Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 06:41:57 -0600 (MDT)
From: Russet McMillan
Subject: 3.5m Night Log 990408
                          THURSDAY APRIL 8, 1999
                         APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY
                              OBSERVING  LOG
                                                          ACTUAL
ASTRONOMER      OBSERVER(S)        INSTRUMENT   DATE   START FINISH
York             Richards           Echelle    4/8-9   20:53  05:17
 INST        SCHEDULED     WEATH     EQUIP      OBS    DAY   NOTUSED
I/RS/DN    START FINISH   D    B    D    B    D    B   USE   D    B
UC04/R     20:53 05:17    0    0    0    0   5.4  3.0   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 opened at 19:30 MDT.  Gordon Richards observed with
the Echelle.  This afternoon, the Echelle wasn't reading images out
properly.  Fortunately, Connie is on-site and she quickly tracked down
the problem, which was due to a fiber driver that needed to be reset.
Observing went pretty smoothly.  We guided on a 16th magnitude object,
which appears to be about as faint as one can go with the current
Echelle slit camera.  I saved an image on tycho.apo.nmsu.edu in
/export/images/guider.  Image name is mag_16.fits
2nd half observing specialist: Russet McMillan
Second half was partly cloudy, and the good seeing that obtained
during first half deteriorated to moderate (according to DIMM).  There
were no problems aside from a few processes left running when the
remote observer's mac crashed.  We saved a few more images requested
by Don York, in the same directory Karen used: these were
ech_dark.fits (a two-minute dark) and ech_bias.fits (a zero-second
dark).
                            OBSERVER COMMENTS
G. Richards (UC04):
Mixed results.  I was trying to get a 15-16th magnitude quasar, but
was hassled by clouds, so did mostly secondary targets instead.
A few comments:
The faint quasar was barely visible on the guider images (even using
the lowest gain).  When it dropped down the slit, there was no way to
see either the object OR the slit.  The guider exposures were long
enough that the slit was filled with noise.  So, to do faint objects,
the slit needs to be marked in some fashion (say a red X?).
When trying to use the "use bias" feature while guiding, an "expose"
followed by a "bias" causes the MAC to crash (Remark 2.55b2).
It is unclear what an "echelle" offset is in the offset window.  It
appears to be an instrument offset, but also seems to move the
boresight (or something).
Guiding was generally very stable.  If I resisted the temptation to
offset, the object generally moved back into the slit by the next
guider exposure.
More than once I forgot to move the mirrors from calibration to
source.  I think that it was because I kept thinking that "next move"
was "current status".  It wouldn't hurt for "current status" to stick
out a bit more or something.
The "off" position for the cal lamps looks like a "radio button" that
has been clicked "on" -- which is a bit confusing.
There was a 1 pixel shift (spatial direction) between flats taken
before opening the dome and after opening the dome.
                                FOCUS LOG
                              APRIL 8 1999
						 Wind
Time   Inst        Focus     Az  El   #Temp    Dir  MPH  filt  FWHM "
21:05 Echelle -1018(5174)    53  70  --/4.7    258  14   none   1.1
22:30 Echelle -1003(5156)    11  80  --/4.3    264  14   none   1.3
#First temp is air, second temp is telescope.
                                 WEATHER
                              APRIL 8 1999
                               Wind
     Time   Temp F Dewp F  MPH  Direction    Dust      Sky      Precip.
     16:01                 10   297  (WNW)    565    cirrus      none
     17:01                  9   270  (W)      644    cirrus      none
     18:01                 14   269  (W)      705    cirrus      none
     19:01                 13   249  (WSW)    785    cirrus      none
     20:01                 21   253  (WSW)   1277    cirrus      none
     21:01                 13   281  (W)     1126    cirrus      none
     22:01                 16   253  (WSW)   1037    cirrus      none
     23:01                 15   264  (W)     1135    ptly cldy   none
     00:01                 12   262  (W)     1078    ptly cldy   none
     01:01                 17   264  (W)     1072    ptly cldy   none
     02:01                 12   261  (W)     1014    ptly cldy   none
     03:01                 15   224  (SW)    1025    ptly cldy   none
     04:01                 20   244  (WSW)   1122    mstly clr   none
     05:01                 11   262  (W)     1122    mstly clr   none
     06:01                 15   232  (SW)    1063    mstly clr   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: 2.52
Current guide software version: GIm Ctrlv3.0b17.
- Karen Gloria, Russet McMillan