to 6.75 hours. Will try to get one more night.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date December 18, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:00
Objects Observed 10137 1984BQ
Log After a long stint of bad weather, broken telescope, and full moon, we are back at it! Obtained approximately ~8 hours of observations for 10137. Slit closed automatically (just before image sequence was complete) due to sun elevation (I think). Sun elevations was around -10 deg. Most everything (command line) is working with current temporary setup (until new aster is complete). The tin command is not working…
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date November 29, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:45
Objects Observed 9223 Leifandersson
Log Obtained ~7 hours of 9223, plus dark/flat/bias frames. Intended to follow up on 17035, but it was dorking around with a bright star. Noticed what might be fringing on these (and previous) images. Will investigate this further. So, now, need follow-up for both 17035 and 9223! C’mon good weather!
Name Katya Gozman
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date November 29, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:00
Objects Observed M57
Log Stone Edge training went well! The telescope was behaving perfectly and we each got a picture of M57 (Ring Nebula).
Name Noah Baskes
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date November 28, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 02:45
Objects Observed M103
Log I imaged Messier 103, a cluster. It was cool.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date November 24, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:30
Objects Observed 17035 Velichko
Log Obtained 8 hours of light frames of target, plus darks, flats, and bias calibration frames. Telescope worked great. Images still have a 25 pixel vertical non-sky stripe for bin=2. Some plate-solving routines (e.g. MPO Canopus) do not “like” this stripe. For now, I have added a cropping routine to my calibration script. Would be great, though, if we could get that fixed.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date November 10, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 02:00
Objects Observed 43306 (2000 GW157)
Log Still getting the hang of the new CCD (and creating Canopus and Astrometrica settings files for it). Seems to be working well overall. Noticed that “tin” completed a full flats set! Woo hoo! Obtained approx. 3 hours of observations before clouds moved in and observatory closed.
Name Vivian Hoette
Affiliation Yerkes Obs
Date November 3, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 06:00
Objects Observed M76 Little Dumbbell Nebula in Perseus; Mars Crossing Asteroid: Hansen
Log Newly installed FLI CCD is working very well. Nice to see the skies clear a bit at Stone Edge!
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date November 2, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 02:00
Objects Observed 1914 Hartbeespoortdam
Log Obtained flats. Obtained 120/140 images (120s, bin=1) of target before slit closed due to clouds (reported “rain”). Took darks and bias frames to close out the session. Telescope functioned well! Imaging script functioned as designed – Slack debug channels included preview images, Slack notification channel knocked gently on my sleeping head around 4AM ET to report slit closure. All good ;).
Name Emil Pellett
Affiliation skynet Junior Scholars
Date October 8, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:45
Objects Observed 2016 TM, moon
Log I tried and failed to observe the moon (I think that it was not in the field). I did get a sequence of 30 20 second exposures of 2016 TM.
Name Emil Pellett
Affiliation AAVSO
Date October 8, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Objects Observed RX And, Gaia16aya, ring nebula
Log I used the ring nebula to point the telescope and set an offset as tx offset ra=0.0 dec=.09. I got 29 images of RX and with a 60 second exposure and 30 images of Gaia16aya with 60 second exposures. I used the SDSS r filter. It was a little complicated at the beginning with Matt having to hand the telescope over to me and the dome did some weird things (closed a few times randomly and gave me the error tx keep dome open command failed and Matt did not close it). Over all it was a very successful observing run.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date October 7, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:30
Objects Observed 9917 Keynes
Log Tried longer exposures (up to 240 s) and different binning options (2, 3, and 4). Tried to take ~90 images, but ccd pooped out at around ~50 images. Slack warned me (and probably everyone else who has notifications turned on for that channel – maybe we should tell people how to mute it?). I didn’t have the ccd reset instructions handy (or password), so shut it down. I will be ready next time. The autopointing script worked well. Made some additional tweaks and will give it another try next time. Overall, Viv’s efforts brought the pointing within approx. 1/10 degree for both ra and dec. The autopointing script provides another order of magnitude. Will try it through the GUI command window too at some point. Need a new name for it…
Name Timothy Clason
Affiliation Mcquown scholars and AAVSO
Date October 6, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:00
Objects Observed RV Del, M27
Log The telescope worked really good and after fiddling with exposure times for a while I got exactly what I wanted. I also am still wondering how to do asteroids but I am sure ill figure it out.
