Some improvements, which are always good! Cliff Kotnik continues his development of the python pipeline. Ken has been active in creating target plans for the many proposals we've gotten lately. George is helping with anything IT related, such as the internet for BSM_Hamren. Gary has been troubleshooting enclosures.
We need an image inspector for SRO, as Jean-Bruno Desrosiers is stepping down. I really appreciate the work that Jean-Bruno has done over the years! An image inspector's task will take a few hours per week to look at the images at
http://images.aavsonet.aavso.org/sro/
as they arrive and are processed on a daily basis, looking for problems such as poor flatfielding, trailing, poor focus, satellites, etc. and generating a report using the remark-o-matic software. We will also need a telescope operator for BSM_Hamren, someone who can monitor the weather and manually enable startup at the beginning of the Hawaiian night and make sure it closes down at the end of the night. You typically spend ~15mins to open up, and another 15mins through the night to look in on things and make sure everything is running smoothly. I'd recommend someone on the west coast of the US, or figure out your time zone to see if you are up during the startup/shutdown periods. This is an important position because without your help, the telescope stays shut even if the weather is good.
BSM_Berry. Greg Bolt is testing the full-up E180/Paramount setup at his location near Perth. Hopefully new data will be arriving soon!
BSM_Hamren. This system is now located on the Big Island, thanks to installation work by Aaron Price, Dr. Bill Wiecking and Will Yang. The polar alignment has been done, and we're just waiting for clear weather to get flats and science images. You should see results soon.
BSM_NH2. Gary Walker spent a day to reposition the roof. This will prevent the issues that we were having with this system. We've gotten a couple of nights of imaging since it has been repaired.
BSM_NM. We "bit the bullet" and sent the E180 to Texas Nautical to recollimate. Hopefully this will take care of the ghost/halo images seen with this OTA. It should be returned this week, so we expect imaging to begin again soon.
BSM_S. Peter Nelson is moving to a new location, so BSM_South may be off-line for a couple of months. Peter is going to install an actual dome at the new site, along with the E180 and Paramount ME.
BSM_TX. Fully operational.
OC61. Fully operational.
SRO. Fully operational, after the camera repair by SBIG.
TMO61. The new QHY600 is undergoing tests, so getting new data may take a week or two.