Unfortunately, however, the telescope clock was off and the resulting astrometry was not accurate enough to report the findings. November Thermoelectric camera cooler has been replaced after it exploded. A new shutter has been installed eliminating vignetting over almost the entire field of view. October Test images taken to evaluate equipment performance. With the necessary software in place the telescope can now be operated by entering coordinates into the Telescope Control Computer.
Plans are now in place to install a new shutter to reduce vignetting.
A serious problem with the optics was discovered in early August and has been localized to the corrector plate. We are currently implementing a plan to fix the corrector plate. The field flattener has also caused serious distortion problems and we are examining several possible work-around options. The CCD camera has been installed and the first images were collected by mid-July. Also under computer control, the focus mechanism is now functional in both directions, and polar alignment of the telescope is complete.