From: Russet McMillan
Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20010510
Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 05:40:18 -0600 (MDT)
                        APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY
                        3.5m Telescope Night Log
                        Thursday, May 10th, 2001
                                                          ACTUAL
 ASTRONOMER    OBSERVER(S)             INSTRUMENT      START  FINISH
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 B.Gillespie   R.Loewenstein,          Ech. slitview,  22:25  02:25
               R.McMillan              Spicam,guider   04:40  05:30
   INST        SCHEDULED     WEATH     EQUIP     OBS     DAY  NOTUSED
 I/RO/DN     START FINISH   D    B    D    B    D    B   USE   D    B
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 EN01/O      20:51 05:08   1.6  2.2   0    0   0.7  3.8   0    0    0
  note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time
                 ------------- ACTIVITY LOG --------------
 Observing Specialist: Russet McMillan
 The telescope was reassembled this afternoon amid much jubilation.
 Tests of motion with the new azimuth drives looked okay, but we
 couldn't open because of threatening weather nearby.  It never rained
 at the observatory all day long, but there was rain too close for us
 to open.  When the rain cleared away, clouds lingered.  The dewpoint
 sensor was giving insane values, so I checked the dewpoint frequently
 with a sling psychrometer.
 At last the clouds began to clear and we opened at 22:25 to variable
 clouds and poor (also variable) seeing.  I quickly checked that the
 pointing and collimation were good enough to be usable, although not
 as good as we would like, then I turned the telescope over to Bob
 Loewenstein for some tests of echelle autoguiding.  These tests went
 fairly well, despite some slowdowns in communication due to trouble
 with Bob's ISP.
 When Bob was done with his tests, I took over and used SPIcam to do a
 collimation in the traditional style; the change was small.  By this
 time, the seeing was looking considerably better, as well.  After
 collimation, I did a 60-point pointing model.  Then, since I had
 noticed the pointing looked better with SPIcam than with the echelle,
 I decided to check the tertiary tip/tilt settings for the echelle.
 Before I could do that, however, the dust shot up over the limit and
 I had to close at 02:25.
 I was able to re-open at 04:40 when the dust levels dropped, and I
 tried to go directly to some tests of echelle sensitivity before the
 sky got brighter, but the pointing with the echelle was so bad it was
 unusable.  I checked pointing with the NA2 guider, then did a very
 quick-and-dirty adjustment of the tip/tilts for the echelle, which
 proved good enough to let me acquire some targets and do the
 requested sensitivity tests just as twilight began.  I ended with
 some spot-checks of echelle pointing during twilight and used those
 to fine-tune the adjustment to the tip/tilts.
         --------------- INSTRUMENT FOCUS LOG ----------------
                                       Air/Truss   Wind
 Time   Instrument   Focus     Az El    Temp-C    Dir MPH  filt   FWHM"
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 22:31  Echelle     -92(312)  44  56  12.9/15.8  215  10   ND2   1.22
 00:35  SPIcam      0(1330)   -19 58  13.9/13.6  182  4    R     0.76
              ------------- WEATHER CONDITIONS ------------
                                 Wind                        Precip.or
     Time   Temp F Dewp F  MPH  Direction    Dust    Sky    Conditions
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
     16:01    67    33      4   305  (NW)    1557  ptly cldy   none
     17:01    65    43     17   294  (WNW)   1113  ptly cldy   none
     18:01    68    41     13   273  (W)     1478  ptly cldy   none
     19:01    64    48     10   269  (W)     1598  ptly cldy   none
     20:01    58    64      8   269  (W)     2171  ptly cldy   none
     21:01    58    63      6   267  (W)     2146  mstly cldy  none
     22:01    56    23      7   218  (SW)    2402  ptly cldy   none
     23:01    55    22      6   181  (S)     1953  ptly cldy   none
     00:01    55    21      4   178  (S)     2053  mstly cldy  none
     01:01    57    20      7   182  (S)     1973  ptly cldy   none
     02:01    54    26     14   178  (S)     4030  mstly clr   dust
     03:01    53    25      7   169  (SSE)   4403  mstly clr   dust
     04:01    50    24      4   179  (S)     4472  mstly clr   dust
     05:01    57    19      4   247  (WSW)   2144  ptly 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: 2.5.1
  Current MC version: v1_7_3.