Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 05:30:43 -0600 (MDT) From: Jack Dembicky Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20040611 Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Friday, June 11, 2004 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- D.York J.Dembicky DIS 22:00 01:06 G.Richards D.Johnston DIS 01:06 05:15 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B --------------------------------------------------------------------- UC05/O 21:15 01:00 0 0 0 0 3.8 0 0 0 0 PU07/R 01:00 04:51 0 0 0 0 1.7 2.1 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: J.Dembicky I started cooling fans around 18:30 and opened the enclosure after finishing lamp cals, using Remark, around 21:00. I focused the telescope and started on the UC05 program. I got the star aligned in the slit and started the first set of 2 exposures with Remark when Remark died (I couldn't issue any commands and it's screen stopped updating). This is the same thing it was doing last night (but to no ill effect since my users were using TUI all night). I rebooted the Mac twice, no dice, and the first symptom was the the CSYS: was blank (although it did seem to read in the FOCUS: value). I could connect, which appeared normal, but when I went to set my priority the screen did not update. I did see the priority update go thru the MC. If I tried issueing a slew command it was no go and nothing coming thru the MC at this point either. I slewed to my next target using TUI and started the exposure from there, so as not to loose valuable science time. Rebooted the Mac again then went to the 2nd mac in the control room and tried logging in from there (in case it was a computer problem with the first mac). Still no dice. Went back to the Obs1 Mac and logged in, still the same problem. Rebooted again. Sent an e-mail to my 2nd half observer, then started Remark to see if I could figure anything else out. This time it worked. I have No idea what happened as I didn't do anything different than my other attempts to get it working. My guess is some sort of communication problem between the MC and Remark (I restarted the MC during an earlier attempt, when I was between exposures, but that didn't seem to really do anything). Everything from the MC below seems to work fine as does TUI. Remark ran fine for couple hours then around 00:00 it froze up (display did not update). I notice the clocks were frozen and the 2nd half observer had sent me a message via his remark that was displayed on the MC but not my Remark. I noticed that the displays updated when I connected after the first beep, then about 2 sec later the it locks up and I hear the second beep from connecting. Another thing (this may be the problem) the name used was Obs-Spec-Jack. I seem to recall Remark has a problem with either the dash or the underscore, I don't recall which. I changed the name to Just letters and will see if I have anymore problems. No problems the remainder of the night and Remark was well behaved as well. My guess is that it was the dashes in the name that caused the disconnect problems. ------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 21:09 DISslit -125(1334) 119 66 12.9/15.6 243 13 none 1.0 21:12 NA2gdr -1446(45553) 119 66 12.6/15.5 238 23 R 0.85 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 69 20 21 243 (WSW) 1456 Clear none 17:01 64 18 8 211 (SSW) 1496 Clear none 18:01 65 17 13 267 (W) 1568 Clear none 19:01 62 15 15 244 (WSW) 1496 Clear none 20:01 58 11 14 265 (W) 1633 Clear none 21:01 56 8 10 249 (WSW) 1863 Clear none 22:01 56 8 12 258 (WSW) 1888 Clear none 23:01 56 8 16 255 (WSW) 1924 Clear none 00:01 56 9 11 266 (W) 1818 Clear none 01:01 56 9 16 281 (W) 1636 Clear none 02:01 56 9 13 264 (W) 1506 Clear none 03:01 56 9 15 280 (W) 1500 Clear none 04:01 55 8 15 267 (W) 1547 Clear none 05:01 55 8 14 279 (W) 1731 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 guide software version: guider v4.1b4 Current TCC version: 2.7.2 Current TUI version: TUI-0.85