TMO61 pointing/tracking issues

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Sat, 03/28/2015 - 14:58

The last few sets of B filter images I've gotten from TMO61 have had tracking issues - it appears that the guider is shifting from star to star during the exposure which results in multiple images of every star in the field.  Is this related to the communication issues Arne mentioned in the March 9th AAVSOnet status update?  I've gotten three sets of images of V838 Mon in March and the B filter data has been unusable in all of them.

Shawn (DKS)

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
TMO61 status

Hi Shawn,

TMO61 still has communication issues that we are tracking down.  On occasion, this may mean running the scheduler to see how it performs, and when we're collecting photons, images get processed and sent to requesting researchers.  Bear with us as we track down the issues; you will get some data that is worthwhile and other images that are poor.

I've sent Jon Holtzman an alternative USB extender, which I hope he will be able to install next week and test.

Arne