Name Emil Pellett
Affiliation AAVSO
Date October 4, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:30
Objects Observed RX And, ring nebula, NGC281
Log I first used the ring nebula as a pointing test and saw that it was no ware in the FOV. I used the offset RA=.55 and Dec=.1 to center on the ring nebula. Then I slewed the telescope to RX And to take a sequence of 16 images of the variable star. At the end I observed NGC 281 just for fun. Other than the pointing problems and one camera error all went well.
Name Olivia Pardo
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date October 2, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 06:30
Objects Observed NGC7380, NGC6946, M33, IC5146, IC5070, 405_Thia
Log Everything went well – no technical problems. Images still awaiting analysis.
Name Kara Rowbotham
Affiliation Yerkes, McQuown Scholars
Date October 2, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:45
Objects Observed Asteroid Taco, 14917
Log I imaged, analyzed, and confirmed that I successfully imaged Taco. Now I’m hungry, and I deserve the best taco in the world because I’m that awesome. And modest.
Name Vivian Hoette
Affiliation Yerkes Obs
Date October 1, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 10:00
Objects Observed An asteroid and a comet
Log Three images of Mars Crossing Asteroid 1374 Isora and a comet. All went well.
Name Kara Fischer
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date October 1, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 07:00
Objects Observed M27, HD 345467
Log Took images (in five filters) of the M27 Dumbbell Nebula. Identified a beautiful red star that appeared in the image as HD 345467.
Name Serenea Robare
Affiliation Yerkes Observatory SEO Training
Date October 1, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:30
Objects Observed m13
Log Amanda showed me how to take images from SEO at Yerkes tonight. It was amazing! We took images of m13 in clear and color filters. We also took dark images.
Name Rich DeCoster
Affiliation U of C Graham School; Niles West High School, Skokie IL-mostly retired
Date October 1, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed M 16
Log Images in clear, g, r and i were taken. Update to be added later today.
Name Kara Rowbotham
Affiliation Yerkes Observatory, McQuown Scholars Coordinator
Date October 1, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:45
Objects Observed M13
Log Nice job, Amanda, on teaching us how to work with the SEO scope on taking images. I encountered no difficulties in obtaining my image of M13. The new website is very attractive and user-friendly, and I look forward to using SEO more often in the future with the McQuown Scholars!
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 28, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed 2823 van der Laan
Log Observed for 6 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 26, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed 2823 van der Laan
Log Observed for 6 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 25, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Objects Observed 2823 van der Laan
Log Observed for 5.5 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 24, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:45
Objects Observed 2823 van der Laan
Log Observed for 2 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 22, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:15
Objects Observed 2823 van der Laan
Log Observed for 6 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 21, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Objects Observed 2823 van der Laan
Log Observed for 6 hours.
Name Emil Pellett
Affiliation AAVSO
Date September 21, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed sig2010 75433, Vega, Veil nebula
Log I had trouble pointing the telescope at first then centered the telescope. After that all my observations ran smoothly.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 20, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed 2823 van der Laan
Log Observed for 6.5 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 19, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:30
Objects Observed 2823 van der Laan
Log Observed for 2 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 14, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:30
Objects Observed 24604 Vasilermakov
Log Observed for 5 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 10, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed 2798 Vergilius
Log Observed for 4.5 hours.
Name Nancy Lew
Affiliation Yerkes Observatory
Date September 8, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed M92, NGC6888, NGC6946
Log Imaged a globular cluster (M92), an emission nebula (NGC6888), and a spiral galaxy (NGC6946) to practice imaging and image processing. No problems noticed with equipment.
