Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 07:47:14 -0600 (MDT) From: Charles Corson Subject: 3.5m obslog 971013 MONDAY OCTOBER 13, 1997 APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY OBSERVING LOG ACTUAL ASTRONOMER INSTRUMENT DATE START FINISH Szkody DIS 10/13 19:54 04:45 Reiss DIS 10/14 04:45 5:45 INST SCHEDULED OBS WEATH EQUIP DAY NOTUSED I/RS/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B UW11/R 19:54 04:45 0 8.9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 UW04/R 04:45 05:45 0.5 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (note: times listed include instrument change time) ACTIVITY LOG (* means a trouble report has been issued or appended to) The dome was opened at 19:50 with clear skies, great conditions. Seeing was measured to be 1.2arc-sec at the beginning of the night. Focus was then adjusted on the fly using the slit viewer so, no other mearure of seeing is available for the night. (though guider images indicated 1.2-1.4arc-sec) Paula Szkody observed with DIS with good efficiency. Paula observed one Nova all night for period determination and it was a good test of the guider and focus. We were caught off guard with the TCC/STATUS process stopping. This caused some difficulties with tracking focus, but otherwise a good run. NOTE: As one would expect, if the STATUS process stops, no airmass/ZD data is transfered to the image headers. Just a heads up. In general, the guider performed well, but it is sensitive to focus drifts, both of the telescope, and of its own focus mechanism. If the image quality, and focus, are maintained, the guider performs well. The guider mac did crash on one occasion which required the annoying reboot of the guider controller. Paula also noted that the high-resolution grating moved slightly though no optics were commanded to move during the nova observations. Cals were obtained on sky, mirror covers open. Movements of 0.4pix in blue were observed. David Reiss also had good success with Dis for his observations of faint Nova. FOCUS LOG OCTOBER 13 1997 Best Telescope Wind Seeing Time Inst Focus Az El #Temp Dir MPH filter FWHM " 1954 DIS +50 96 71 8.0/10 311 0 r 1.2 #The first temp is air, the second is truss, both in degrees Celsius WEATHER OCTOBER 12 1997 Wind Time Temp F Dewp. F MPH. Dir. Dust Sky Precip. 16:01 51 15 0 233 (SW) 375 clear none 17:01 51 12 0 324 (NW) 326 clear none 18:01 48 9 0 329 (NNW) 458 clear none 19:01 44 14 6 84 (E) 531 clear none 20:01 46 12 2 325 (NW) 243 clear none 21:01 44 11 4 350 (N) 258 clear none 22:01 45 11 3 8 (N) 289 clear none 23:01 43 13 4 356 (N) 261 clear none 00:01 42 12 0 336 (NNW) 446 clear none 01:01 42 -12 7 349 (NNW) 139 clear none 02:01 43 -23 12 30 (NNE) 55 clear none 03:01 43 -14 10 28 (NNE) 69 clear none 04:01 43 -1 11 32 (NNE) 83 clear none 05:01 44 -2 0 255 (WSW) 62 clear none 06:01 46 0 0 335 (NNW) 64 clear none 07:01 44 2 9 65 (ENE) 70 clear none note: the wind was coming from the azimuth listed. The convention used is north=0 degrees, east=90 degrees. The dust count is particles > 1 micron per 0.1 cu. ft. TELESCOPE STATUS Primary, secondary, and tertiary mirrors in place and collimated. Primary support system operational. Mirror ventilation system in place. Telescope drives operational. Current Remark version: 2.36. Current guide software version: GIm Ctrlv3.0b11. Charles