Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 06:50:12 -0600
From: tia@tycho.apo.nmsu.edu (Tia Hoyes)
Subject: 3.5m obslog 980831
                         MONDAY   AUGUST 31, 1998
                         APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY
                              OBSERVING  LOG
                                    ACTUAL
ASTRONOMER       OBSERVER          INSTRUMENT   DATE   START FINISH
Szkody           Tovmassian           DIS       8/31   20:00 00:25
Turner           Hoyes                DIS       8/31   00:30 01:00
Tomaney          Tomaney              DIS       8/31   01:10 06:30
 INST        SCHEDULED      OBS      WEATH     EQUIP   DAY   NOTUSED
I/RS/DN    START FINISH   D    B    D    B    D    B   USE   D    B
UW04/S     20:55 00:20    0   1.9   0    0    0   1.5   0    0    0
PU01/S     00:20 01:10    0   0.8   0    0    0    0    0    0    0
UW06/R     01:10 05:13   3.5  0.6   0    0    0    0    0    0    0
(note: times listed include instrument change time)
                               ACTIVITY LOG
The telescope was opened at 18:45.  Gaghik Tovmassian was on site observing
for the UW04 program.
COMMENTS:The night of 31/01 August/September we were supposed to cover one more
orbital period of newly identified polar (magnetic CV) RX J2157+08.
Given that last night we had a gap in observations because of high
humidity, this coverage was rather important.
However from the begining of the run we had problem.
The image of the field on the slit viewr camera seemed to be flipped
vertically and telescope offsets were moving the telescope on opposite
directions  to the supposed ones. It was hard to figure out immediately
what was going on, because we asked to leave all settings and equipment
untouched from the previous night, to be able to start and continue
our observations with exactly the same settings.
After several attempts to observe like that, we had to give up
and ask assistent to fix the problem. Fortunately it was done pretty fast,
thanks to skilfull assistance of Tia Hoyes and we were able to get
at least some data.
In total we lost  about 1.5hour due to the problem in rotator.
G.Tovmassian, P.Szkody
(the rotator was lost again, in the TCC, the string stated it was suppose to
be at 188.90, and it was actually at 377.0.  I shut the motors off and set it
back to zero by hand, and then restarted and reinitialized, and this seemed
to fix the problem.  I tested the rotator by sending it to a variety of
positions.)
I observed 2237 for the Lens Monitoring tonight. No problems.
Austin Tomaney had the second half of the night as it had been traded with
the NM03 program earlier in the month.
Comments:thanks for your help tonight.
no real issues to raise. the night went very smoothly. the seeing spanned
2.3-3.3 pixels.
I had mentioned the other night that I thought the PSF changed fairly
dramatically (2.5 in centre to 4 pixels in corners), but i think i was
misled by some flat-fielding defects. anyway i'm sure people are familiar
with the optical performance of DIS by now.
I do have one question for you: there is a thick hairline extending
across the image (e.g. r2.0048r.fit). is this intrinsic to DIS? or is
it in the filter? (i'd just assumed the former, but i guess it could be
a crack in the filter - if so i should make a comment on it in the log;
it was there the other night).
cheers,
 - @
Forecast:(4:30am)
.TODAY...FAIR SKIES THIS MORNING BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY THIS
AFTERNOON WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS.
.TONIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR EARLY NIGHTTIME
THUNDERSTORMS.
.WEDNESDAY...PARTLY CLOUDY WITH SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS.
(* means a trouble report has been issued or appended to)
                               FOCUS LOG
                             AUGUST 31, 1998
                Best     Telescope               Wind                 Seeing
Time   Inst     Focus     Az    El   Temp#      Dir  MPH     filter   FWHM "
20:00  DIS  -150(6764)* 106.4  42.4 ?/18.03    73.0  12.4     empty   ~1.7
00:30  DIS   -50(6564)  164.6  59.3 ?/12.13    84.7  15.3     IN       1.16
***nudged focus during evening according to slit viewer images****
# The first temp is air, the second is truss, both in degrees C.
                                 WEATHER
                             AUGUST 31,  1998
                                 Wind
    Time   Temp F Dewp.   MPH.    Dir.       DUST     Sky         Precip.
     16:01    32    32      1   205  (SSW)    341  partly cloudy   none
     17:01    32    32      5   252  (WSW)    323  light clouds    none
     18:01    32    32      0   245  (WSW)    331  light clouds    none
     19:01    32    32      0   302  (WNW)    428  light clouds    none
     20:01    32    32     12    76  (ENE)    279  light clouds    none
     21:01    32    32     11    82  (E)      362    cirrus        none
     22:01    32    32     12    86  (E)      443    clear         none
     23:01    32    32     16    82  (E)      589    clear         none
     00:01    32    32     12    86  (E)      609    clear         none
     01:01    32    32     14    81  (E)      668    cirrus        none
     02:01    32    32     13    86  (E)      734    murky         none
     03:01    32    32     16    76  (ENE)    785    murky         none
     04:01    32    32     14    80  (E)      748    clear         none
     05:01    32    32     18    70  (ENE)    633    clear         none
     06:01    32    32     12    85  (E)      599  light clouds    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 Ctrl v3.0b 15.out
-Tia