Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20050418 Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 06:23:07 -0600 (MDT) From: bketzeba@apo.nmsu.edu (Bill Ketzeback) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Monday, April 18, 2005 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- F.Hearty F.Hearty NICFPS 18:30 21:10 22:45 00:55 L.Walkowicz L.Walkowicz DIS 01:12 04:15 INST SCHED(TWILIGHT) WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CU04/R 20:32 01:00 0 1.2 0 0.2 0 3.1 0 0 0 UW10/R 01:00 05:33 0 0 1.4 0.2 0 3.0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: W.Ketzeback Dust levels were high at the beginning of the night but we were still able to open and observe in the alternate fan configuration. At 21:10 the 1um dust in the enclosure spiked to above 4000 cts and I quickly closed. Dust levels dropped to acceptable limits and after 15 minutes I reopened. During the next slew there was a telescope/building collision. After investigation the telescope was pushed off the building and the emergency enclosure limit switch was reset and we were back on the sky. The remainder of first half went smoothly with no further problems. Seeing was moderate to poor for Nicfps (>1 arcsec). After the instrument change the second half observer took some quick cals and I focused. Seeing was subarcsec for about the first hour and then deteriorated to greater than 1.5 arcseconds. The observations seemed to be going along well until about 0415 I noticed during a slew what appeared to be another collision event. I ran upstairs and could see no contact so I reinitallized the axis controllers and instructed my observer to reslew. It seemed strange that she was slewing to a different part of the sky but I didnt question what I was seeing. However shortly I was given indication that the azimuth axis had again stopped. I tried another initialization of the axis controllers. I did not realize at this point that there had been a run away condition earlier. I then called Craig who confirmed the runaway. After about 20 minutes of investigating the logs we determined it would not be safe for me to undo the result of the runaway and it was best left for the Day Staff to determine the cause of the problem and access any damage. We do suspect that the flag that should have stopped the telescope/building at the limit might have been damaged by the first collision of the night resulting in leaving the telescope vulnerable but the day staff can better determine this. I then gave the bad news to the observer that the night had been cut short. 1 um dust levels remained above 2000 cts all night. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE MODE TIME (SEGDFNVO) TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CU04 F T/H 22:30 22:45 Telescope-Dome Collision UW10 D T/H 04:15 05:33 Telescope Run Away into Limits ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Air/Truss Wind Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp-C Dir MPH filt FWHM --------------------------------------------------------------------- 20:19 nicfps 25(1758) -11 41 9.7/10.6 265 15 Ks 0.77 20:19 NA2gdr -8000(37000) -11 41 9.7/10.6 265 15 R 0.79 23:05 nicfps 100(1747) 242 42 8.8/8.8 257 17 J 1.58 23:07 NA2gdr -6574(38426) 242 41 8.7/8.7 267 16 R 1.37 01:45 dis-slit -40(1056) 272 69 7.2/7.4 265 17 - 0.97 01:50 NA2gdr -11882(21217) 272 67 7.2/7.3 273 17 R+nd2 0.75 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 60 22 10 220 (SW) 0 clear dust 17:01 59 20 19 252 (WSW) 0 clear dust 18:01 55 17 19 249 (WSW) 0 clear dust 19:01 53 14 20 261 (W) 0 clear dust 20:01 50 13 16 249 (WSW) 3478 clear dust 21:01 50 14 14 263 (W) 3487 clear dust 22:01 49 11 18 270 (W) 2839 clear dust 23:01 48 12 23 247 (WSW) 2617 clear dust 00:01 47 10 17 269 (W) 2683 clear dust 01:01 45 11 13 258 (WSW) 2688 clear dust 02:01 45 11 25 266 (W) 2537 clear dust 03:01 43 10 20 258 (WSW) 2542 clear dust 04:01 42 8 28 252 (WSW) 2760 clear dust 05:01 41 7 19 260 (W) 2717 clear dust 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