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K. von Braun, K. Chiboucas, D. Hurley-Keller (U. of Michigan)
We present a World-Wide-Web-accessible database of astronomical images which suffer from a variety of observational problems. These problems range from common phenomena, such as dust grains on filters and/or dewar window, to more exotic cases like, for instance, deflated support airbags underneath the primary mirror. The purpose of this database is to enable astronomers at telescopes to save telescope time by discovering the nature of the trouble they might be experiencing with the help of this online catalog. Every observational mishap contained in this collection is presented in the form of a GIF image, a brief explanation of the problem, and, to the extent possible, a suggestion of what might be done to solve the problem and improve the image quality.
If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries,
it is as follows:
http://www.astro.lsa.umich.edu/users/kaspar/obs_mishaps/mishaps.html