The Musk Observatory as well as the Jove Radio Telescope have been established in a heroic effort by Crew 10, especially Peter Detterline and Cdr. Judge Reed. The computer system got changed during Crew 11, so the entire set-up had to be reconfigured, but is now nearly identical with the original system. Following a recommendation from Mission Support (based on other isolated crew experiences), the crew astronomer should not persue a typical astronomers life (work during night and sleep during the day in order to avoid a splitting into a 2 shift crew; they suggested to work not longer than around midnight (there's a lot to do during daytime anyway).

All the manuals for the telescope, the peripherals and the radio telescope are documented in printed form near the Hab Laptop.

The Celestron Nextstar GPS is an 11-inch Schmidt Cassegrain telescope with the following specifications:

• Focal Length: 2800 mm (F:10), Finderscope: 9x50
• Limiting stellar magnitude: 14,9, Rayleigh resolution: .50 arcsec

The following periphery is currently available (as of 18th of January 2003):

• Camera: ST2000XM CCD with Color Filter Wheel CFW8A (Red, Green, Blue, Clear)
• Electronic Finder: STV Deluxe and monitoring box
• Dome: Sirius Dome, electrically rotation (solar powered).
• Eyepiece: 40mm Plössl (70x magnification)
• Operations: see Powerpoint-manual from Peter Detterline via Mission Support you might receive observation requests from High schools etc...

In the Hab, the Observatory Cam/STV Screen allows you to monitor the telescope as soon as you have linked the Hab Laptop and Obs. Computer. By choosing the A and B switch you can either have the image of the surveillance cam or the STV Monitor image.

Radio Telescope

The Receiver is located right above the Observatory Camera Monitor, it needs the 12V AC/DC converter; the audio cable is to be plugged into the microphone port of the Laptop. By launching the Radio-Skypipe software one should see the signal. In case of troubles, try John "Dusty" Samouce (Cdr., Crew 7), he runs the same system privately.

Make sure, that the receiver line is O.K. (especially the plastic pillars) after stormy weather.

Troubleshooting:

Mission Support can not provide in-depth technical support to software problems at a reasonable response time, so here's my recommendation: try to figure it out for yourself, ask the flight engineer and then, if the problem persists, email the following people:

• Musk Observatory:
• Radio Observatory:
• Setup and astronomical questions:
• Computer/Computing Hardware:
  (or, faster: via Yahoo Messenger, he's the only one who will be able to appear in person, typically within a day notice, mostly much faster).

Known troubles:

Dome rotation: the solar power attached to the dome is not large enough to allow for a full charging cycle when there are too many clouds in the sky. After a few full rotations the accumulator might be drained which means the end of the night (no manual dome operation possible)

Tracking: more than 30 seconds with the ST2000XM seems to be troublesome due to the lack of an e-tracking (missing cable, see Action items)

GreenHab-light: bad for southern view, but it switches off automaticall after 21:30 and on after midnight. Tell the biologists that their plants need sleep, too.

Safety: make sure that you have a radio with you when you're up and observing; there is a surveillance camera in the dome that allows the crew to watch you. It needs some time to get used to being observed, but it increases safety.

Actions to be taken:

• Align the telescope mounting (we couldn't finish that due to lack of good weather)
• Allow Remote Operations via the Hab-Laptop by installing VNC server on the Observatory computer
• Find out the limiting magnitude for various filters
• Radio telescope: mount the iron fairings and have fun with the first wave (the generator is not producing that much radio noise @ 20,1 MHz according to Peter Detterline)
• Connect Automadome to computer so that is rotates synchronously with the telescope (Attn.! The telescope is not located in the geometrical center of the dome, but I believe the Automadome software allows for a correction)
• Try to have mission support ship in a connector cable between the telescope and the STV efinder for autoguiding
• Have fun!