Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 07:14:24 -0700 (MST)
From: Russet McMillan
Subject: 3.5m Night Log 981221
Content-Length: 2670
                         MONDAY DECEMBER 21, 1998
                         APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY
                              OBSERVING  LOG
                                                          ACTUAL
ASTRONOMER      OBSERVER(S)        INSTRUMENT   DATE   START FINISH
Richards         Richards             DIS      12/21     -     -
Diercks       Deutsch, Diercks     DIS/SPIcam 12/21/22 00:55 05:34
 INST        SCHEDULED     WEATH     EQUIP      OBS    DAY   NOTUSED
I/RS/DN    START FINISH   D    B    D    B    D    B   USE   D    B
DD01/R     18:29 19:29    -   1.0   -    0    -    0    0    -    0
DD01/R     19:29 05:34   5.1  0.4  0.6   0   4.0   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: Karen Gloria
The telescope was open briefly during twilight, just long enough to
get a quick spectrum of a standard.  We closed at 18:20 and remained
closed for the first half of the night.
2nd half observing specialist: Russet McMillan
Second half started with patchy clouds that gradually got thinner
without entirely going away.  I opened at 00:55.  I had some trouble
getting the telescope to move at first.  Karen told me to check the
enclosure rotation controller, so I reset it -- and the azimuth
started to move at once.  I hit a stop button and waited a few
seconds, then released the stop.  The enclosure moved another few
inches before stopping.  Is it supposed to do this?  By the time I got
the enclosure moving, the spectroscopic target was too low to observe,
so we switched to SPIcam.
I started having problems with both the guider monitor and the cloud
camera around 02:00.  The guider monitor stopped showing the latest
guider image, although it was obviously analyzing them and showing the
latest FWHM.  It also plastered a strange grey image over the area
where the cloud camera image usually appears on the monitor.  The
cloud camera webpage was still updating, although it was rather
behind.  I filled the cloud camera and checked that it was still
moving freely.  I commanded gdrstop and gdrstart a few times, stopped
and restarted the gmonitor, exited and re-entered IDL -- no change.
The cloud camera images on the webpage began to show low contrast
*after* I filled the camera, I visually inspected the scanner and saw
no frost on the dewar or mirrors (the humidity was less than 25%), and
no obvious reason for it to have a problem.  The images stopped
updating altogether after 02:35 although the camera was still
scanning.  Finally a message appeared on the cloud controller saying
that a disk was full on dione.  Perhaps this was also affecting the
guider monitor, although it still doesn't explain the low contrast
images.
Both the guider and spicam showed some unusual background noise; I
posted a couple of pictures on the bulletin board.  I couldn't think
of anything that would be affecting both of them.
                            OBSERVER COMMENTS
                                FOCUS LOG
                             DECEMBER 21 1998
						 Wind
Time   Inst        Focus     Az  El   #Temp    Dir  MPH  filt  FWHM "
18:00  slitcam -125(6057)   198  51  0.4/1.1   219   8   none   1.5
02:00  SPIcam  -125(5919)   182  67  1.3/1.1   190  19    V     1.1
#First temp is air, second temp is telescope.
                                 WEATHER
                             DECEMBER 21 1998
                               Wind
     Time   Temp F Dewp F  MPH  Direction    Dust      Sky      Precip.
     16:01    34     3     22   271  (W)            mstly cldy   none
     17:01    33     5      5   243  (WSW)          mstly cldy   none
     18:01    33     5     11   225  (SW)           mstly cldy   none
     19:01    33     5      7   199  (SSW)          mstly cldy   none
     20:01    35    -2     14   206  (SSW)          mstly cldy   none
     21:01    36    -9     11   217  (SW)           mstly cldy   none
     22:01    34   -10     15   188  (S)            mstly cldy   none
     23:01    34    -9     16   242  (WSW)          mstly cldy   none
     00:01    35    -8     20   233  (SW)            ptly cldy   none
     01:01    35    -7     15   210  (SSW)           ptly cldy   none
     02:01    34    -4     15   197  (SSW)           ptly cldy   none
     03:01    35     2     20   182  (S)             mstly clr   none
     04:01    35     3     18   187  (S)             mstly clr   none
     05:01    35     3     21   187  (S)             mstly clr   none
     06:01    36     2     20   206  (SSW)             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: 2.42a.
Current guide software version: GIm Ctrlv3.0b15.
- Karen Gloria, Russet McMillan