From: Russet McMillan Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20030111 Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 07:27:16 -0700 (MST) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Saturday, January 11, 2003 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH ------------------------------------------------------------------- D.York D.York Echelle --:-- --:-- N.Chanover N.Chanover Echelle 05:10 06:50 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- UC02/R 18:13 04:09 2.3 7.6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 NM01/O 04:09 06:09 1.0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- First Half Observing Specialist: W.Ketzeback The evening started with light snow showers. I ran the snow program but light winds were not very effective from blowing the snow off the dome. Flurries continued on and off through the first half. The skies broke finally around 22:30 however high humidity and temperatures hovering around freezing (causing the snow to stick and refreeze on some surfaces) gave me pause about opening. Second Half Observing Specialist: R.McMillan Second half was apparently clear (although the cloud camera was closed, with its cover frozen shut) but the humidity went from bad to worse. At last the Sloanies gave up around 04:30, and as soon as they ran endNight the humidity dropped precipitously. I checked the observing-level catwalk and found it sprinkled with graupel, but I was confident that we would be safe as long as the windspeed stayed down (as it had all night) and the primary mirror stayed below freezing. With these restrictions in mind, I opened shortly after 05:00. Seeing (which was quite bad) was not a serious concern for this program, and the observer got several exposures extending well into twilight. When I closed the telescope, I discovered that some of the graupel had blown into the dome and onto the telescope. Since the mirrors were cold and we had been observing at very low altitudes, nothing had stuck to the optics. Some dry pellets had accumulated on the mirror covers at the bottom of the cell and needed to be brushed away before they were closed. ------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 05:18 Echelle -173(-681) 131 47 -2.1/-1.3 354 7 ND2 1.98 --------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 32 28 7 334 (NNW) 261 Cldy None 17:01 34 28 9 259 (W) 95 Cldy Snow 18:01 34 25 11 269 (W) 53 Cldy None 19:01 33 26 7 273 (W) 80 Cldy Snow 20:01 33 27 6 268 (W) 157 Cldy None 21:01 33 27 5 266 (W) 278 Cldy Snow 22:01 32 27 6 249 (WSW) 289 Prtly Cldy None 23:01 32 27 9 253 (WSW) 299 Mstly Clr None 00:01 32 28 6 249 (WSW) 272 clear none 01:01 29 27 11 261 (W) 216 clear none 02:01 30 28 6 290 (WNW) 233 clear none 03:01 30 28 7 304 (NW) 221 clear none 04:01 28 27 7 12 (NNE) 112 clear none 05:01 28 20 10 352 (N) 106 clear none 06:01 29 17 8 5 (N) 69 clear 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: 2.6.8