Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 05:27:40 -0600 (MDT) From: Pete Newman Subject: 2.5m obslog 20010428 (MJD 52028) Apache Point Observatory - SDSS 2.5m Observing Log 2001 April 28 - MJD 52028 PEOPLE ====== 2.5m Observers: Mike Harvanek (APO), Pete Newman (APO) Support: None. Visitors: None. OBSERVING PLAN ============== Science. Spectroscopy while the moon is up, then imaging as priority. OBSERVING SUMMARY ================= Closed to weather until 23:00 MDT, then spectroscopy in mediocre seeing and increasing humidity. Finished plate 531 and got one good exposure on plate 588. Closed again by cloud with incoming rain at 03:00 MDT and did not re-open. OBSERVERS' LOG ============== Rain and lightning in mid-afternoon followed by a couple of showers and threatening virga and heavier precipitation seen on the radar kept us closed until 23:00. Moon and mediocre seeing dictated spectroscopy once we opened. Plate 531, cartridge 6. Completed in 5 exposures. Poor seeing (2.3 - 2.7 arcsec) and moon, so slow progress. Plate 588, cartridge 9. One good 900s exposure. Following the preCalibs, at ~02:08 MDT, the guide stars were not in the guide fibers as usual (though the sky was clear at this time). A gotoField found them again. Not sure what happened there. The second exposure was aborted when rapid cloud lost the signal. We closed at 03:00, about 30 minutes before more rain arrived. The rain shower around 03:30 was NOT visible on radar! We had closed at 03:00 because the incoming cumulus seen on the sky camera looked similar to that with precipitated on us in the afternoon. We did not re-open. A note on mirror equilibration: following current standard operating procedures, we turned on the extractor and cone fans and cracked the enclosure doors an hour before sunset (18:45 MDT - it would have been earlier but for weather). The TPM archive plot then showed the enclosure air and mirror temperatures rising, not falling, as the enclosure was in fact cooler than the outside air. Not wanting to heat up the mirror, we turned off the fans and closed the doors again and planned on not reopening until after sunset when the outside air temperature had dropped to the mirror temps (in fact, later than that because rain intervened). When we did open, the TPM archive plots showed the mirror temperature drop > 2K and start to track air within just 45 minutes (yeah! cone fans and removed perimeter seal!). We recommend that in future a quick comparison of enclosure/mirror and outdoor temperatures be made before deciding to ventilate the enclosure. See also problems section for a comment on temperature sensor calibrations. Pete saw a very bright meteor eastbound out of Leo around 22:00, red/orange trail, slow, breaking up into ~6 parts. Mike and Anders saw another, westbound out of Lyra around 03:00, fast, blue/yellow, fading away. Nicest things seen all night! IMAGING DATA ============ Run Stripe Strip Flavor Lambda Last Frame # Begin End ------------------------------------------------------------------ 2272 100 O ignore -89.63 -85.49 41 doghouse bias SPECTROSCOPY DATA ================= UT Exp Time flavor comment ================================================= ------ sequence 9844, plate -9999 ------- 23:01 9844 0.0 bias {{}} ------ sequence 9845, plate 531 ------- 05:46 9845 10.0 flat pre-flat 05:48 9846 2.0 arc pre-arc 06:11 9847 900.0 target science 06:30 9848 901.0 target science 06:56 9849 901.0 target science 07:14 9850 901.0 target science 07:32 9851 901.0 target science 07:38 9852 240.0 smear {{Smear Pattern}} 07:41 9853 10.0 flat post-flat 07:43 9854 2.0 arc post-arc ------ sequence 9855, plate 588 ------- 08:04 9855 10.0 flat pre-flat 08:06 9856 2.0 arc pre-arc 08:29 9857 901.0 target science 08:51 9858 188.0 target science {{clouds; lost guide stars}} USELESS Plate 531 was observed in sequence(s) 9845 for a total of 4504 seconds Plate 588 was observed in sequence(s) 9855 for a total of 1089 seconds TAPES ===== To FNAL: JL3961 At APO: JL3962 PROBLEMS ======== There still seems to be an offset between the mirror, fork air and tower air sensors, e.g. (tpm_TM_M2B2Chans.VALB - tpm_TM_M0B0Chans.VALG) = 1.0K, and (tpm_TM_M2B2Chans.VALB - tower air) = -0.9K. We had problems editing Steph's time log tool tonight. As this is not released software, no PR was raised, but we emailed her with