From: "Noel Camron Hastings" Subject: 3.5-m Night Log 2000.05.03 Date: Thu, 4 May 2000 06:02:19 -0700 ******************************************************************* * APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY * * 3.5-m Telescope Observing Log * * Wednesday, May 3, 2000 * ******************************************************************* ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT DATE START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- J. Holtzman J.Holtzman DIS-M 5/3-4 20:44 01:00 S. Kent J.Annis/S.Kent DIS-L 5/4 01:00 05:16 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RS/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- NM04/S 20:45 01:00 0 - 0 - 4.3 - 0 0 - UC01/R 01:00 05:15 0 - 0 - 4.2 - 0 0 0 note: times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- 1st Half Observing Specialist: deglman During afternoon checkout the PMSS desiccant appeared light pink. The azimuth drive surface was quite dirty, probably from the recent dust events? DIS calibration frames were obtained. Opened dome at 19:40. The pointing on first object was about 1 arcminute high (Test slew had been done). Most of the later of the objects were fairly close pointing-wise. Had a few minor rotator overshoots which recovered. Observed image shifts of 1-2 arcsec That is they apparently jumped by a given amount and did not return to the original position (until perhaps some later offset). They occurred during instrumental offsets so it is not yet clear how much was requested offset and how much was backlash of the secondary mirror. I can plot these data up later. Later we changed the focus on the fly by increments of 25 and 50 microns, no shifts were observed while focussing in both directions. The focus stayed dead on +175 all first half. The temperature did not change much either. DIMM: Same as last night. 2nd Half Observing Specialist: Camron Hastings When I arrived I found DIMM in a state of lost contact with the telescope again. I reconnected using the software and from that point on all was fine. I went ahead and restarted the laptop to make sure that any memory issues or other Microsoft 'features' were cleaned up. I restarted the newest DIMM software version that Armin downloaded, dated April 28th. The focus and separation looked good and measurement trends were consistent but all DIMM measurements were tonight on average 0.5" to 1.0" higher than telescope instruments. ****** OBSERVER COMMENTS ****** J.Holtzman (NM04) Generally things went fairly smoothly. I did have some problems with image motion caused by adjustments of focus for temperature, etc. Although the automatic adjustment of focus was turned off, focus adjustments were made whenever the telescope was offset. This caused problems for guiding using the slit viewer, as occasionally I would make a small offset adjustment, but then the auto-focus kicked in and the image occasionally moved significantly, i.e. 1-2 arcsec! I then had to offset it back in... For use with the DIS slitviewer, it would be nice to be able to turn off the automatic focus adjustment when offsets are made; instead, they'd only be done on slews and on request (e.g. in between images..). This problem seemed worse tonight than on the two previous nights. --------------- INSTRUMENT FOCUS LOG ----------------- Wind Time Instrument Focus Az El #Temp Dir MPH filt FWHM " --------------------------------------------------------------------- 20:50 disslit 175(1041) -002 80 16.1/16.8 281 11 none 0.89" 21:00 NA2gdr 789 none 0.84" #First temp is air, second temp is telescope structure. ------------- WEATHER CONDITIONS ------------ Wind Precip. or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions -------------------------------------------------------------------- 18:01 66 20 12 285 (WNW) 985 clear none 19:01 65 20 13 268 (W) 1005 clear none 20:01 60 15 7 279 (W) 1150 mstly clr none 21:01 61 15 9 271 (W) 1234 cirrus none 22:01 59 14 7 275 (W) 1232 hvy cirrus none 23:01 59 14 8 270 (W) 1170 lt cirrus none 00:01 58 13 8 271 (W) 1254 lt cirrus none 01:01 58 14 9 300 (WNW) 1262 clear none 02:01 58 14 6 273 (W) 1371 clear none 03:01 59 15 6 287 (WNW) 1282 clear none 04:01 59 16 4 281 (W) 1321 clear none 05:01 59 15 6 285 (WNW) 1373 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 2.2.5. - Russet McMillan, Camron Hastings