Astronomy Report – May 9th

Name: Mariona Badenas

Crew: 212

Date: 9 May 2019

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one): MDRS-WF

Object Viewed #1: IC5067

Problems Encountered: The telescope took pictures of this nebula for some time until the weather became too bad.

(More objects to be Viewed): NGC6992 and the Veil Nebula

Problems Encountered: N/A (Observations of these objects have not begun yet).

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: The crew engineer and I managed to observe the sun through the eyepiece (or at least that’s what we think). We also attempted to take pictures, but it was cloudy (see the attached photograph).

Problems Encountered:

1. We eventually had to stop observing due to bad weather (clouds).

2. The telescope’s pointing system was not functioning properly, so I had to use the telescope manually. I have attached a picture of the telescope once the alignment and pointing process is complete, and you’ll find that it is not pointing at the Sun.

3. Given that the pointing was not correct, I couldn’t verify whether the tracking system worked. In the event that it didn’t, my plan of action will be to follow the procedure that Peter described to Crew 211 last week.

4. This is a question, rather than a problem: what is the time system that the telescope uses for its own measure of time (h:m:s)? I assumed it was the Standard Time in Utah, but I was wondering whether this assumption is incorrect. Inserting a wrong time in the telescope would affect its pointing.