From: Russet McMillan
Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20051015
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 06:27:05 -0600 (MDT)
                        Apache Point Observatory
                        3.5m Telescope Night Log
                       Saturday, October 15, 2005
                                                         ACTUAL
 ASTRONOMER      OBSERVER(S)            INSTRUMENT     START FINISH
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 G.Wolf-Chase    M.Smutko               NIC-FPS        10:55  00:45
 J.Wilson        J.Wilson,M.Nelson      CorMASS        01:05  06:05
  INST     SCHED(TWILIGHT)   WEATH     EQUIP     OBS     DAY  NOT USED
 I/ROW/DN    START FINISH   D    B    D    B    D    B   USE   D    B
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 UC05/R      19:23  00:50   0   3.4   0    0    0   2.1   0    0    0
 DD02/O      00:50  06:15  0.1  0.1   0   0.8   0   4.4   0    0    0
  note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time
                ------------- ACTIVITY LOG --------------
 Observing Specialist: R.McMillan
 Still more wrestling with borderline(?) high(?) humidity conditions
 and probably unreliable sensors.  We had fog at sunset, obviously
 100% humidity, so the 3.5m dewpoint sensor was correct at that time.
 When it showed the dewpoint dropping later, I dried the condensation
 off an outside railing and waited 15 minutes.  The railing grew damp
 again, so I didn't trust the sensor.  At 2200 the railing test
 passed (and the sensor also said the dewpoint had dropped further,
 if that was meaninful).  After some cooling and some more weather
 checks (I remembered the COSMIC weather station, which has a
 hygrometer -- but unfortunately it only updates once an hour or
 less).
 Once we got on the sky, it was mostly clear except for a few puffs
 forming overhead at alarmingly low altitude, and the seeing was very
 good.  The NIC observations went peacefully, and then we changed
 instruments to CorMASS, only to discover that we couldn't see
 anything on the sky at all.  I eventually realized that the eyelid
 had closed, and when I went up to the dome to run it on manual, I
 heard no sound of pneumatics at all.  I called Mark for help and he
 guessed that the air compressor had failed, so he had me switch over
 to the other one.  In fact, the situation with the compressors
 appeared more complicated and may require attention during the day,
 but I did get a compressor going and in a few minutes we had enough
 pressure to open the eyelid.
 We got a proper instrument block with CorMASS, with enough data
 points to be meaningful, then turned to some science.  By then,
 clouds were forming at even lower altitude, and the dewpoint sensor
 was indicating humidity right at the limit, so I had to make
 frequent checks of the outside railings and surfaces inside the
 dome.  There seemed to be a real elevation advantage; railings in
 the dome were barely damp when the railing outside the ops building
 was dripping.  But finally my nerves couldn't take anymore and I
 told the observers it was time to give up.
                      ------- FAILURE LOG -------
  PROG   INST   FAILURE MODE     TIME
       (SEDFNVOG)    TI/SHU   START  FINISH  DESCRIPTION
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 DD02     V           T/H     01:05  01:50   eyelid pneumatics failed
                ---------------- FOCUS LOG ---------------
                                        Air/Truss   Wind
 Time   Instrument   Focus     Az  El    Temp-C    Dir MPH  filt  FWHM
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 23:06 nicfps      65(1280)    113 48  5.1/6.3    267  12   Ks    0.85
 01:58 cormass     -75(753)    93  67  5.1/5.6    237  9    K     0.65
             ------------- WEATHER LOG ----------------
                                   Wind                      Precip.or
     Time   Temp F Dewp F  MPH  Direction    Dust    Sky    Conditions
     ------------------------------------------------------------------
     16:01    43    41     11   220  (SW)          mstly cldy  none
     17:01    43    41      7   238  (WSW)          ptly cldy  none
     18:01    43    41      8   214  (SW)           ptly cldy   fog
     19:01    40    40      5   232  (SW)           mstly clr   fog
     20:01    39    36     10   238  (WSW)          mstly clr  none
     21:01    39    34     10   222  (SW)           mstly clr  none
     22:01    42    31     10   252  (WSW)          mstly clr  none
     23:01    41    35     13   267  (W)            ptly cldy  none
     00:01    43    36     11   262  (W)            ptly cldy  none
     01:01    43    36     10   264  (W)            ptly cldy  none
     02:01    41    37      9   240  (WSW)          ptly cldy  none
     03:01    41    36      7   251  (WSW)          mstly clr  none
     04:01    43    36      8   243  (WSW)          ptly cldy  none
     05:01    43    36      7   231  (SW)           mstly clr  none
     06:01    41    37      7   190  (S)            mstly clr  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: 2.7.3.2  Current TUI version: TUI 1.0.1