Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 04:31:47 -0700 (MST) From: Jack Dembicky Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20020402 APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY 3.5m Telescope Night Log Tuesday, April 02, 2002 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH ------------------------------------------------------------------- S.Anderson S.Anderson DIS II 18:20 19:55 22:05 23:50 W.Zheng W.Zheng GrIm --:-- --:-- INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- UW01/R 19:18 00:10 2.1 0 0 0 2.6 0 0 0 0 JH01/R 00:10 04:55 0.2 4.7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: J. Dembicky I opened the dome at 18:50 MST to cool before beginning. Dust levels were elevated but seemed steady until around 19:55 when they took a sudden jump and I decided to close rather than risk a dust spike. The outside readings (1.0u) were about 1000 cts lower than the inside readings when I had the enclosure opened so I used a limit of 2000 cts (1.0u) outside as a test to open or remain closed. We were also able to see Comet Ikeya-Zhang shortly after sunset thru my 4" telescope I had outside. We will see in the moring if we can pick it up again as it rises before the sun. The dust was an annoyance all night long and had us closed for a couple hours. When it looked like it was stablized I decided to re-open even though the counts were a little above the closure limit. Mark had previously given me the OK to do this as long as the counts were semi-stable and not spiking. The dust counts shot over the acceptable limits, which caused me to close, just as soon as I finished mounting the 2nd half instrument and getting it focused. The dust never dropped below the limits for the remainder of the night. Comet Ikeya-Zhang should have been also visible this morning, but trees got in the way. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG/INST/FAILURE MODE 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 19:10 DIS-II 50(915) 60 56 9.8/13.4 179 9 none 1.49 19:12 NA2gdr 535(57535) 60 56 9.8/13.4 180 12 R 1.24 22:12 DIS-II -100(632) -55 56 10.2/10.4 242 9 none 1.37 22:15 NA2gdr 89(57089) -55 56 9.8/10.4 195 8 R 0.92 00:16 GrIm-f/5 110(824) -140 44 8.2/8.8 181 5 J 0.82 --------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 60 15 14 232 (SW) 629 Sct. Clds none 17:01 59 13 17 209 (SSW) 1153 Sct. Clds none 18:01 52 16 12 193 (SSW) 2619 Mst. Clear none 19:01 50 12 12 166 (SSE) 2257 Mst. Clear none 20:01 49 12 11 177 (S) 2995 Clear Dust 21:01 49 10 6 193 (SSW) 2405 Clear Dust 22:01 49 9 10 222 (SW) 2068 Clear none 23:01 48 11 9 239 (WSW) 2200 Clear none 00:01 48 13 10 254 (WSW) 2945 Clear Dust 01:01 45 17 9 191 (S) 4077 Clear Dust 02:01 45 19 8 200 (SSW) 5476 Clear Dust 03:01 43 20 8 179 (S) 5775 Clear Dust 04:01 41 21 6 182 (S) 5729 Clear Dust 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: 2.5.5