Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 05:08:34 -0700 (MST) From: Tia Hoyes Subject: 3.5m obslog 980116 FRIDAY JANUARY 16, 1998 APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY OBSERVING LOG ACTUAL ASTRONOMER INSTRUMENT DATE START FINISH Rodgers DIS 1/16 17:25 19:25 Bohm GRIM2 1/16 19:35 23:55 Skelton DIS/GRIM2 1/16 00:30 04:30 INST SCHEDULED OBS WEATH EQUIP DAY NOTUSED I/RS/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B UW03/R 18:47 19:23 0.1 0 0 0 0.5 0 0 0 0 UW12/R 19:23 00:10 1.9 2.8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 UW04/R 00:10 00:25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.3 UW08/R 00;25 05:39 0 1.8 0 0 0 3.4 0 0 0 (note: times listed include instrument change time) ACTIVITY LOG (* means a trouble report has been issued or appended to) The telescope was opened at 18:25. SPICAM is still down, can't control shutter mechanism. DIS was worked on today- the new medium resolution gratings characterization was tested. Bernadette Rodgers was the first observer for the evening. She lost .5 hours due to a slit wheel problems. It was thought that the tape on the filter wheel was causing it to bind slightly. But there were other problems that occurred later in the evening. Comments:I got two good exposures, thanks for your effort but time was too short to get much. Alberto Noriega-Crespo and Karl-Heinz Bohm observed remotely using GRIMII. Comments:We did not have any problems with the instrument or with the transmition of the data. At the beginning of the night was clear, with 0.95arcsec seeing. But as the night went by it became more cloudy. In any case, we are/were so desperate for data that the clouds did not stop us. Tia was/is wonderful as always and is a pleasure to work with her. Brooke Skelton and Gene Magnier were trying to observe with DIS, but had to switch to GRIM2. Information is as follows: Brooke Skelton and I tried to observe tonight using DIS. We had a lot of problems which seem to be related to the filter/shutter system on DIS. We had three slit masks in the slit wheel, one open slot, and one slot with a 1.5" slit. The slit masks assemblies are the same ones we have used on three prior occasions with great success. among the first images, we tried to take an image through one of the slit masks. The images showed that the slit wheel had chosen a position halfway between two of the slots. We tried a second position and again the wheel chose a location halfway between two slots. However, it clearly moved, as it was between two different slots than in the previous image. these images can be found on tycho:/export/images, jan17.0002r.fit and jan17.0003r.fit At this point, Tia power-cycled DIS and tried to home the slit wheel. we then tried to take a picture and began having problems with the shutter. after hitting the "expose" button in remark, DIS hung on "checking shutter". It continued to repeat "checking shutter" once per second in the status window, while all the DIS buttons were greyed out. After trying a variety of things, Tia power-cycled it, and this reset the problem. At this point, however, when we tried to take an image, the shutter claimed it was open, and the exposure aborted. sync also reported 'shutter open' errors. again, tia tried a variety of things to reset the shutter, and eventually power-cycled it. after another DIS shutter home, we were able to take an image. however, the next image got stuck on checking shutter again. at this point, after working on this problem for almost 2 hours, we decided to give up on DIS. Since Spicam was also not operational, we were unable to do either part of our program. We decided to do some unrelated work with GRIM. I had a small amount of work to do with GRIM at these RAs, but only about 1.75 hours worth. Basically the entire night was lost to our main science project, and the alternative program was only able to fill in 1.75 hours of the night. All the rest was effectively lost to the problems with DIS and Spicam. FOCUS LOG JANUARY 16, 1998 Best Telescope Wind Seeing Time Inst Focus Az El Temp# Dir MPH filter FWHM " 18:50 DIS +50(6196) 42.1 57.1 1.3/3.12 297.0 0.5 IN 1.34 19:35 GRIM2 0(6233) 178.4 73.4 0.7/1.91 332.8 14.0 2.122 0.95 00:45 DIS -50(6161) 301.1 46.1 1.6/1.25 289.8 17.1 IN 2.04 02:30 GRIM2 -50(6333) 256.7 35.1 1.4/1.57 302.6 14.8 H 2.14 # The first temp is air, the second is truss, both in degrees C. WEATHER JANUARY 16, 1998 Wind Time Temp F Dewp. MPH. Dir. DUST Sky Precip. 16:01 37 24 7 358 (N) 442 cirrus none 17:01 35 23 9 353 (N) 209 cirrus none 18:01 34 23 7 348 (NNW) 106 clearing none 19:01 34 23 13 330 (NNW) 97 light clouds none 20:01 33 24 7 272 (W) 133 light clouds none 21:01 34 24 9 268 (W) 106 cloudy none 22:01 33 24 9 285 (WNW) 153 clearing none 23:01 35 25 16 277 (W) 203 clearing none 00:01 34 25 8 312 (NW) 128 mostly clear none 01:01 34 24 13 283 (WNW) 115 clear none 02:01 35 23 11 283 (WNW) 101 clear none 03:01 35 22 15 311 (NW) 64 clear none 04:01 35 23 13 321 (NW) 102 clear none 05:01 37 23 9 282 (WNW) 74 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. -Tia d