Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 06:48:49 -0700 (MST) From: Jack Dembicky Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20041220 Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Monday, December 20, 2004 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- D.Lamb J.Dembicky, J.Walawender NIC-FPS 17:10 20:25 F.Hardy, S.Beland E.Turner E.Turner Echelle --:-- --:-- B.Gillespie J.Dembicky, J.Walawender NIC-FPS 23:30 06:15 F.Hardy, S.Belande INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UC03/O/D 17:59 20:30 0 0 0 0 0 2.5 0 0 0 PU06/R 20:30 00:00 0 0 0 3.5 0 0 0 0 0 EN02/R 00:00 06:03 0 0 0 0 3.5 2.6 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: J.Dembicky We started the night using NIC-FPS to chase GRB041219, a recent GRB. Don Lamb wanted to get some images of it in J, K, Ks and Ed Turner (the first half observer) and it was also a great target for our new IR instrument, NIC-FPS. NIC-FPS was already scheduled for later that night anyway so it was mounted and ready to go at sunset. The CU people also did the observations from Colorado (our first remote operations of NIC-FPS, Fred and Stephane were in Colorado and Josh and myself were here in the control room). Everything went without a hitch (other than a non-related guider problem) and we got some good data on the recent GRB. One problem that occured early on in the NIC-FPS run tonight was with the NA2 guider. Actually it probably isn't really a problem but more something we "shouldn't" do. The guider would loose the guide star during the NIC-FPS dither pattern and I would "restart" the guider. When I did this it would cause the telescope to jump in some direction (not exactly sure why) and would causing a double image on the NIC-FPS images (no random direction). The simple fix was don't restart the guider, and that solved the problem. We switched over to the Echelle at 20:25, after we finished chasing a GRB for Don Lamb with NIC-FPS. We had some problems with the Tertiary tip-tilts not going to the correct position (X Tilt specifically). I called Russet and she did some magical incantations to the controllers and they went where they were supposed to. We then did a pointing correction as well and all was happy again. Ed reported a problem with his freshly installed Remark that he could not change the echelle slitviewer exposure times. He closed the Echelle Slit Viewer window and the re-opened it and it and this time he could change the time, but when he went to move the filter the button never came back. He hit the cancel button and that brought the filter move button back to life (BTW, I could see the move commands come thru on this end). He then went to take an exposure and the NA1 guide camera locked up. I rebooted the Slitty computer and all worked again. I handed the telescope back over to Ed, this time everything seemed to work until he went to Shift Click on the star. His remark sent the wrong offsets (star moved in the opposite direction, both X & Y). I centered the star for him, when he started his autoguider it started sending the wrong offsets (opposite). We tried closing the Slitview window and re-starting that, no dice. so I suggested he close down Remark on his machine (He actually rebooted the computer in the process) and restart it fresh as something funny seemed to be going on with his Remark. That seemed to fix things, except the camera locked up again as soon as Ed tried to take a slitview image. Reboot Slitty, etc. etc. etc. Did a set inst=echelle and for some reason it didn't get the NA1 camera. We quickly realized this when Ed couldn't take an exposure. I did another set inst=echelle, took a test image (worked this time), and handed it back to Ed. This time everything seemed to be working, Finally!!! Things seemed to run fine for about 10 mins and then Ed's computer started offsetting in the wrong direction again. He restarted his computer and I started autoguiding from mine since this seemed problematic with Eds computer. He logged back in and proceeded to take an exposure, had the wrong priority, but the nexpose command came thru anyhow (Not sure why). Another nexpose came thru (he tried his exposure again with the correct priority) and this (perhaps) crashed the Echelle ICC (Hard lockup). Without know this I attempted an exposure from my end, since it didn't appear anything was working from his and not knowing the ICC was locked. I quickly discovered that things were not working correctly, Remark said Starting exposure and was hung. I then discovered a frozen Echelle ICC. I power cycled the computer (since there were no other options) and the Echelle ICC would not boot back up. I got a screen with a floppy disk with a ? mark, I believe that in mac speak means no boot file, insert disk. So now the question was to call Craig (away on a much needed vacation), to fix a problem that probably isn't an easy fix, with only 45 mins left of the first half program, or let Craig have some much needed R&R and worry about the problem tommorow (or more likely when he gets back since the Echelle isn't scheduled until mid next week). I opted for the later since I didn't feel this wasn't a simple fix that could be done remotely (the computer wouldn't boot) and there just wasn't enough time to fix it to salvage any of the 1st half. Therefore I gave the time to the NIC-FPS people for commisioning. I also chalked the time Ed was on the telescope completely to Instrument problems, even though he got a few photons. With all the problems coming one after the other, it was very difficult to get any data at all. I gave the rest of the PU06 prgram (about 30 mins) over to the NIC-FPS folks Can you tell I had an exciting night??? The second half was peaceful and quiet with no problems. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE MODE TIME (SEGNDFVO) TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PU06 E T/H 20:25 21:10 One of the Tert tip tilts (X) did not go to the correct position PU06 E I/S 21:57 22:02 NA1 guide camera locked up PU06 E I/H 22:30 --:-- Echelle ICC Hard drive crashed ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Air/Truss Wind Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp-C Dir MPH filt FWHM --------------------------------------------------------------------- 17:57 NICFPS 150(1292) 173 60 0.9/3.3 241 12 Ks 0.82 18:02 NA2gdr 8973(45973) 174 60 1.2/3.2 245 10 R 1.34 21:12 Echelle 6(55) 56 65 2.4/1.4 194 5 ND2 1.64 23:43 NICFPS 275(1350) -2 52 1.7/1.0 229 3 BrG(2.16) 1.0 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 39 -3 9 278 (W) 175 Clear none 17:01 37 -3 6 267 (W) 143 Clear none 18:01 34 10 10 256 (WSW) 367 Clear none 19:01 34 13 5 264 (W) 547 Clear none 20:01 37 5 5 282 (WNW) 324 Clear none 21:01 37 5 5 263 (W) 280 Clear none 22:01 36 3 3 184 (S) 241 Clear none 23:01 36 3 7 218 (SW) 242 Clear none 00:01 35 6 5 233 (SW) 282 Clear none 01:01 33 7 2 208 (SSW) 313 Clear none 02:01 34 7 7 260 (W) 288 Clear none 03:01 34 4 6 294 (WNW) 253 Clear none 04:01 32 5 8 310 (NW) 273 Clear none 05:01 32 6 11 278 (W) 254 Clear none 06:01 32 8 11 283 (WNW) 285 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