Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2006 12:11:37 GMT
From: long@apo.nmsu.edu
Subject: 2.5m obslog 20060324 (MJD 53819)
                       APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY SDSS 2.5M
                                 OBSERVING LOG
                             Friday March 24, 2006
                                  (MJD 53819)
---=== OBSERVING TEAM ===---
Night:  Viktor Malanushenko
        Dan Long
---=== OBSERVING PLAN ===---
	Science!
---=== OBSERVING SUMMARY ===---
        For the first time in a while, we got some imaging in.
        We started out the night with the oblique scan (213 S)
        in some pretty amazing seeing (run 6073).
        We then got some data on 1260 S, but how much depends on
        whether the second short scan is considered useful.
        The first scan (6074)  ran into a patch of very bad seeing about
        90 frames in.  We backed up and re-observed the bad patch
        only to get clouds after about another 70 frames (6075).
        If only the first run is useful the good science lambda range
        is 96 to 104.  If the second run can be combined, the science
        range would extend to 109.5.
        The rest of the night we had high clouds so did spectroscopy
        and finished 4 plates:  4 2226, 6 2015, 7 2029, 8 2131.
---=== OBSERVING LOG ===---
23:20Z  Spectrograph focus check verified the -1 C setting.  Since
        the temperature outside is around 5 C, will bump the focus
        to 1 C ( mechPiston 2000 for both).
01:00Z  Fans On, Louvers Open, Doors still closed for bias.
        Run 6071, bias.
01:30Z  Opening
        Imaging while skies remain clear.
02:06Z  Run 6072  Getting setup and focused in twilight.
        Seeing starting out excellent.
        Several chips .8 arcseconds or better
02:37Z  Run 6073  Oblique scan:  213 S  78 to 90 (including ramps)
        Seeing excellent throughout especially given low elevation.
        Hey!  That looks like the Orion nebula near the end.
03:35Z  Run 6074   1260 S  94 to 110  (including ramps)
        Frame 11, Mu 94.2: Ramp start
        Focus and skippy happy from the start.
        Frame 19, Mu 96:   Science start.
04:20Z  wind shift trashes the seeing (goes over 2.5")
        seeingRun calls it bad starting at frame 68, Mu 103.3
        Seeing actually crossed the line at frame 81, Mu 105.3
04:34Z  ending this drift and backing up to cover the
        bad seeing gap
        Frame 110, Mu 109.5:  End of run.
04:36Z  Run 6075  1260 S  101.5 to 111.5 (including ramps)
        Skippy and focus happy from the start.
        Seeing good for the moment as well.
        Clouds moving in at about frame 72, Mu 111.5.
        Call end of science Mu 109.5
        Frame 74, Mu 111.5:  Ending drift.
        Sadly neither of these two runs has over 100 frames
        of goodness.  However, considering the extremely low
        elevation, We're hoping that these runs can be counted
        toward this stripe, because the seeing tonight really
        was exceptional ( caget tpm_TM_PMSSAvg tpm_TM_TelairAvg.VALA
        tpm_TM_PMSSAvg                1.65
        tpm_TM_TelairAvg.VALA         4.18
                               b1    r1    b2    r2
        Mean Offset           .47  -.28   .14  -.25
        Recommended Piston         2530        2320
        Indicated best focus temperature around -1 C
        It is currently 5 C outside and probably won't go below 0 C
        Pistoning +2000 on each to set the temperature to about 1 C.
After:
                       sp1    sp2
        Coll_motor_A  2950   -8740
        Coll_motor_B  2970  -12060
        Coll_motor_C  2940  -11350
        No second goSpecFocus so no offset values (2nd postCalib
        looked good though).