Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 06:29:42 -0600 (MDT) From: John Barentine Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20030831 Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Sunday, August 31, 2003 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- H.Osborne DIS-high --:-- --:-- J.Barentine Echelle 21:00 22:30 J.Hennawi J.Hennawi DIS-low 22:35 23:18 02:00 06:00 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- NM03/R 20:24 01:00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.8 1.8 PU03/R 01:00 05:43 0 0 0 0 4.7 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: J.Barentine Opened at 20:00 under clearing skies. By 20:15 the humidity had shot up to near 90%, at which point I considered closing, but it came down into the mid-80's and I opted to remain open. But by the scheduled start time, the first half observer had not shown up. I attempted to contact the NMSU scheduler at home without success. By this time, the second half observer had already logged into Remark. I contemplated handing over the time to him, but remembering a comment Iskra made the night before about the tracking being iffy, I suggested running the pointing model outlined by Russet in her email on 8/28 (updating tertiary tip-tilts and then running a pointing model at NA1). If Heather had not shown up by the end of that, I would cede the remaining time to Joe. The results of the pointing model were not encouraging, so I didn't implement it. Joe started observing just after 22:30 but by 23:15 I could no longer afford to keep the telescope open. The dewpoint depression was approaching 1.5 C between the enclosure air and the primary front surface, and winds were routinely gusting to near 40 MPH. Shortly before 02:00 the humidity and winds dropped precipitously, at which time I opened. Seeing was very poor, in the range of 2-3 arcseconds FWHM unfiltered, and varying rapidly. The rest of the night was quiet. ------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 21:06 Echelle -48(33) 226 73 9.9/11.8 66 26 ND1 2.07 02:07 DISslit 400(1103) -54 78 11.5/8.9 239 0 - 2.65 -------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 59 50 5 208 (SSW) 80 MstlyCldy rain 17:01 57 50 2 187 (S) 75 MstlyCldy rain 18:01 56 51 6 57 (NE) 105 MstlyCldy none 19:01 56 51 17 48 (NE) 86 MstlyCldy none 20:01 53 49 25 64 (ENE) 101 MstlyCldy none 21:01 50 48 20 65 (ENE) 86 PtlyCldy none 22:01 49 45 27 70 (ENE) 148 PtlyCldy none 23:01 48 45 30 71 (ENE) 144 PtlyCldy none 00:01 47 45 21 67 (ENE) 278 MstlyClr none 01:01 47 45 18 69 (ENE) 263 MstlyClr none 02:01 53 34 0 219 (SW) 219 MstlyClr none 03:01 52 36 4 31 (NNE) 326 MstlyClr none 04:01 52 46 1 340 (NNW) 113 MstlyClr none 05:01 54 33 1 85 (E) 232 MstlyClr none 06:01 56 25 5 87 (E) 326 MstlyClr 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 Telescope drives operational. Current Remark version: 2.85b Current guide software version: guider? what guider? Current TCC version: 2.7.1 Current TUI version: TTUI