How to manually record occultations!

Hello, everyone. We have a lot of new people here with us, performing occultations at WAS. This post includes photos and instructions on how to manually record occultations. It is a resource for those who have not had much time in the dome to study and catch up.

Here is also a link to a google document which has these instructions on it, for your printing pleasure: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13tjC2PJa0hosbFUGd5ixay0jcq1sUX3l2NEyIPsmNio/edit?usp=sharing

To read the instructions accompanying the photos, hover your mouse or tap over the images.

The two things you need: -black bag containing three cords -box containing the camera. These materials are located in the closet in the warm room. 1) Turn on the telescope. There is a laminated sheet on a clipboard that has directions on how to do so.

2) Screw the camera into the telescope. TIGHTEN IT TO MAKE SURE IT WILL NOT FALL OUT.

3) Take the three cords out of the black bag. -The blue one plugs into the camera and then into the usb docking station behind the telescope. -Screw the GPS in and then attach it to the outside of the dome -Plug the black cord into the camera and then into the cord lying on the bottom of the telescope. When you plug this cord into the camera, make sure you wrap it around the camera a couple of times so that it won’t fall out.

Here is the USB docking station that the blue cord plugs into. Click the little button to make sure the blue light is on.

4) Start Sharpcap. TheSkyX on the computer should start up automatically.

5) On TheSkyX, click input and then click import small solar system bodies. 6) On TheSkyX, click the “find” tab. Type in “MPL” and then the name of the asteroid. Remember to type it in exactly as the name appears on OccultWatcher (with the spaces, capitals, and parentheses).

7) Once you find the asteroid, click “center”. Zoom out so that you can find a nearby, bright, constellation star to align the scope. Click on the star (make sure you click directlyon it, and that you haven’t clicked on a different star). Slew the scope to the star.

8) Look in the finder scope and use the arrow keys on the remote to make sure the star is in the center of the finder scope (in the middle of the crosshairs). Remember that the arrow keys work inversely – up is down, left is right. You may need to focus the camera on the star. To do this, use the focuser that is near the camera on the scope.

9) Once the star is centered, click the sync button on TheSkyX.

10) On Sharpcap, connect to the camera. It is called QHY174M. 11) On TheSkyX, slew to the target star. If you have already looked it up in the “find” tab, you just need to click enter and center. 12) Using the finder, make sure the target is centered in the finder scope.

13) Identify the target star on Sharpcap by comparing it to the display on TheSkyX. The display on Sharpcap is inverted to the display on TheSkyX. Make sure you are zoomed into 17 degrees on TheSkyX, as this is the field of view you will have on SharpCap. You may need to adjust the exposure (Quickpicks – 2s or 4s) to fully see all the stars.

14) Back to Sharpcap, adjust the settings so that the target star is barely visible. You will be
using the button on the right labeled “Quick Picks” which adjusts the exposure. Longer
occultations are normally run on 1 to ½ of a second (or one frame per second, one frame
per half a second).

15) Longer occultations are normally run on 1 to ½ of a second (or one frame per second, one frame per half a second). Shorter occultations are sometimes run at 1/4s or ⅛. Put frame stack 3 or 5 so that you can see the target, yet this will not affect how the data is recorded.  On the top, enter the number of the asteroid into the space provided.

16) Click start capture on the top left of the screen and set the recording to 4 minutes (or longer for longer occultations). Make sure to start recording at least two minutes before the occultation (you should record two minutes before, and two minutes after, hence the recording is 4 minutes).