Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 05:45:00 -0600 (MDT) From: John Barentine Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20030601 Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Sunday, June 1, 2003 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- D.York B.Woodgate,D.York GFP 20:20 01:00 V.Kulkarni,C.Grady, E.Wassell B.Woodgate B.Woodgate,C.Grady GFP 03:15 04:25 E.Turner J.Barentine SPIcam 04:35 05:35 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- UC09/O 21:09 01:00 0 0 0 0 3.2 0.7 0 0 0 DD03/O 01:00 04:23 0 0 0 0 3.4 0 0 0 0 PU04/O 04:23 04:53 0 0 0 0 0.5 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: J.Barentine Opened at 20:20 for the observers to get some twilight sky flats. During this time there was some discussion of last night's data, in which bright features appeared superimposed over the background (see images obj0187.fits and sflat0191.fits in /export/images/johnb/gfp). It was unclear whether these were due to scattering off of some surface in the near field or diffraction further down the optical path. An apparent octagonal symmetry suggests the mirror cell and/or truss/spider structure. These features have not appeared in previous GFP data, and Bruce thought it might have something to do with the NA2 port being improperly baffled for the f/5 GFP in combination with the f/10 beam of the 3.5m. The point at which many of the features appear to converge does not seem to be on-axis, and the edges of the features are very sharp -- superficially, the effect is very similar to the pits and scratches visible on the Echelle guider if an image is taken with the cal lamps on or with bright sky. Opinion converged on the baffling theory, so an effort will be made during the daytime on Monday to either put the temporary baffle back in or come up with a short-term solution tro achieve the same effect. First half was quiet, although heavy cloud moved in not long after the scheduled start time and persisted. Just short of shift change, Russet called from home concerned about preciptation in the area. Despite being somewhat unconvinced that we were at threat, I decided to close after Varsha finished since they were not getting many photons anyway. The threat of rain diminished toward 03:00 and the clouds seemed to thin, so I opened. The clouds came back, naturally, and Bruce and Carol battled them but were able to squeeze some useful data out of their brief time on the sky. I let them run a little late and did the instrument switch at about 04:30, then ran the Lens program. ------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 21:57 gfp 50(1422) 216 50 16.3/17.6 30 12 4400 1.02 22:08 NA2gdr 1000(49000) 220 48 16.1/17.3 26 12 clear 1.14 23:49 gfp -50(1234) 194 65 16.2/16.6 358 5 V 1.07 03:38 gfp -50(1292) -15832 15.6/15.5 1 7 6565 1.39 03:54 NA2gdr 1100(49100) -15431 15.7/15.5 27 11 R 1.21 04:53 SPIcam -50(1221) 128 48 15.6/15.2 7 8 g' 0.82 --------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 70 25 17 285 (WNW) 672 PtlyCldy none 17:01 72 27 11 254 (WSW) 538 PtlyCldy none 18:01 70 24 6 270 (W) 618 PtlyCldy none 19:01 69 21 18 285 (WNW) 668 MstlyCldy none 20:01 63 31 9 50 (NE) 1056 MstlyCldy none 21:01 61 32 17 43 (NE) 570 MstlyCldy none 22:01 61 31 7 20 (NNE) 706 MstlyCldy none 23:01 61 31 6 9 (N) 802 MstlyCldy none 00:01 61 32 15 2 (N) 851 MstlyCldy none 01:01 61 33 7 359 (N) 852 MstlyCldy none 02:01 60 33 3 36 (NE) 798 MstlyCldy none 03:01 60 33 7 18 (NNE) 713 PtlyCldy none 04:01 60 33 9 11 (N) 808 PtlyCldy none 05:01 60 34 7 33 (NNE) 843 PtlyCldy 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