From: Russet McMillan Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20030523 Date: Sat, 24 May 2003 05:39:06 -0600 (MDT) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Friday, May 23, 2003 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- K.Covey K.Covey DIS 00:55 03:40 E.Turner R.McMillan SPIcam --:-- --:-- INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- UW04/R 21:02 04:28 4.4 0.8 0 0 1.3 1.4 0 0 0 PU04/O 04:28 04:58 0 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: R.McMillan First half started out with heavy clouds and rain, rain, beautiful rain! And a not-so-beautiful moth swarm inside the dome -- very disturbing so early in the season. We later progressed to more clouds and lighter rain. After midnight the air dried and the clouds began to loosen up, but there were still signs of precipitation and lightning in the region, notably in the radar blind spot to our southeast. So I waited a little longer to be sure the rain clouds were moving away from us. We opened for a few hours, and the observer was able to get quite a few very bright targets through patchy clouds, before settling down for one longer exposure. While we were observing, the seeing bounced around from subarcsecond to nearly two arcseconds as the wind kept changing its direction. Then radar began to show precipitation approaching from the northeast (an unusual direction), and the satellite images did show some low-level clouds moving the same way. So I closed up. By the time I was satisfied that the radar echoes were a figment of Nexrad imagination, I judged there was too little time (and too many clouds) to get any useful data for PU04. ------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 01:05 DISslit -100(917) 82 82 15.5/15.4 176 11 - 0.96 --------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 72 34 15 259 (W) 1123 mstly cldy none 17:01 64 30 15 147 (SSE) 1199 mstly cldy lt rain 18:01 60 35 14 18 (NNE) 1229 cloudy downpour 19:01 55 37 29 16 (NNE) 1645 cloudy lt rain 20:01 52 40 25 126 (SE) 924 cloudy lt rain 21:01 53 39 16 103 (ESE) 883 cloudy lt rain 22:01 55 37 6 86 (E) 1073 mstly cldy none 23:01 61 31 6 269 (W) 1283 mstly cldy none 00:01 61 31 0 333 (NNW) 1217 mstly cldy none 01:01 60 33 14 176 (S) 1244 ptly cldy none 02:01 55 35 18 139 (SE) 1136 ptly cldy none 03:01 55 37 19 138 (SE) 1413 ptly cldy none 04:01 56 36 19 146 (SE) 1121 ptly cldy none 05:01 57 36 21 159 (SSE) 1168 ptly cldy 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: 2.85b Current guide software version: GIm Ctrlv4.1b4 Current TCC version: 2.6.8 Current TUI version: 0.66