Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 05:31:20 -0700 (MST) From: John Barentine Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20021229 Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Sunday, December 29, 2002 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH ------------------------------------------------------------------- W.Zheng W.Zheng, K.Chiu SPIcam 17:00 23:50 T.Snow T.Snow Echelle 01:50 03:15 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- JH02/R 18:04 00:00 0 0 0 0 5.9 0 0 0 0 CU05/R 00:00 06:07 2.3 2.4 0 0 1.4 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- First Half Observing Specialist: W.Ketzeback The evening started out clear but within the hour after twilights end we were fighting the seeing and the clouds due to high winds from the west. The PMSS seemed unhappy as the telescope pointed into the wind at around 18:20 and again at 20:30. It settled down again as we pointed away from the wind. I logged a note for the day staff to look at this closer. Second Half Observing Specialist: J.Barentine Thick clouds prevented observing early on in second half, but seeing no precipitation in the region on the radar, I elected to keep the enclosure open in the meantime. A short-lived hole opened up around 01:30 although we quickly realized that we had a serious pointing problem with the Echelle. That was fixed after about half an hour of iterations with echtilt. About the time our pointing was again acceptable, the clouds rolled back in. Ted struggled with these conditions for nearly an hour until the El Paso radar switched over from clear-air to precip mode and I received a report that snow was falling in High Rolls. I told Ted to abort his exposure and immediately went upstairs to shut the enclosure. At 03:25 the rain sensor tripped. We went outside to witness the odd combination of very light snow falling and bright stars being visible through the clouds. Ted gave up at 04:50 with the weather picture looking increasingly dismal. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE MODE TIME (SEGDFVO) TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Air/Truss Wind Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp-C Dir MPH filt FWHM --------------------------------------------------------------------- 17:51 SPIcam -150(467) 220 63 0.1/0.4 233 20 i' 0.91 17:53 NA2gdr 561(61561) 220 63 0.1/0.4 233 20 R 1.08 18:19 SPIcam -100(515) 204 55 -0.1/-0.0 217 22 i' 1.34 01:52 Echelle -46(-708) 203 60 -3.9/-3.9 273 16 clear 1.70 --------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 34 13 26 233 (SW) 109 Clear None 17:01 32 11 20 247 (WSW) 80 Clear None 18:01 32 8 28 232 (SW) 123 Prtly Cldy None 19:01 31 10 26 226 (SW) 180 Mstly Cldy None 20:01 30 12 22 244 (WSW) 348 Mstly Cldy None 21:01 30 12 25 248 (WSW) 436 Mstly Cldy None 22:01 29 13 28 222 (SW) 335 Mstly Cldy None 23:01 28 11 22 238 (WSW) 169 Mstly Cldy None 00:01 28 11 22 249 (WSW) 137 Mstly Cldy None 01:01 26 14 18 267 (W) 199 Mstly Cldy None 02:01 25 15 17 277 (W) 200 Ptly Cldy None 03:01 24 17 16 284 (WNW) 262 Mstly Cldy None 04:01 23 18 9 257 (WSW) 299 Overcast Snow 05:01 20 20 14 246 (WSW) 7193 Overcast Snow 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: 2.6.8