We are continuing the acceptance and development tests on the telescope begun
in July, 2000. The work for our trip to Arizona of 4-8 December, 2001, had
to do with further tests of the control system, assessment of mechanical problems
that may have arisen from the first two months of automatic operation, and some
minor mechanical work on the telescope enclosure.
The work planned fell into three categories as follows:
- MECHANICAL ADJUSTMENTS and augmentation of the telescope structure.
- Assess the oil consumption by the azimuth bearing during the first
month of operation of the telescope. Assess the efficacy of the
oil-return pumps.
(The oil level varies considerably because of thermal expansion;
we measured a variation of 0.38-0.5 inches on the gauge with a 25F
change in ambient temperature. The oil level went up another 3/8
inch to the top of the sight glass when heated to the equilibrium
operating temperature. There was some leakage into the interior of the
base of the telescope, but it was much less than onto the floor outside
the base. The actual losses of oil still seem to be moderate, perhaps
of the order of a gallon a month, but it will take several months of
operations to get a better idea of just how much it is.)
- Finish sealing the main telescope enclosure and inspect it for any
problems that may worsen during the first year of operations. Inspect
the mechanical linkage for the roof drive and decide with Boyd on any
changes that we need to make. Clean up the enclosure and stow any
excess materials in the storage building.
(We did this stuff on Dec 5th and 6th. The building should be
much more resistent to blowing rain and ready for operations.)
- Test placing the sky-looking camera in the enclosure and see how well
it works at night. Try replacing the camera that looks at the
telescope with the more sensitive model.
(Eaton--We ordered two cameras and a lens for these tasks and
received them in mid November. We then tested the sky-looking camera
in Nashville and shipped it to Arizona, put it in the observatory
on Dec. 5, and tested it that night. As it turns out, we had already
replaced the camera looking at the telescope with the more sensitive
model. The sky-looking camera worked pretty well during day and
twilight, but it wasn't sensitive enough to show any clouds or
stars at night.)
- Measure clearances in the spectrograph enclosure again for the purpose
of planning the orientation of the spectrograph and placement of its
auxiliary equipment.
(The room is 82 inches wide, and the wells for the legs to the
optical table are 7.75 in square and 11 in deep)
- ELECTRICAL WIRING.
- Add a strain relief strip to the cabling for the ethernet
connections so the plugs don't twist out of the hub.
(Eaton--We constructed the strip out of plastic in Nashville
in early November and put it in the observatory Dec. 4th.)
- Work on the DRIVES and CONTROL SYSTEM.
- Discuss operations and the control system with Boyd and decide
what changes are necessary for him to keep track of the
telescope's operation.
(We have put a scheme to transfer status information to
Boyd's computer for listing with the status data from the other
telescopes.)
- Run tests of the telescope with fainter stars to see how well it
really finds and tracks them with our simple algorithms.
(We ran standard tracking tests with some 9th magnitude stars
included in the list on 5 and 6 Dec, although it was partly cloudy. The
telescope tracked five 9.0--9.3-mag stars for 30 minutes without trouble.)
- Make any more changes to the logging system that require significant
rewriting of the control programs and test them.
(Williamson fixed several formatting problems in the logging
system and tested the results.)
- Make cosmetic changes to the roof-control program and test the result.
(We made the changes and recompiled the program on Dec. 6th. It
worked in tests of 6 and 7 December.)