Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2001 07:08:57 -0700 (MST) From: Jack Dembicky Subject: 3.5m night log 20010102 APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY 3.5m Telescope Night Log Tuesday, January 2nd, 2001 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- S.Anderson S.Anderson DIS-Low 17:30 06:00 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- UW04/R 18:07 06:08 0 0 0 0 5.7 6.3 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist, 1st Shift: R.McMillan The telescope was opened shortly before sunset under mostly clear skies with occasional light cirrus. A sharp cold front that arrived in late afternoon made the telescope's cooling curve very steep, so the focus changes were hard to keep up with. There was a dust event in the early evening which should have closed the telescope except that the observing specialist missed it. Terrible seeing (more than an hour with >4 arcsec) and many targets very near the moon contributed to observing challenges, but in all controllable ways the telescope and instrument behaved well. The remote observer tried out the slitviewer control program for the first time, and after some adjustments it went well. Observing Specialist, 2nd Shift: Jack Dembicky Seeing was greater than 2 arc sec when I came on shift. When the observer slewed the telescope to the S (near a large storm system just missing us to the S) the seeing went to >4 arc sec. He decided to move back to the N. part of the sky and the seeing dropped below 2 arc sec again. The seeing never really dropped below 1.5 arc sec for the night. I tried tweeking the focus off and on thru the night, but it changed quite a bit during the night. Seeing went back to >4 arc after 05:00 when the system to the S of us decided to finally push N a little. Other than the poor seeing everything went smooth. --------------- INSTRUMENT FOCUS LOG ---------------- Air/Truss Wind Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp-C Dir MPH filt FWHM" --------------------------------------------------------------------- 17:52 DISslit -30(530) 210 48 -3.1/-1.5 69 10 - 1.65 17:56 NA2gdr 1608(57608) 212 47 -3.3/-1.5 70 9 none 1.60 18:37 DISslit -150(322) 176 58 -4.6/-2.7 83 11 - 2.45 20:03 DISslit 0(358) 184 58 -5.9/-5.3 73 14 - 3.34 23:31 DISslit 50(334) 6 72 -5.3/-6.2 80 10 - 1.62 02:55 DISslit -80(289) 303 64 -2.4/-3.3 61 13 - 1.61 ------------- WEATHER CONDITIONS ------------ Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 27 21 5 356 (N) 1144 mstly clr none 17:01 29 19 11 67 (ENE) 1172 mstly clr none 18:01 26 19 6 80 (E) 3299 mstly clr none 19:01 22 17 16 73 (ENE) 4309 mstly clr dust 20:01 22 9 15 75 (ENE) 865 mstly clr none 21:01 20 8 12 77 (ENE) 751 mstly clr none 22:01 19 11 14 73 (ENE) 526 mstly clr none 23:01 20 8 18 68 (ENE) 212 mstly clr none 00:01 27 5 2 76 (ENE) 242 mstly clr none 01:01 28 1 5 83 (E) 209 mstly clr none 02:01 27 -2 10 51 (NE) 348 mstly clr none 03:01 27 0 10 69 (ENE) 141 mstly clr none 04:01 27 0 13 72 (ENE) 180 mstly clr none 05:01 27 0 11 67 (ENE) 655 ptl. cldy none 06:01 27 0 5 82 (E) 236 ptl. 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 > 1u per 0.1 cubic feet. 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: 2.62. Current guide software version: GIm Ctrlv3.0b27. Current TCC version is 2.4.1 Current MC version: v1_7_3. - Russet McMillan, Jack Dembicky