The acquisition and guide camera for the NRES unit at Wise Observatory was replaced on August 4. The camera was configured and tested, and calibration observations were obtained. The NRES unit resumed science observations tonight.
Also on August 4, the 1-meter telescope in Dome A at McDonald Observatory was taken offline. The telescope has been suffering from a persistent problem: it intermittently "locks" along one axis, preventing it from slewing to a target. Sometimes, even when a slew is successful, the telescope's pointing is corrupted enough that the target is located outside of the imager's field-of-view. Our operations team watched the problem increase in severity and frequency over several weeks. We have been unable to fix the problem, so we took the telescope offline.
A maintenance trip to McDonald Observatory is planned to begin next week, and investigating the problem with the Dome A telescope is the top priority.