Name Rebecca Chen
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date September 7, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed M27, M2, M13
Log There was a CCD error, but it was fixed when Amanda restarted everything. Imaged M27 in g, r, i (2 120s) and M2 + M13 in g, r (2 120s).
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 5, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:30
Objects Observed 2798 Vergilius
Log Observed for 4.25 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 4, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed 2798 Vergilius
Log Observed for 4 hours.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date September 2, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed Asteroid 2 Pallas
Log Got a solid five hours of 2 Pallas photometry! Pointing was off, but correctable with a few test images, astrometry.net, and “tx offset”. I tried to do dusk flats, but the script did not complete. I mistakenly left the z-band filter set in the wheel ;). Otherwise, just peachy!
Name Amanda Pagul and Mario de Leo Winkler
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date September 1, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:30
Objects Observed M15, M17
Log Used GUI to observe M17 and M15 in clear, g-band, r-band, and u-bands. Telescope was working perfectly. There was a pointing offset, but was fixed by moving in dec ~0.17 degrees for both. Is this systematic or does pointing change with position? Server website to retrieve images kept stalling for some reason.
Name Rebecca Chen
Affiliation UofC
Date August 16, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:30
Objects Observed M57
Log Two 120s exposures of M57 in g, r, i. Nothing went wrong!
Name Mikael G. Lewis
Affiliation UoC
Date August 16, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 11:00
Objects Observed M27
Log Could not locate M27. The dome and slit were open, but I could not detect anything in telescope. After 45 minutes I encountered a server error and could not take anymore pictures. I tried to break the lock and lock up again, but it didn’t help.
Name Mikael G. Lewis
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date August 15, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 09:00
Objects Observed M27
Log Could not find M27. A long exposure (400 sec) revealed a very dim tail of gas in the bottom of the image, but I could not successfully correct the dec.
Name Lindsay Berkhout
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date August 15, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed m20, m24, m27, m17, m8
Log All working fairly well- M17/M24 came out very smeary with no image- this was deduced to be likely on account of a bright moon and being too close to it.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date August 14, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:30
Objects Observed 2798 Vergilius
Log Mostly successfully complete a twilight flats sequence using the “skyflats tarid=3” command. Started the routine around sun alt=0.0 (230UT). It auto calculates the required exposure for different filters, starting with halpha (at least, it says halpha) and moving towards clear. However, I “ran out” of bright time (got too dark to do flats), and the routine quit. Next time, I will start a bit earlier? sun alt < 10 deg.?
I configured an observing script to look at 2798 Vergilius for ~5 hrs (90 s exposures, with darks mixed in between). However, I forgot to change the filter back from g-band (last left by skyflats routine) to clear – ooops! Also, the CCD stopped responding (ERROR Findkey null msg=ccd_status in=nrow=) approximately two hours into the observing sequence. Images were obtained after this time. However, although the FITS header indicated 90s exposures, the images were progressively darker. In addition, the whole sequence which should have taken ~5 hours, only took ~2 hours.
Pointing is still a problem. I had to use “tx offset dec=0.25 ra = 0.0167 cos”. I was able to calculate the offset by doing a few pointing tests, downloading the FITS files, and uploading them to astrometry.net. Worked very well.
Having a great time. Learning a lot! Look forward to trying again post-full Moon!
Name Lindsay Berkhout
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date August 12, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Objects Observed m2, m10, m22, m3, m33, m71, m9
Log Pointing was very off. Some of the objects I was unable to find at all- they were out of the picture and I could not figure out how to move the scope to bring it into the picture. The dome also closed on me a few times while slewing.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date August 11, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:30
Objects Observed 2798 Vergilius
Log Successfully captured ~5 hours of observations from 05-10 UT. Used M29 to determine correct pointing offsets. However, telescope pointing was still off when tracking the target asteroid. The target asteroid was (still) not captured in the FOV. Also, slit closed (again) around 9AM (not sure why). Partial clouds rolled in around 09 UT. Next time I will take an image of the target field and use MPO Canopus (or similar) to determine the required offset.
