Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1998 05:44:35 -0700 (MST) From: Russet McMillan Subject: 3.5m Night Log 981208 Tuesday, December 8th 1998 APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY 3.5-meter Observing Log ACTUAL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT DATE START FINISH ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E.Turner N.C.Hastings SPIcam/DIS 12/08 18:25 19:15 NONE OPEN Computer 12/08 19:15 21:30 N.Miller N.Miller DIS 12/08-9 21:30 02:28 NONE OPEN Various 12/09 02:28 05:26 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RS/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PU01/S 18:25 19:15 0 - 0.8 - 0 - 0 0 - OPEN/S 19:15 21:30 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 0 - NM07/R 21:30 02:28 0 0 0 1.2 1.0 2.8 0 0 0 OPEN/S 02:28 05:26 - 0 - 0 - 3.0 0 - 0 -------- ACTIVITY LOG -------- 1st half Observing Specialist: Camron Hastings Tonight was not your typical night here at APO, well, for most anyway. We started by the delay of PU01 so that the echelle team could finish up a project they were in the middle of. The idea was to ask NM07 to slide back an hour or so and still finish PU01. This would have been accomplished with the idea that the second half OPEN time could have been used by NM07 for the slide back. Unfortunately, we ran into problems very early with the DIS micro. After fighting it with Craig's help for a bit we reset the micro and controller. This seemed to fix a portion of the problems, but then the MC had its turn. Craig worked feverishly to figure out the problem, we even tried a test version of the new next MC, no luck. Craig finally resorted to returning to a previous MC version, and after a minor change to that, we were on the road again. This all ate up almost 2 hours or more. NM07 did not get to focusing until 21:45, 2.25 hours late. Luckily, they said it would not be a problem to push their run further into the OPEN time, so they effectively lost no time by finishing at 02:28 instead of the scheduled 00:13 hours. I know this may sound strange, but in the fray I focused the slit view camera. We had moments of standing around with me in the dome and Craig in the control room, so I took advantage of that to focus the camera. It definitely was an improvement, the 2.0" slit edges are much sharper and the slit looks narrower now. I have not had the opportunity to switch slits back and forth to check for focus changes, but I assume it will be fine. Along with the cleaning Karen gave everything I think object placement in the slits will be even more accurate now and in the future. 2nd half Observing Specialist: Russet McMillan The weather remained clear during second half. NM07 continued observing until 01:15 in deference to the time lost earlier. After NM07 signed off, I performed another pointing model, since the one taken last night had a large RMS. This time, after I deleted two glaring outliers, the RMS error was less than 5 arcseconds. I saved the new model to telmod.dat;89. When I went to dismount DIS, I heard an alarm at the intermediate level coming from the echelle UPS. It appeared to be complaining about the cold, since it was displaying a message about the ambient temperature. The alarm was too quiet to be heard over the intercom with the fans running, so I don't know how long it had been complaining. On Jon Davis' advice, I set up a heater next to the UPS. OBSERVER COMMENTS N. Miller, NM07: After initial problems with software and DIS, the observing went smoothly. The pointing and guiding both seemed to be very good, as in every case my target galaxies were well within the field of the slit view camera. I would like to thank Camron and Russet for their assistance during this run. It was my first experience with remote observing, and their patience and assistance helped me through it with only small losses of time. Thanks! Neal Miller FOCUS LOG December 6th 1998 Best Telescope Temp (C) Wind Seeing Time Instrmt Focus Az El Air/Truss Dir MPH filter FWHM" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 21:50 DIS -100(5904) 186 60 -1.8/-0.8 158 12 none 1.97" 02:00 DIS -090(5867) 298 44 -0.7/-2.4 183 14 none 1.80" 02:10 guider 52000(5974) 299 44 -0.5/-2.5 189 17 none 1.37 WEATHER LOG December 6th 1998 Wind Time Temp-F Dewp-F MPH Direction Dust Sky Precip ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 32 4 2 192 (SSW) clear none 17:01 26 1 8 187 (S) clear none 18:01 29 -13 12 174 (S) clear none 19:01 27 -4 9 169 (SSE) clear none 20:01 31 0 14 196 (SSW) clear none 21:01 28 3 14 192 (SSW) clear none 22:01 28 3 7 182 (S) clear none 23:01 26 9 11 176 (S) clear none 00:01 27 9 11 183 (S) clear none 01:01 28 8 14 214 (SW) clear none 02:01 31 7 8 183 (S) clear none 03:01 32 3 19 191 (S) clear none 04:01 31 6 19 199 (SSW) clear none 05:01 30 8 17 204 (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 for the 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 Ctrl v3.0b 15.out - NCH, RM