What are your responsibilities:

1. At least 1-week prior, communicate with the other assigned TAs and the assigned professor about potential targets for that night.
2. The morning of, monitor the weather, and communicate with the other assigned TAs and the assigned professor about the decision to open or close based on weather.
3. Arrive 45-60 mins early to set up for the public night, open up the domes, align the scopes in the dome, set up any other telescopes you intend to use that night.
4. Close down and lock up Tombaugh after the night.
5. Report to Jason and Zach an estimated # of people who showed up to the public night.

Usually, I aim for having 4-5 targets ready to go. Normally, we will show ~4 separate objects. One in the North dome, one in th middle dome, on in the Dob, and one in another telescope (eVscope2!).

When picking a target, try to think about A) How it fits into the professor's talk, B) how it will look to the public, and C) that we're surrounded by two sports field and a parking lot!

For example, at Tombaugh, we can see Andromeda (apparent mag = 3.4) fine in the telescope. In the telescopes, M31 appears as a smudge of light. Which has a lot of talking points! If you don't talk about those points, the public might be slightly disappointed from expectations not being met.

If it is hard to convince yourself that you see a very faint, nebulous object, that means it will be impossible for the public to see it!

The North and Middle dome have an altitude limit of ~25 degrees. That is, if any object is below 25 degrees altitude, or will go below 25 degrees by the end of the night, you might want to consider not putting that target in the dome, or use another telescope which doesn't have such limits.

To cancel or not to cancel, that is thy question! I seriously hate making this decision. But sometimes it is very much correct to make, cause having people travel to see clouds can be rather disappointing, and more negative of a preception than just canceling the observations. Also, you have to think about the safety of the equipment, volunteers, and public.

Conditions which are obvious reasons for cancelations:

1. Rain
2. Thunderstorms
3. Dust storms
4. High winds (sustained 25+mph winds and/or gusts above 30mph)

If the only condition is “clouds” - that can be difficult. It is important to talk with the other assigned people and professor to come to a conclusion.

Any decision to cancel needs to be made by 5pm such that it can be communicated to the public. This is done by notifying Zach such that the website can be updated to indicate the choice made.

Below are resources I like to us to help assist in making this decision. Note, it is correct to use several sites and compare their predictions.

Las Cruces Clear Sky Chart

Las Cruces weather.gov forecast

Las Cruces weather.gov hourly charts

Regional satellite loop

National Center for Atmospheric Research forecast models (Try the RAP model with 18-hr loop for Clouds: all levels)

Dust Tracker for Las Cruces from airnow.gov. - Also tracks fire and smoke plumes.

College of DuPage Cloud Tracker

My Lightning Tracker and Alert (iPhone App link, also available on the google store)

Wunder Ground (There are local weather stations in Las Cruces!)

The national weather service

Opening by myself, I can do everything in under 30 mins since I'm familiar. If you are not familiar with Tombaugh, it can take upwards of 45-60 mins. Do not show up 5-10 before the start time expecting everything will be set up quickly and smoothly.

Often times members of the public will show up 15-20 mins early, and be edgar to talk. It can be distracting when the public is watching you set up.

To open the very first thing you need to do is get the keys! - This semester, we're going to keep the keys either with Riah or Zach, and you will have to check out the keys for Tombaugh before the public night. Please do not wait till an hour before the Public Night to get the keys! (Riah and Zach will most certainly not be in the office!)

The Campus Obs TA (Asif!) will also have his own set as a back up.

To open the domes and get the telescopes up and going: (NOTE - These are spark notes, they make much more sense if you actually do them!)

North Dome (How to Open): Remove bolt from dome slit and pull open the shutters

1. Power the Rotation Box / Motor (Plug the hanging cord into the center pillar)
2. Remove the plastic sheet covering the telescope
3. Plug the telescope into the center pillar’s outlet
4. Power on the telescope using the toggle switch on the telescope
5. Remove the lens covers

South Dome (How to Open): Power on the switch by the door labeled “Power/Red”

1. Power on the wall box
2. Power on the dome power box
3. Open the shutter with “open shutter” button on the dome power box
4. Remove the plastic sheet covering the telescope
5. Plug the telescope into the center pillar’s outlet
6. Power on the telescope using the toggle switch on the telescope
7. Remove the lens covers

Telescope Alignment: When in doubt follow the scrolling instructions on the handheld device.

1. Press “Enter” from the main menu (you might hae to use the “back” button several times if you just finished setting up the Time-Site).
2. Use the 6 and 9 buttons to navigate the menu to “EQ North Align”. Press “ENTER”.
3. Navigate to “EQ OneStar Align”. Press “ENTER”.
4. Navigate to a named star that is visible in the sky. Press “ENTER”.
5. Slew the telescope using the arrow keys until the star is centered in the eye piece.
6. Press “ALIGN”.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT OPENING →

It can be tempting to attempt to save time by slewing / aligning the telescope at the same time another TA is opening the dome (this is especially true for the middle dome whose slit is controlled by a motor). However, if multiple sources are drawing power from the dome at once (slewing from the telescope and the dome’s motor), it is highly likely that the alignment of the telescope will be off (Tombaugh is an old facility, and yes this has happened before). Please be patient when setting up and arrive at the observatory with plenty of time to set things up prior to the start time of an event.

