From: Russet McMillan Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20000512 Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 05:28:27 -0600 (MDT) THURSDAY MAY 11, 2000 APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY OBSERVING LOG ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT DATE START FINISH Szkody Szkody DIS 5/11 22:15 00:48 Yamada Turner, Yamada, GRIM 5/12 01:12 04:35 Tanaka INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RS/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B UW03/R 20:52 01:00 - 2.8 - 0 - 1.3 0 - 0 DD02/R 01:00 05:07 0.5 1.2 0 0 1.5 0.9 0 0 0 (note: times listed include instrument change time) ACTIVITY LOG Observing Specialist: McMillan Opening was delayed due to high winds, dust, and a nearby forest fire which was started by a downed power line in the afternoon. By sunset it was apparent that the fire was heading away from the observatory, so we waited for an improvement in the more normal weather conditions. The telescope was opened from 22:15 to 23:00 until the dust went up again, then from 00:25 to 01:25 until the wind went up, then from 02:35 until 04:35 when the clouds proved impenetrable for GRIM. Seeing during the open periods was poor, ranging from 1.4 to 2.4 arcseconds for both DIS and GRIM. Once again, image motion was apparent in some images, probably because of the strong winds. The telescope and instruments behaved well aside from one failure of the GRIM application, which was quickly fixed. The observers reported that they were able to get some useful data despite the multiple closures. The new low-light video camera for watching the telescope from the control room proved interesting when the clouds moved in by late morning. By that time, the forest fire had moved well away from the observatory and the glowing smoke was no longer visible, but every flare of the fire was reflected off the clouds and produced a visible brightening on the video camera, even when the telescope was facing away from the fire. The video camera should prove very useful for monitoring the telescope condition even in the absence of dire catastrophes -- it also makes it easy to tell which eyelids are open without going up to the dome to check. OBSERVER COMMENTS E. Turner (DD02): Wind, dust, clouds, forest fire...all in one half night; my observing log looks like a list of plagues in the "comments" column, but some useful data were still obtained and everything worked well with minor exceptions. Excellent OS support under stressful circumstances. FOCUS LOG Wind Time Instrument Focus Az El #Temp Dir MPH filt FWHM " 22:15 DISslit 50(822) 181 57 12.8/14.8 285 22 -- 2.0 01:15 GRIM 50(744) -93 65 10.8/11.2 266 34 K' 1.3 #First temp is air, second temp is telescope. WEATHER Wind Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Precip. 17:01 64 18 23 266 (W) 3966 clear none 18:01 66 21 20 235 (SW) 3020 clear none 19:01 62 19 34 250 (WSW) 8026 clear none 20:01 59 15 35 254 (WSW) 4699 mstly clr none 21:01 57 13 25 271 (W) 4423 mstly clr none 22:01 55 12 16 262 (W) 3054 mstly clr none 23:01 54 16 15 280 (W) 3073 mstly clr none 00:01 52 19 24 263 (W) 6385 mstly clr none 01:01 52 20 30 254 (WSW) 1471 ptly cldy none 02:01 50 22 22 267 (W) 1157 ptly cldy none 03:01 49 24 19 279 (W) 1022 ptly cldy none 04:01 47 25 14 269 (W) 1233 mstly cldy none 05:01 46 25 13 269 (W) 1210 mstly cldy 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 2.2.5. - Russet McMillan