Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20000309 Date: Fri, 10 Mar 100 08:34:10 -0700 (MST) From: bergeron@apo.nmsu.edu (Eddie Bergeron) THURSDAY MARCH 9, 2000 APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY OBSERVING LOG ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT DATE START FINISH Kent Annis DIS 3/9 02:25 06:10 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RS/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B UC02/R 19:00 05:26 4.5 2.9 0.0 0.0 3.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 (note: times listed include instrument change time) ACTIVITY LOG The night started out overcast and the telescope remained closed until 02:25 when the skies cleared. At that time we opened up and continued with Jim's program from teh previous night. Despite the weather loss we were able to observe an additional 3 of his objects. Seeing was quite variable, ranging from sub-arcsecond to 2" in very short time spans. At about 04:00 the lamp control computer stopped responding. We slewed away to another object and after about 5 minutes the lamp controller was back to normal and functioned fine the rest of the night. * The dome slit on the DIMM seeing monitor once again has malfunctioned. The crank just spins on the shaft (the usual failure mode). I just left the dome open until the day staff came in and I filed a problem report. Again tonight while watching the guider offset plots scroll past, in periods of good seeing (1.0" or better) there is a periodic, rather sinusoidal, pattern in both the X and Y offsets as measured by the guider. The amplitude is of the order 0.4" PtoP. In one case I saw what looked like two frequencies "beating" together, with a width of 3 cycles and a max amplitude of 0.6" PtoP. When the seeing was worse than about 1.2" I couldn't make out any periodic behavior. It may then be prudent to limit a fourier search to the better seeing periods. Still no idea where this could be coming from - software or hardware or nature - just noting that its there. I'll try to pull some examples from the tcc log of the good seeing periods to pass around. I traced that one beat section straight from the screen...I'll post that up on the BB outside the control room. (* means a trouble report has been issued or appended to) Observing Specialist: Bergeron OBSERVER COMMENTS FOCUS LOG MARCH 9 2000 Wind Time Inst Focus Az El #Temp Dir MPH filt FWHM " 02:35 DIS-slit +80(347) 217 45 1.3/1.6 217 12 none 1.5 #First temp is air, second temp is telescope. WEATHER MARCH 9 2000 Wind Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Precip. 17:01 40 10 16 264 (W) 325 partly cldy none 18:01 37 11 19 262 (W) 250 mostly cldy none 19:01 37 10 13 266 (W) 355 overcast none 20:01 37 12 18 253 (WSW) 340 overcast none 21:01 37 13 14 265 (W) 404 overcast none 22:01 37 11 13 274 (W) 334 overcast none 23:01 36 10 6 272 (W) 303 overcast none 00:01 36 9 12 298 (WNW) 374 overcast none 01:01 36 2 14 300 (WNW) 297 overcast none 02:01 35 0 14 288 (WNW) 312 mostly cldy none 03:01 34 -5 14 284 (WNW) 301 clear none 04:01 34 3 19 279 (W) 269 clear none 05:01 33 1 9 283 (WNW) 304 clear none 06:01 33 -1 12 301 (WNW) 251 clear none 07:01 33 -7 9 306 (NW) 254 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: 2.55b5. Current guide software version: GIm Ctrlv3.0b27. Current TCC version is 2.2.2. - Eddie Bergeron