details. SAFETY ISSUES ============= There were many lightning strikes in SW New Mexico reported on the Weathertap web site during the afternoon and early evening. We made sure all observers were aware of this. TELESCOPE AND ENCLOSURE STATUS ============================== Doors open/closed: 18:45 / 19:30 Extractor fan on/off: 18:45 / 19:30 Cone fans on/off: 18:45 / 19:30 Doors open/closed: 22:50 / 03:00 Extractor fan on/off: 22:35 / 03:05 Cone fans on/off: 22:35 / 03:05 Kludge fans on/off: ----- / ----- Not installed Enclosure open/closed: 23:00 / 03:00 Lava lamp on/off: 19:00 / 05:13 (to remind us to do it!) Interlocks bypassed: none End of night: Telescope stowed at 30 deg alt with cartridge 9/plate 588 mounted ready. Counterweights at 270. LN2 180-LITER DEWARS ==================== Spectro: 252 lb at 05:20; on autofill Imager: 259 lb at 05:20; on autofill MIRROR POSITIONS ================ tracking in enclosure at 121,30 Time dpTemp dewPt Press TmpOut HumOut Windd Winds 19:01 51.6 35.6 21.49 54 130.3 11.2 10 PRIMARY: -------- Scale: 1.000000 MIGS TONIGHT NOMINAL Axial A: 0.0260 0.0260 Axial B: -0.0360 -0.0350 Axial C: 0.0410 0.0350 Trans D: 3.7570 3.7550 Lateral E: 1.9070 1.9065 Lateral F: 0.4085 0.4080 GALILS Commanded: 4890. -2755. 465. -6642. 8737. 8322. Actual: 4900. -2750. 450. -6650. 8750. 8300. SETMIR VALUES primDesOrient: 0.00 -4.40 10.70 586.50 240.70 primOrient: 0.00 -4.56 10.53 586.58 240.03 SECONDARY: ---------- Focus: 0.0 Air temp: 10.9 C Altitude: 30.01 MIGS TONIGHT NOMINAL Axial A: -1.2930 -1.2930 Axial B: -1.3060 -1.3070 Axial C: -1.3040 -1.3050 Trans D: 0.1790 0.1900 GALILS Commanded: 1583837. 1583837. 1583837. 2595. 3795. Actual: 1583806. 1583882. 1583794. 2600. 3800. SETMIR VALUES secDesOrient: 1257.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -175.00 secOrient: 1257.02 0.03 -0.01 -0.01 -175.14 FOCUS LOG ========= setmir piston Temp Wind Time Inst scale M1 M2 Foc Az Alt (C) MPH Dir filt fwhm 00:01 6 531 1.00015 -1481 -20 50 15 58.4 8.7 21 144 -- 2.5 00:44 6 531 1.00010 -988 287 -50 -5 59.2 8.3 22 134 -- 2.3 02:07 9 581 1.00000 0 1103 -50 -20 59.6 7.5 22 140 -- 2.2 AXIS OFFSETS ============ Time Cart Plate getclock Az Alt Rot Scale 00:01 6 531 988524100 -0.002195 0.003249 0.000000 1.000150 02:04 9 588 988531447 -0.005648 -0.000574 0.012584 1.000000 SOFTWARE VERSIONS USED ====================== IOP/SOP: v3_41_5a Watcher: v2_8_16 MCP: v4_6_5 TPM: v2_3_3 AstroDa: 14_36 TCC: 2.5.1A tccMon: v1_6 sdssProcedures: v1_15 WEATHER DETAILS =============== Intermittent local rain, lightning within 8-15 miles from 16:00 - 18:00. closed the sky camera at 20:05 due to threat of local rain again. Note that this evening, in particular, the weather was approaching from the W or SW, not the surface wind direction shown in the log below. Short rain shower again at 20:55, precipitation visible on radar within Otero county from El Paso NEXRAD. Another shower at 03:30, NOT seen on radar! ---Wind--- ---Cloud--- Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust DIMM Type Cover Precip. 16:01 62 33 11 190 (S) 1011 -- Cum 5/8 rain 17:01 59 36 14 251 (WSW) 975 -- Cum 5/8 rain 18:01 54 33 10 180 (S) 978 -- Cum 5/8 rain 19:01 52 36 2 116 (ESE) 1092 -- Cum 2/8 radar 20:01 48 36 11 114 (ESE) 999 -- Cum 4/8 radar 21:01 48 36 16 181 (S) 812 -- Cum 4/8 radar 22:01 47 34 22 126 (SE) 915 -- Cum 4/8 -- 23:01 45 35 10 128 (SE) 901 -- Cum 1/8 -- 00:01 48 34 22 136 (SE) 1092 -- -- 0/8 -- 01:01 47 35 25 134 (SE) 1210 -- -- 0/8 -- 02:01 46 37 21 138 (SE) 1084 -- -- 0/8 -- Clouds on sky camera from 02:24 03:01 46 37 20 155 (SSE) 1106 -- Cum 7/8 -- Rain at 03:30, sky camera closed. 04:01 45 37 14 161 (SSE) 1088 -- ??? ?/8 -- More moisture sensed by observers outside at 04:20. 05:01 45 37 19 144 (SE) 962 -- ??? ?/8 -- HOW THE NUMBERS WERE OBTAINED ============================= IMAGING DATA: iop> i4l SPECTROSCOPY DATA: iop> sc4l, then s4l MIGS: iop> m4l, start of run, track 121,30, focus=0, scale=1 FOCUS LOG: iop> f4l AXIS OFFSETS: iop> o4l LN2 180-LITER DEWARS: from TPM display at time noted. WEATHER DATA: from 'wlf Weather-yyyymmdd' on wx@marmot:~/data SOFTWARE VERSIONS: iop> iopVersion; watcherVersion; mcpVersion; astrodaVer tccmon> show version; others from their windows TIMES: All times APO local (MST/MDT) unless specified. MAIL TO: obs-report-25m@apo.nmsu.edu SUBJECT: 2.5m obslog yyyymmdd (MJD xxxxx)