Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 04:15:39 -0700 (MST) From: Karen Gloria Subject: 3.5-m obslog 981217 THURSDAY DECEMBER 17, 1998 APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY OBSERVING LOG ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT DATE START FINISH Wyder Wyder SPIcam 12/17-18 18:28 21:00 Holtzman Folcik, Hoopes SPIcam 12/18 - - INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RS/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B UW10/R 18:28 00:10 3.2 - 0 - 2.5 - 0 0 - NM11/R 00:10 05:32 5.4 - 0 - 0 - 0 0 - (note: times listed include instrument change time) ACTIVITY LOG (* means a trouble report has been issued or appended to) 1st half observing specialist: Dan Long The telescope was opened at 16:50 to clear skies. Tonight did not stay clear however. Clouds began moving in around 20:00, and it was cloudy enough to warrant closing the telescope by 21:00. By 22:10 it started to rain. The net was better behaved tonight. It was fine after about 19:00, with only a couple slow-downs during twilight time. The rotator was rezeroed this afternoon. Only a slight change was made ( -.007 deg ). 2nd half observing specialist: Karen Gloria We had snow flurries and a brief snow shower early in the second half of the night. The remainder of the night was very foggy with another snow shower around 4:00. OBSERVER COMMENTS UW10 (Wyder): "We were open from sunset until threatening weather forced us to close around 9:00. Spicam is working well again. The seeing was poor (2 to 3 arcseconds). From about sunset until 7:00, we experienced some net problems. Periodically the net would seem to hang for 5 to ten minutes at a time. During these periods, I could not send commands to spicam, ftp images, or send messages in Remark. After 7:00 or so all of these problems cleared up and everything went smoothly after that. There were also some scattered light problems. One of my targets happened to be in the Northwest. In my V and R images, I noticed a gradient in the sky. When I was pointed towards the Southeast, this scattered light disappeared. Dan thinks that this is due to light coming from Holloman Air Force Base which is to the northwest of APO." FOCUS LOG DECEMBER 17 1998 Wind Time Inst Focus Az El #Temp Dir MPH filt FWHM " 18:05 SPICAM -200(6006) 220 49 3.2/3.4 171 19 V 1.96 19:20 SPICAM -150(5985) 300 69 3.8/3.2 160 13 V 1.69 #First temp is air, second temp is telescope. WEATHER DECEMBER 17 1998 Wind Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Precip. 16:01 41 27 7 226 (SW) clear none 17:01 37 26 15 160 (SSE) clear none 18:01 37 27 18 157 (SSE) clear none 19:01 38 29 17 174 (S) clear none 20:01 38 28 17 160 (SSE) ptly cldy none 21:01 36 27 12 166 (SSE) mstly cldy none 22:01 38 30 19 180 (S) overcast none 23:01 35 31 13 200 (SSW) overcast flurries 00:01 34 31 5 231 (SW) overcast snow 01:01 33 31 14 237 (WSW) fog none 02:01 32 31 7 265 (W) fog none 03:01 31 31 10 272 (W) fog none 04:01 29 29 8 267 (W) fog snow 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: 2.42a. Current guide software version: GIm Ctrlv3.0b15. - Dan Long, Karen Gloria