Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 06:08:43 -0600 (MDT) From: Jack Dembicky Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20030422 Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Tuesday, April 22, 2003 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- J.Frieman J.Gaskins DISII 23:10 01:00 C.Anderson C.Anderson, N.Chanover GrIm 01:00 05:50 J.Murphy INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- UC03/R 20:35 01:00 2.6 0 0 0 1.8 0 0 0 0 NM02/O 01:00 05:28 0 0 0 0 1.4 3.0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: J.Dembicky Due to dust we did not start cooling or open until 23:00. I focused around 23:15 and found the seeing to be about 1.5 arc sec, which considering we just opened wasn't too out of line. I switched over to GrIm to a little before 01:00 and handed the instrument over to the 2nd half observers. They reported that the telescope was not offsetting correctly (GrIm at f/20). It was discovered that I had not set the instrument correctly in the TCC (I did a set inst=grim instead of a set inst=grf10). This helped but they still were having some problems with the star not moving correctly on the slit (they were doing GrIm spectroscopy). This is probably due to the fact that the instrument block is for f/10 and not specific to f/20 and a few quirks may be present. The observers were able to overcome the problem by guestimation of the amount of offsets. Dust levels remained elevated over the 2nd half of the night but were decreasing so I did not see any threat in remaining open. Around 05:00 the wind gusted over 38MPH which forced us to close for the remainder of the night. The humidity was also on the rise and with the dust elevated I decided it more prudent to just call it a night. They took calibration data the remainder of what time they had left. They also had problems getting calibration spectra off the mirror covers when using GrIm at f/20. Spectra were easily visible at f/5 in 5 sec, but not at f/20 in several minute exposures (with the same lamps on). Faint spectra were visible with all the lamps on and several minute exposures. John Barentine was on site helping and couldn't figure out the problem (he had been doing lamp spectra with GrIm at f/5 the past couple of months.). Perhaps it is just a problem that John and I were not aware of when GrIm is operated at f/20, but light did seem to be getting thru from stars and at f/5. ------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 23:18 DISslit -390(252) 115 62 6.2/8.6 244 17 none 1.51 23:21 NA2gdr -2240(38759) 115 62 5.7/8.6 223 28 R 1.43 01:35 GrIm-f/20 0(584) 148 35 4.1/4.7 245 24 H 1.04 03:42 NA2gdr -1785(46214) 146 26 2.4/3.0 255 32 R 2.55 --------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 56 17 22 237 (WSW) 1936 Clear none 17:01 56 8 29 224 (SW) 1863 Clear none 18:01 55 7 29 235 (SW) 2675 Clear none 19:01 51 4 16 218 (SW) 3241 Clear dust 20:01 48 5 22 232 (SW) 10961 Clear dust 21:01 46 6 22 210 (SSW) 4494 Clear dust 22:01 45 8 27 195 (SSW) 4398 Clear dust 23:01 43 10 28 233 (SW) 3374 Clear none 00:01 43 14 29 238 (WSW) 2870 Clear none 01:01 41 16 21 246 (WSW) 3341 Clear none 02:01 39 16 23 253 (WSW) 2941 Clear none 03:01 38 17 20 262 (W) 2577 Clear none 04:01 34 16 16 266 (W) 2878 Clear none 05:01 32 20 31 274 (W) 4031 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 Ctrlv4.1b4 Current TCC version: 2.6.8 Current TUI version: 0.61