Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Paul Feder Observatory Upgrades And Exoplanet And Variable Star Data, Mara Derung, Tanner Weyer, Emily Watson

Student Academic Conference

Before the upgrade to the dome and telescope, much of the work to use the telescope was done manually. One had to drive an hour round trip to the observatory at dusk and dawn to ensure that the telescope started up and shutdown properly. Proper startup included manually opening the lower dome flap via hand crank and briefly plugging in the top part of the dome to raise the upper slit. Shutting down the telescope during the summer required a person to be at the telescope by 5:00AM, before sunrise to make sure that the dome closed before the sun …