Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20021001 Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2002 06:49:23 -0600 (MDT) From: bketzeba@apo.nmsu.edu (Bill Ketzeback) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Tuesday, October 1, 2002 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH ------------------------------------------------------------------- G.Miknaitis G.Miknaitis,R.McMillan SPIcam,S-H 19:20 00:57 C.Laws C.Laws Echelle 01:03 01:40 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- UW04/O 19:41 21:00 0 0 0 0 1.3 0.0 0 0 0 EN02/O/D 21:00 21:20 0 0 0 0 0.3 0.0 0 0 0 UW04/R 21:20 01:00 0 0 0 0 3.7 0.0 0 0 0 UW05/R 01:00 06:05 0.8 3.7 0 0 0.6 0.0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- 1st half Observing Specialist: R.McMillan Weather during first half was quite nice -- clear and apparently photometric most of the time. Seeing was moderate and the wind was occasionally strong enough to shake the telescope, but it was certainly an improvement over the last few nights. The telescope was opened bright and early for cooling at 18:30, and by 19:20 I started focusing. The focus images themselves were subarcsecond, but a test image taken immediately afterward (same field, same filter, same exposure time) had 1.7" seeing, indicating that the good values weren't very consistent. I took data for the lens monitoring project first, then handed the reins to the remote observer in Washington for some transient followup. SPIcam and the telescope both performed perfectly. I was planning to take Shack-Hartmann data near the instrument change time, but some worsening problems with the SH video camera prompted me to start data taking at 21:00, out of fear that the camera might soon die completely. I didn't attempt to diagnose the problem aside from jiggling a few wires, which made no change. I did obtain data for one star, and the analysis indicated that the collimation is fine for tonight. 2nd half Observing Specialist: W. Ketzeback Skies looked great until 01:40 when I closed due to cloud cover. The humidity continued to rise and stayed above the closure limit for the remainder of the night. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE TIME S/E/G/D/O TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Air/Truss Wind Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp-C Dir MPH filt FWHM --------------------------------------------------------------------- 19:38 SPIcam 75(932) 154 72 11.1/12.3 232 16 r' 1.1 19:41 NA2gdr 320(61320) 156 72 10.9/12.2 207 15 R 1.04 20:30 SPIcam 100(929) 134 63 10.4/11.4 218 16 r' 1.13 01:01 Ech-slit 60(-149) 182 58 9.0/8.3 270 14 nd1 1.20 --------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 58 37 19 205 (SSW) 188 mstly clr none 17:01 58 35 23 234 (SW) 336 mstly clr none 18:01 55 34 25 229 (SW) 216 mstly clr none 19:01 52 35 8 232 (SW) 263 clear none 20:01 50 36 16 231 (SW) 283 clear none 21:01 51 35 18 214 (SW) 380 clear none 22:01 50 36 13 228 (SW) 375 clear none 23:01 50 36 12 263 (W) 425 clear none 00:01 46 36 9 294 (WNW) 315 clear none 01:01 47 37 9 269 (W) 288 cloudy none 02:01 47 38 10 263 (W) 246 cloudy none 03:01 45 40 9 265 (W) 265 cloudy none 04:01 45 41 12 266 (W) 344 cloudy none 05:01 44 42 8 265 (W) 362 cloudy none 06:01 43 42 6 256 (WSW) 4057 cloudy 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: 2.82 Current guide software version: GIm Ctrlv4.1b2 Current TCC version: 2.6.6