Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 06:54:49 -0600 (MDT) From: Jack Dembicky Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20050410 Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Sunday, April 10, 2005 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- G.Laurent G.Laurent, F.Hearty, DIS --:-- --:-- N.Cunningham V. Debattista T.Lisker DIS 00:20 06:45 INST SCHED(TWILIGHT) WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CU01/R 20:25 01:00 2.5 1.3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 UW06/O 01:00 05:43 0 0 0 0 5.5 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: J.Dembicky Abridged version: It was cloudy for the first half, we finally opened around 00:10 after the threat of clouds/precipitation passed. The first half program couldn't make use of only the remaining 40 minutes for their program so they donated the time to the 2nd half program. Again the NA2 shutter was sticking tonight. I estimated 80% of the time it would not operate correctly. This made tracking focus with the guider impossible, so I just used the slitviewer to directly tweak the actual instrument focus. Around 02:00 the seeing went south on us. At 05:10 the observer reported that his star seemed to want to slowly drift up on the slitview image. The previous object (nearby this star) stayed put very nicely. After several small adjustments the star finally stayed put. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary on the tcc status lines, and the telescope seemed to be tracking fine so I don't think anything was actually wrong. No problems except for the NA2 shutter (which rendered the NA2 guider useless tonight, I didn't even bother running it). Unabridged version: (I was requested to write a little more detail on what I did when it was cloudy) 18:15 Arrived at work 18:20 Checked e-mail, Restarted systems, turned roof heaters on due to light snow from this afternoon. 18:25 Checked out NIC-FPS and gave permission to observer to take darks/biases. 18:30 - 19:00 Intermediate level checkout, filled instruments, Filled nurse tank on Echelle, rolled DIS up to NA2 port to calibrate. 19:00 - 19:18 Calibrated DIS, checked dis slitviewer, checked NA2 guider camera, did test slews with telescope, opened louvers, started exhaust fans, turned roof heaters off. 19:18 - 19:30 Went outside to check weather, large black cloud approaching so i decided to turn the fans off, close louvers and turn roof heaters back on. 19:30 - 19:35 Went up to the enclosure to mount NIC-FPS 19:35 made cup of coffee 19:40 checked weather 19:42 closed cloud camera (it was snowing) 19:55 Checked weather, snow stopped, still cloudy. Humidity too high 20:00 - Worked on web pages (Quick information pages). 20:25 checked weather, saw a couple stars, it was snowing and the humidity was still too high. 21:05 Checked weather, partly cloudy (could see stars), felt snow on my face and saw flakes in my flashlight beam, and the humidity is still too high. 21:20 Checked weather, cloudy now, maybe some flakes of snow, Humidity has now dropped below closure limits. 21:45 Checked weather, could see some stars and it was snowing. 22:10 Checked weather, could see stars over head and it is still snowing. Humidity is now over limits as well. 22:30 Checked weather, clear but humidity is at 85%, staying closed until conditions improve. 22:50 Checked weather, looks clear but some clouds overhead on cloudcam. Humidity still fairly high and IR satellite image shows that there may be another cloud system headed this way shortly. Staying closed for the time being. 23:10 Checked weather, clouds in the N/NE and humidity still pretty high (82.5%). Don't feel comfortable opening yet. 23:35 Checked weather, looks clear but radar is showing precip moving this way around Ruidoso right now. Humidity is about 80%. Going to sit tight yet for another 10 mins to see what is happening outside. Opened louvers and turned cooling fans on. 23:40-23:45 Checked weather (visual outside) see clouds on horizon in NW, cloud cam images show they are moving toward us. Going to wait another couple of minutes to see what they might bring with them. 23:50-23:55 Checked weather (visual outside) more clouds appearing in N/NW. Cloudcam shows them moving in our direction. 00:00 Checked weather (visual outside) Clouds overhead/N. Thick enough to completely obscure stars. 00:10-00:20 Took NIC-FPS off telescope, mounted DIS. Opened enclosure 00:20 Started telescope, focused DISslit and NA2gdr. 00:40 Finished focusing and handed telescope over to 2nd half observer (1st half threw in towel about 00:10) 00:42 Clouds appearing on cloudcam 01:15 NA2 shutter failing on the order of 80% of the time now, recommended to observer to hand guide using slitview in repeat mode. Still have clouds moving over us, mostly in the N/E region of the sky. 02:04 Tweaked focus, seeing is becoming variable and poor. 05:10 Observer reported that the previous object (galaxy) stayed in the slit very nicely during his exposures. He slewed to a nearby standard star and now it seems to want to drift up in the slit then after several adjustments it seemed to stay put. I could see nothing out of the ordinary on the tcc status lines. 05:55 Finished nights science observations, parked telescope and closed up enclosure to let observer take lamp cals. 06:45 Observer finished with lamp cals, Removed instrument from telescope, filled instruments with LN2, completed night log, ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE MODE TIME (SEGDFNVO) TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ----------------------------------------------------------------------- UW06 O T/H --:-- --:-- NA2 shutter problems again ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Air/Truss Wind Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp-C Dir MPH filt FWHM --------------------------------------------------------------------- 00:28 DISslit -125(577) 68 63 -2.6/-2.1 294 13 none 1.3 00:31 NA2gdr -4572(26427) 67 64 -2.6/-2.2 299 17 R 1.1 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 33 15 9 259 (W) 733 Cloudy Lt. Snow 17:01 32 16 13 288 (WNW) 932 Cloudy Lt. Snow 18:01 26 25 6 349 (NNW) 1655 Cloudy none 19:01 28 22 6 272 (W) 593 Cloudy Lt. Snow 20:01 26 24 11 300 (WNW) 968 Cloudy Lt. Snow 21:01 26 23 16 327 (NNW) 536 Pt. Cldy Lt. Snow 22:01 27 23 25 311 (NW) 869 Pt. Cldy Lt. Snow 23:01 27 22 18 331 (NNW) 626 Pt. Cldy Humid 00:01 27 22 18 293 (WNW) 652 Pt. Cldy none 01:01 27 21 12 307 (NW) 755 Pt. Cldy none 02:01 27 21 15 325 (NW) 833 Mst. Clr none 03:01 27 21 8 340 (NNW) 906 Clear none 04:01 27 20 12 321 (NW) 978 Clear none 05:01 27 19 15 333 (NNW) 928 Clear none 06:01 26 17 9 1 (N) 1027 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 0.94