From: Russet McMillan Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20030327 Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 04:15:26 -0700 (MST) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Thursday, March 27, 2003 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH ------------------------------------------------------------------- B.Goldman B.Goldman DIS --:-- --:-- G.Williger B.Woodgate,E.Wassell GFP --:-- --:-- INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- NM03/R 19:13 00:00 4.8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 JH03/O 00:00 05:03 4.1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: R.McMillan Cold front --> high afternoon winds --> high afternoon dust --> couldn't turn on fans until 17:30 --> telescope WAY out of equilibrium + jet stream overhead = truly ghastly seeing . I opened the dome at 18:00 to try to cool it down a little, but within 15 minutes the wind went over the limit. By the time the wind came down, I was concerned about some approaching precipitation on the radar. I watched the radar for a while until I was satisfied that the system was moving very slowly, so I felt safe opening for a short period. The SDSS observers had mentioned that their seeing was exceptionally bad, and when I "focused" I confirmed that it was record-breakingly horrible. The observer wasn't able to identify his faint targets under such conditions, and there were also occasional high wind gusts, passing clouds, and the continuing slow approach of precipitation on radar. So I closed again without getting anything resembling science. Clouds continued to thicken, wind shifted to the east, humidity went up over the limit at 00:30 and snow began to fall at 02:00. ------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 20:43 DISslit -200(246) -35 76 -0.7/2.2 333 15 - >7 --------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 43 24 16 302 (WNW) 3755 cirrus dust 17:01 40 22 19 303 (WNW) 3227 cirrus dust 18:01 39 21 19 300 (WNW) 1737 cirrus none 19:01 35 21 15 311 (NW) 826 cirrus none 20:01 32 20 21 340 (NNW) 1022 cirrus none 21:01 31 21 8 342 (NNW) 702 ptly cldy none 22:01 28 21 18 17 (NNE) 480 ptly cldy none 23:01 30 22 6 332 (NNW) 671 ptly cldy none 00:01 30 19 1 354 (N) 675 cloudy none 01:01 23 19 9 81 (E) 304 cloudy none 02:01 20 18 18 70 (ENE) 207 cloudy lt. snow 03:01 18 14 18 58 (ENE) 167 cloudy lt. snow 04:01 16 13 22 66 (ENE) 554 cloudy lt. 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: 2.80b Current guide software version: GIm Ctrlv4.1b2 Current TCC version: 2.6.8