It looks like there was a GPS roll over during the lock down. In order to fix this the OS / firmware needs to be reinstalled. However, this non-trival and has not been done as a result.

I have turned off the GPS and now we have to manually set the location - This is quick and only takes a few mins - though do note, that the date and time will get offset over the course of days / weeks. It is best to reset it before using it.

How to VIEW Time-Site:

1. Press the Menu button (#7 on the keypad)
2. Use #6 (Arrow Up) or #9 (Arrow Down) to navigate (NOT the four directional arrows at the top).
3. Go to “View Time-Site”
4. Press “Enter” on the Keypad
5. Use #6 (Arrow Up) or #9 (Arrow Down) to see the current Time-Site

How to setup the Time-Site information:

1. Press the Menu button (#7 on the keypad)
2. Use #6 (Arrow Up) or #9 (Arrow Down) to navigate (NOT the four directional arrows at the top).
3. Got to “Scope Setup”, Press “Enter”
4. Go to “Set-up Time-Site”, Press “Enter”
5. Use the keypad to enter the current time (in 24 hour designation), Press “Enter”
6. Select if we’re currently in “Daylight Savings Time” or “Standard Time”, Press “Enter”
7. Use the keypad to enter the date (mm/dd/yy)., Press “Enter” and this will take you back to the Scope Setup menu
8. Select Time-Site again to be able to choose the city. Press “Enter”
9. Goto “City Data Base” → North America → United States → New Mexico → Las Cruces (pressing “Enter” each time to select).
10. It will prompt you to enter the time again, ensure this is all correct.

I like to sanity check by going to “view-time” and confirming the site time location is correct.

Telescope Shutdown: Return the telescopes to the Home position: perpendicular to the support fork and pointing at the meridian.

1. Power off the telescope using the toggle switch on the telescope
2. Unplug the telescope from the outlet.
3. Cover the telescope with the plastic sheet

Note - for the North Dome, the Dome's 'park position' - doesn't matter. HOWEVER, the middle dome's park position does matter! You should aim to align the dome such that the IR sensor lines up with the receiver.

We additionally have a Celestron 8inch and a eVscope2 digital scope. You will notice instructions for those are not here. These scopes are complicated and expensive. And in the case of the eVscope2 it was donated to us by a member of the public.

The Celestron 8inch is in the outreach closet, but requires some knowledge. If you're comfortable setting up a scope, its nothing you haven't seen. If you are not comfortable setting up a telescope - you should ask Zach for a demonstration before using it!

The eVscope2 will be highly regulated. If you are not trained on it, and if no one assigned for the current the night is trained on it, you will not be given it to use. If you would like to be trained on it, please reach out to Zach.

Note - There have been reports that the middle dome’s shutter will not close. This has happened in 2023 to the middle Dome, and 2025 to the North dome.

If this happens in the middle dome, ensure that the IR Sensor on the dome is lined up with the IR Sensor on the motor. Wait 5 minutes. Then retry. IF IT DOES NOT CLOSE → take the precautions below

EMERGENCY PROCEDURE IF SOUTH DOME DOESN’T CLOSE. *Note* - There have been reports in the past that the middle dome’s shutter will not close. If this happens, ensure that the IR Sensor on the dome is lined up with the IR Sensor on the motor. Wait 5 minutes. Then retry. IF IT DOES NOT CLOSE → take the precautions below

1. INFORM ZACH (leave a voicemail, send a text, OR send an email)
2. Make sure all lens covers are securely on
3. Cover the telescope with plastic
4. If rain is suspected in the night, slew the telescope such that it won’t act like a bucket! (also why did you open if rain is suspected so soon? <.<)
5. TURN EVERYTHING OFF
6. Make sure outlets / plugs are not exposed to the weather (tuck them under the plastic cover if possible)
7. Inform NMSU Campus Police at (575)-646-3311. Use a script similar to this, “Hello, my name is , I’m a TA for the Astronomy Department. While closing up at Tombaugh Observatory on campus near the Track and Field, we had technical difficulties and the dome will not close. We have informed the observatory manager. We will not be able to address this till tomorrow during business hours. Until then, since the dome is open, would it be possible to increase patrols around the observatory?” Please feel free to give them my name and contact information.
8. Lock up as normal and leave.

NOTE - Your safety is more important than the telescopes! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CLIMB THE DOME TO FIX THE ISSUE.

Call the Intramural Front Desk: 575-646-2885

Please note, it can be understandably frustrating to come to Tombaugh and see Flood Lights pointed in our domes. I please ask that you do not share this frustration with the public. The NMSU Astro Dept has worked hard over the past several years to develop a relationship with the surrounding facilities and have all started working with us to ensure they limit their light pollution. Please don't damage this relationship by speaking negatively of them to the public out of frustration.

Just call the number, and ask that the lights be turned off. If there are any issues, please inform Zach and they will handle it the next day to ensure it doesn't happen again.