From: Russet McMillan Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20030206 Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 06:53:14 -0700 (MST) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Thursday, February 6, 2003 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH ------------------------------------------------------------------- G.Wallerstein G.Wallerstein Echelle 17:15 18:40 19:03 23:30 B.Gillespie R.McMillan DISII.5 18:40 19:03 P.Yoachim P.Yoachim, J.Dalcanton DISII.5 01:50 02:20 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- UW06/R 18:35 18:40 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 0 0 0 EN02/O/D 18:40 19:00 0 0 0 0 0 0.3 0 0 0 UW06/R 19:00 00:00 0.5 0 0 0 0.8 3.7 0 0 0 UW02/R 00:00 06:00 5.5 0 0 0 0.5 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- 1st half Observing Specialist: W.Ketzeback The skies were clear and photometric until shortly after 22:00. Then thin cloud cover rolled in but wasnt immediately threatening so we stayed open. Earlier, in the evening, Russet preempted some of the observers time for throughput measurements with DISII. 2nd half Observing Specialist: R.McMillan Second half was enormously frustrating. Thickening clouds prompted me to close shortly before the first half time was up. Before handing the instrument over to the second half observer, I took some cals to accompany the throughput measurements. The precipitation sensor went off just a couple of minutes after midnight. Much to my surprise, however, the sky cleared again soon after 01:00. I watched the radar suspiciously for a while, especially since there were still some clouds lurking along the eastern horizon (a blind spot in the radar). At least, convinced by more than half an hour of mostly clear skies and diminishing radar echoes, I opened up. Cloud converged quickly thereafter. The observer got a couple of science exposures, but when the clouds continued to thicken I decided to close again. A few hours later, the process repeated. When the western half of the sky remained mostly clear for half an hour, I went upstairs to open at 03:45. I checked the sky from the catwalk and saw that half of it was still clear, but by the time I got downstairs again the clouds had taken over. I waited just a few minutes before closing again, without handing the telescope over to the observer. ------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 18:06 Echelle -50(-667) 132 58 -4.7/-2.9 191 16 clear 1.66 20:37 Echelle -3(-718) -45 55 -4.7/-5.3 181 10 nd1 1.25 --------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 30 3 11 234 (SW) 216 clear none 17:01 27 4 9 206 (SSW) 243 clear none 18:01 24 9 16 194 (SSW) 487 clear none 19:01 23 6 18 185 (S) 456 clear none 20:01 24 6 12 172 (S) 484 clear none 21:01 24 6 12 179 (S) 479 clear none 22:01 24 9 10 177 (S) 729 mstly cldy none 23:01 24 9 14 201 (SSW) 509 mstly cldy none 00:01 24 12 16 198 (SSW) 694 cloudy snow 01:01 24 13 16 186 (S) 556 ptly cldy none 02:01 24 13 15 201 (SSW) 493 ptly cldy none 03:01 23 13 17 190 (S) 582 ptly cldy none 04:01 24 15 11 218 (SW) 499 mstly cldy none 05:01 24 16 9 213 (SSW) 433 cloudy none 06:01 23 17 8 220 (SW) 383 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: 2.6.8