From: Russet McMillan Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20041213 Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 06:16:09 -0700 (MST) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Monday, December 13, 2004 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- P.Yoachim P.Yoachim DIS 17:12 00:00 J.Holtzman B.Moorthy SPIcam 00:50 01:50 DIS --:-- --:-- INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UW05/R 17:56 00:00 0 0 0 0 5.2 0.9 0 0 0 NM07/R 00:00 06:00 5.0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- 1st Half Observing Specialist: W.Ketzeback Thanks to Craig and Mark for doing part of today's afternoon checkout. We had a couple of minor problems crop up during checkout. First, on releasing the last illuminated stop button, no confirming sound was heard from the azimuth controller on the intermediate level. Craig and I investigated and found the lower level red flashing light on, so we went up to the IL. There we found one green light illuminated on the azimuth controller status indicator (same box where the azimuth collision sensor e-stop is located). The controller itself showed one red light among the usual green lights. We power cycled the controller and it returned to the normal configuration; pressing and releasing a stop button on the IL made the axes live as normal. At the start of test slews, a tcc track/mount command to 130,82 failed midway through the slew after the telescope reached 130 degrees in azimuth but before it finished the slew in altitude. The telescope reached ~69 degrees and the altitude axis suddenly halted. The tcc output showed an error in MaxPos which we were unfamiliar with. There were no bad status bits given along with the error, so Craig suggested merely re-init'ing the axes and trying the slew again. After an axis init, I tried the slew again and it completed successfully. All other test slews proceeded normally as well. Another great first half with good seeing. The humidity climbed to high values after sunset but remained well below closure limits for the remainder of first half. 2nd Half Observing Specialist: R.McMillan At the time of the program changeover, the humidity climbed high enough that I thought it best to close, but then it hovered just below the limit, with the telescope still warmer than the air. The observer wanted to chase a setting object, so I decided it would be all right to go for it until the telescope cooled. We got an hour on the sky with moderate to horrible seeing, then about when the observer was ready to switch instruments I began to feel the humidity was unsafe again. It never dropped low enough to permit meaningful science for the rest of the night. ------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 17:41 DISslit -125(847) 149 76 -0.3/4.7 156 1 - 2.10 17:43 NA2gdr 937(31937) 150 76 -0.3/4.7 156 1 R 1.36 01:02 SPIcam 50(1023) 282 31 -4.3/-2.5 121 11 R 1.45 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 32 26 4 40 (NE) 1054 clear none 17:01 31 20 10 75 (ENE) 681 clear none 18:01 34 21 0 201 (SSW) 577 clear none 19:01 33 24 3 179 (S) 702 clear none 20:01 32 24 3 142 (SE) 532 clear none 21:01 33 22 1 175 (S) 459 clear none 22:01 32 22 8 139 (SE) 581 clear none 23:01 30 22 12 125 (SE) 633 clear none 00:01 27 21 8 127 (SE) 659 clear none 01:01 25 20 13 123 (ESE) 663 clear none 02:01 24 19 13 122 (ESE) 744 clear none 03:01 24 18 13 116 (ESE) 561 clear none 04:01 22 18 12 125 (SE) 556 clear none 05:01 21 18 9 112 (ESE) 681 clear 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 0.931