From: "Camron Hastings" Subject: 3.5-meter Night Log 980807 Date: Sat, 8 Aug 1998 04:07:44 -0600 Friday, August 7th 1998 APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY 3.5-Meter Observing Log ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT DATE START FINISH ---------------------------------------------------------------------- B.Gillespie C.Hastings GRIM/DIS 8/07-08 21:28 01:10 D.Zucker D.Zucker SPIcam 8/08 01:30 04:50 INST SCHEDULED OBS WEATH EQUIP DAY NOTUSED I/RS/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EN01/S 21:28 01:10 0 3.7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 UW03/R 01:30 04:50 0 1.0 0 0 0 2.7 0 0 0 ACTIVITY LOG Telescope opened this evening at 19:10 towards ambivalent skies. It looked as if the weather was going to put a stop to observing, but I thought that I could at least run through everything to start cooling. GRIM was mounted first, and ran through a series of dark tests which all looked good. Then, slewing to an object in M3, I tried to get an image of a field in three different filters. All images and focus routines worked nominally. I concluded the GRIM run with a series of dark exposures. DIS was mounted next, and I proceeded with a focus routine. Again, the focus and imaging routines worked fine, except for a strange tracking problem. Two 30 s images were badly trailed, even with the guider. I remounted DIS, double checked the counterweight, and gave a new axis init command, then reslewed. After this, all worked fine, pointing was right on, tracking was good. Second, I tried to image a star with the newly repaired slit camera. The transfer rate has dropped a bit, but still workable, and the images looked fine. The spectrum taken looked good as well. I concluded with Neon lamp spectra and calibrated the low and high res gratings. DIS is ready to go! Dan Zucker came on with SPIcam for the second half of the night, though the clouds started in, along with a bad haze that really made the most of that full moon! Right as we started on the very first focus image, we ran into a problem. The telescope would just not stop! We would slew to a point in the sky, and as the telescope neared the position it would slow slightly, then zoom on by! It would wrap around the sky and eventually, 3 minutes later, arrive at the correct place. This seemed to happen anytime we slewed to a point more than 20 degrees away in azimuth, sometimes less. The azimuth just kept going. I tried re-initing the motors, no change. When we finally settled on the location, Dan started taking science images, and SPIcam plus guider worked fine after that. Slewing still was a problem through the night, and after one slew nearly ran the enclosure through 2 1/2 full rotations, I decided to stop observing for the night for fear that the cables would not unwind and get damaged. When stowing the telescope, it ran away again. I will need to talk to others here on site before I decide whether or not we can continue science observing for the weekend. NOTE: All observers for this weekend, contact me before you come in this weekend in case this issue is not resolved! I am here by 4pm MDT. -Camron Hastings FOCUS LOG August 7th 1998 Best Telescope Temp Wind Seeing Time Instrmt Focus Az El Air/Truss Dir MPH filter FWHM" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 20:22 GRIM +150/7170 -87 56 15.6/17.63 217 4.3 J 3.0" 21:50 DIS +100/6857 167 74 15.7/16.59 180 9.2 - 1.0" 01:30 SPIcam +000/6673 31 55 14.4/14.79 183 9.4 V 1.0" WEATHER LOG August 7th 1998 Wind Time Temp-F Dewp-F MPH Direction Dust Sky Precip ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 66 46 8 215 (SW) 242 Clear None 17:01 68 47 6 270 (W) 243 Clear None 18:01 64 43 6 268 (W) 217 Clear None 19:01 63 47 6 253 (WSW) 257 Clear None 20:01 60 43 5 195 (SSW) 257 Clear None 21:01 61 41 5 182 (S) 310 Clear None 22:01 60 41 7 180 (S) 343 Clear None 23:01 58 43 5 145 (SE) 358 Clear None 00:01 58 42 12 179 (S) 360 Clear None 01:01 59 42 11 181 (S) 394 Clear None 02:01 58 42 11 180 (S) 360 Clear None 03:01 58 41 7 184 (S) 335 Clear None 04:01 57 41 6 217 (SW) 344 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: 2.41a Current guide software version: GIm Ctrl v3.0b 15.out