Name Matt Nowinski
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date August 10, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:30
Objects Observed 2798 Vergilius
Log Successfully captured ~5 hours of observations from 05-10 UT. However, telescope pointing was off. The target asteroid was not captured in the FOV. Also, slit closed around 9AM (not sure why). Partial clouds rolled in around 09 UT.
Name Lindsay Berkhout
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date August 7, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed ngc4125, ngc9857, m51
Log Everything working well, scope seemed a bit more off center than usual. Couldn’t find object in one of my image sets but likely just a case of a too faint/too small target. Objects also seemed a bit fainter than usual in general.
Name Luca Frez-Albrecht
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date August 5, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:30
Objects Observed ngc6946, m102, m27
Log Things went really well! At a few points the telescope stopped being able to see objects; the first time I was able to fix it by closing and restarting the telescope, but the next time that didn’t solve the issue. Many thanks to Amanda for keeping things running a bit longer!
Name Lindsay Berkhout
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date August 4, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed m92, m15, m16
Log All working well- got one take image error which was fixed by restarting the CCD.
Name Amanda Pagul
Affiliation UChicago
Date August 3, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 07:30
Objects Observed SSagittae
Log Cepheid variable stars. SSagittae taken 30 s in g-, r-, and i-bands; also darks and biases taken. When finishing, got a pfilter error.
Name Luca Frez-Albrecht
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date August 3, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:30
Objects Observed ngc6210, ngc6946
Log Multiple errors which Amanda fixed by restarting the camera; only grabbed a few images, and they may have been poor quality. Will likely try again another night.
Name Lindsay Berkhout
Affiliation University of Chicago
Date August 2, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:00
Objects Observed m5, ngc4125
Log Everything was working great- had to move the telescope after slewing because I wanted purposefully off center images.
Imaged off center m5 and supernova in ngc4125- can no longer see the supernova well so it appears to be fading.
Name Emil Pellett
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date July 25, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:30
Objects Observed Saturn, M13, C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)
Log I couldn’t get data on anything since the server could not save the images. I tried unlocking and re-locking the observatory and it did not fix it.
Name Amanda Pagul
Affiliation UChicago
Date July 24, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 08:00
Objects Observed SSagittae, BL Boötis
Log Cepheid variable stars. SSagittae taken 30 s in g-, r-, and i-bands; BL Boötis taken 180s in g-,r-, and i-bands; also darks and biases taken.
Name Emil Pellett
Affiliation Skynet Junior Scholars
Date July 24, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 06:00
Objects Observed M104, Veil nebula, M11
Log M104-
Z-200
I-200
r-200
g-200
u-200
Dark-200
Had to recenter telescope
Veil-
Z-300
i-300
r-300
g-300
Used the off-center images
M11-
Z-100
i-100
r-100
g-100
Had to recenter telescope
I had problems with the dome, kept on closing so I closed down and logged back in and that fixed the problem.
Name Vivian Hoette
Affiliation UChicago
Date July 23, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 03:00
Objects Observed Moon, M13
Log Moon wasn’t in the images (horizons 301) – not sure why or what I did wrong.
M13 – r60s
M13 – g180s, r180s, i180s
dark 180s
Name Amanda Pagul
Affiliation UChicago
Date July 23, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Objects Observed SSagittae
Log Cepheid variable star. Taken 30 s in g-, r-, and i-bands; also darks and biases taken.
Name Vivian Hoette
Affiliation UChicago
Date July 23, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:30
Objects Observed Checked status of observatory
Log The pfilter command was giving an error. I followed the admin procedure to correct the problem. Seems fine now. 7/22 9:35 Pacific time. 4:35 UT time. Viv
Name Timothy Clason
Affiliation Clear Creek Middle Scool
Date July 22, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 11:00am
Objects Observed m27
Log My first picture was very good but then there were several errors were the dome closed automatically and didn’t tell me in the command window. Then I also had an internet connection problem on my side while I was still taking exposures. The pictures of the nebulae were very clear.
