Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2004 06:25:26 -0700 (MST) From: John Barentine Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20041120 Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Saturday, November 20, 2004 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- F.Hearty F.Hearty,S.Beland, NIC-FPS 19:15 20:45 J.Barentine,R.McMillan, 21:35 22:20 C.Froning,N.Cunningham, 22:55 06:00 R.Valentine,C.Schmidt,M.Drosback C.Loomis (phone support) INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B --------------------------------------------------------------------- EN02/O 17:56 05:43 0 1.4 0 0 4.1 6.3 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- 1st Half Observing Specialist: R.McMillan Another variably dampish night. Humidity was very borderline at twilight, but after watching for a while and confirming that it was stable, the observers elected to open for however long it would take for the telescope to cool to below air temperature. During that time we were able to confirm the alignment of the Lyot stop. Next time the humidity dropped, we got some lovely narrowband images, but it was not to last. The guider focus stage is stuck at its minimum (home) position, rendering the guider unusable for the night. Everything else worked well, except for the air conditioning in the control room (see list of heat sources above). 2nd Half Observing Specialist: J.Barentine Reopened shortly before 23:00 when the humidity again dropped. This time, skies were sufficiently photometric that we elected to go after some photometric standard stars for calibration purposes. At 00:55 the file numbering counter for NICFPS stopped updating, rejecting expose commands. We flailed around a bit before calling Craig. He made a fix to the software which allowed us to take exposures again. Rest of the night passed quietly. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE MODE TIME (SEGDFNVO) TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION --------------------------------------------------------------------- EN02 N T/H --:-- --:-- Gmech stage stuck at home EN02 N I/S 00:55 01:35 TUI software problem ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Air/Truss Wind Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp-C Dir MPH filt FWHM --------------------------------------------------------------------- 20:20 nicfps 125(1377) -66 43 0.1/0.9 209 14 H2 0.75 23:22 nicfps 135(1311) 52 47 -0.3/-0.5 177 7 Ksh 0.81 23:31 nicfps 135(1311) 52 48 -0.3/-0.5 166 7 Z 1.12 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 37 28 17 223 (SW) 394 ptly cldy none 17:01 33 27 12 221 (SW) 289 ptly cldy none 18:01 32 28 13 218 (SW) 365 ptly cldy none 19:01 32 27 6 191 (S) 310 ptly cldy none 20:01 32 27 11 214 (SW) 354 ptly cldy none 21:01 32 28 10 181 (S) 355 mstly clr none 22:01 32 22 2 175 (S) 277 mstly clr none 23:01 30 24 7 139 (SE) 301 MstlyClr none 00:01 33 20 10 182 (S) 189 Clear none 01:01 34 22 14 179 (S) 173 Clear none 02:01 33 24 19 176 (S) 239 Clear none 03:01 32 22 21 163 (SSE) 183 Clear none 04:01 31 24 19 148 (SSE) 232 Clear none 05:01 32 25 16 150 (SSE) 231 MstlyClr none 06:01 33 24 21 172 (S) 202 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 Telescope drives operational. Current Remark version: 2.85b Current TCC version: 2.7.2 Current TUI version: TUI 0.92