From: Russet McMillan
Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20050127
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 06:04:40 -0700 (MST)
                        Apache Point Observatory
                        3.5m Telescope Night Log
                       Thursday, January 27, 2005
                                                         ACTUAL
 ASTRONOMER      OBSERVER(S)            INSTRUMENT     START FINISH
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 K.Covey         K.Covey                NIC-FPS        --:--  --:--
 V.Dwarkadas     V.Dwarkadas,D.York     Echelle        00:50  01:30
  INST     SCHED(TWILIGHT)   WEATH     EQUIP     OBS     DAY  NOT USED
 I/RO/DN     START FINISH   D    B    D    B    D    B   USE   D    B
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 UW14/R      18:27  00:10  1.3  4.4   0    0    0    0    0    0    0
 UC04/R      00:10  06:05   0   5.2   0    0    0   0.7   0    0    0
  note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time
                ------------- ACTIVITY LOG --------------
 1st Half Observing Specialist: J.Barentine
 2-3" of new, heavy (not to mention particularly wet) snow fell over the
site during the daytime hours.  The snow tapered off toward sunset.  From
then until about 21:00, the humidity hovered near 100% and we were socked
in with dense fog.  In the last 20 minutes before the shift change, the
humidity dropped to the regime where we would consider opening.
 2nd Half Observing Specialist: Russet McMillan
 When I decided to make a try at opening, we discovered that the
 cloud camera was completely frozen shut.  I also found some ice on
 the rails for the dome shutters, but not as much as Mark said would
 be needed to endanger the shutters.  So I opened, carefully.  The
 left-hand shutter door had trouble rolling over the ice, and I left
 it about one foot short of fully open.
 As soon as I started focusing, the humidity rose to the limit again.
 The telescope was still warm, so I allowed the observers to get a
 few short exposures before I closed again.  Focus values were very
 wacky (around -500, since I forgot to record it properly), and
 seeing was about 2 arcseconds.
 After I closed, humidity hovered just above the limit for the
 remainder of the night.
                      ------- FAILURE LOG -------
  PROG   INST   FAILURE MODE     TIME
     (SEGDFNVO)    TI/SHU   START  FINISH  DESCRIPTION
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
                 ---------------- FOCUS LOG ---------------
                                        Air/Truss   Wind
 Time   Instrument   Focus     Az  El    Temp-C    Dir MPH  filt  FWHM
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
                ------------- WEATHER LOG ----------------
                                   Wind                      Precip.or
     Time   Temp F Dewp F  MPH  Direction    Dust    Sky    Conditions
     ------------------------------------------------------------------
     16:01    31    31     15   267  (W)           Overcast   lt snow
     17:01    30    31     19   269  (W)           Overcast     none
     18:01    31    30     17   246  (WSW)         Overcast     none
     19:01    29    29     18   271  (W)           MstlyCldy    fog
     20:01    28    27     14   268  (W)           MstlyCldy    fog
     21:01    27    26     21   292  (WNW)         MstlyCldy    fog
     22:01    26    24     15   292  (WNW)         MstlyClr     none
     23:01    25    23     16   297  (WNW)         MstlyClr     fog
     00:01    24    19     19   296  (WNW)          Clear       none
     01:01    23    20     16   287  (WNW)          clear       none
     02:01    23    20     17   293  (WNW)          clear       none
     03:01    23    19     20   307  (NW)           clear       none
     04:01    22    19     15   307  (NW)           clear       none
     05:01    22    19      8   329  (NNW)          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.
     Note: The Tower Dust counter appears to be down at this time
                              TELESCOPE STATUS
      Telescope drives operational. Current Remark version: 2.85b
      Current TCC version: 2.7.2  Current TUI version: TUI 0.94b1