Name Wolfgang Wuerker
Affiliation SJS
Date July 22, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 10:00am
Objects Observed NGC 7635
Log I took 4 pictures of NGC 7635 at 30 seconds exposure one with a clear filter, another with g- filter, another with the r filter, and a fourth with the i filter. I ran into no troubles that I could tell.
Name Tucker Giles
Affiliation (e.g. McQuown Scholars, University of Chicago, Skynet Junior Scholars, etc.) McQuown Scholars
Date July 21, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:45
Objects Observed Messier 8 (Lagoon Nebula)
Log Took a i-band for 35 secs
Took a r-band for 35 secs
Took a g-band for 35 secs
Took a Dark for 35 secs
Took 3 Clear for 45, 10, 20 secs
Name Emil Pellett
Affiliation (e.g. McQuown Scholars, University of Chicago, Skynet Junior Scholars, etc.) Skynet Junior Scholars
Date July 21, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:30
Objects Observed NGC6995, M16
Log I had observed NGC6995 originally then I could not tell if the telescope was in the right place and since someone else was in line I went to a brighter object, M16. I then imaged M16 in the i,r,g,u, and z with 120 seconds each.
Name Jessica Kenney
Affiliation (e.g. McQuown Scholars, University of Chicago, Skynet Junior Scholars, etc.) Skynet Junior Scholars
Date July 20, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 04:45
Objects Observed M51 (WhirlPool Galaxy)
Log My first few pictures I played around and found a good exposure time, then I took 60 second exposures of g-,r-, i- bands, clear, and dark.
Name Tim Clason
Affiliation McQuown Scholars
Date July 19, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:45
Objects Observed m57
Log The pictures showed up slightly dim so next time I am going to increase the exposure by 20 seconds.
Name Sage Palser
Affiliation McQuown Scholars
Date July 20, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:30
Objects Observed m104
Log Took 7 pictures of m104 in i-, u-, g- bands, clear, and dark. The object was too far south on the frame of the image so I had to recenter the object.
Name Wolfgang Wuerker
Affiliation McQuown Scholars
Date July 20, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:30
Objects Observed Panstarrs w2 2014 904075
Log I took 5 pictures of the comet Panstarrs w2 2014 904075
1: 10 seconds Clear Filter
2: 60 seconds Clear Filter
3: 30 seconds Clear Filter
4: 15 seconds Clear Filter
Name Amanda Pagul
Date July 19, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 06:45
Objects Observed SSagittae
Log Cepheid variable star. Taken 30 s in g-, r-, and i-bands; also darks and biases taken.
Name Amanda Pagul
Date July 18, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 06:45
Objects Observed SSagittae
Log Cepheid variable star. Taken 30 s in g-, r-, and i-bands; also darks and biases taken.
Name Vivian Hoette
Date July 18, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 01:30
Objects Observed Checked status of observatory
Log Checked functioning of systems. All are good. I did not resume tin because we have recent flats etc. The clouds were at 0% so it might be a good night for our observers.
Name Vivian Hoette
Date July 15, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Log Actually not sure what time it was but I did login to check everything on Th night the 14th local time in Sonoma. The filter was on u-band. I closed down (even though I had not opened up) in order to reset the filter wheel. Not sure what is causing this filter wheel issue but it is good if we keep track. Time above is guessed. I will check time more carefully next event. One can type ut in command lines to find out the universal time.
Name Amanda Pagul
Date July 15, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 06:30
Log Took images of M13 in g-, r-, and i-bands, as well as darks/biases. Had no issues, image centered. Resumed tin.
Name Rebecca Chen
Date July 14, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 06:00
Log M3, 2 exposures in gprime and rprime each in 120 and 180s
Filter wheel error, fixed by restarting SEO
Name Lindsay Berkhout
Date July 12, 2016
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) 05:00
Objects Observed ngc4125 ugc11868
Log Issue with Camera- got an error when exposing image. Fixed by restarting scope.
Dome closed while it was slewing, gave me a keep open error. As soon as I reopened the dome everything was fine.
WCS system seems to be off, images are fairly off center but still visible.
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