From: Russet McMillan Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20050424 Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 06:04:52 -0600 (MDT) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Sunday, April 24, 2005 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- M.Strauss M.Strauss NIC-FPS 00:15 00:59 G.Wallerstein G.Wallerstein Echelle 01:04 01:26 03:07 05:40 INST SCHED(TWILIGHT) WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/RO/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PU06/R 20:37 01:00 0 3.7 0 0 0 0.7 0 0 0 UW12/R 01:00 05:25 0 2.1 0 0.2 0 2.1 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- 1st Half Observing Specialist: J.Dembicky A very frustrating (weatherwise) first half. We had partly to mostly cloudy skies at sunset, but things thickened up around sunset. Things started to look a little better around 23:30 when we could actually see stars in the western sky (low) but from the cloudcam images it appeared that the clouds were forming on top of us as quickly as they were moving overhead. We finally opened the enclosure around 00:15 to try to salvage a few minutes out of the first half. I updated some web pages while we waited the weather out. 2nd Half Observing Specialist: R.McMillan After the brief clearing, the clouds thickened again leading up to the program change. I was able to focus the echelle through clouds, but the observer didn't get anything useful before I judged there was enough threat to close. Around 03:00 the clouds cleared out quickly, and the radar traces were gone, so I re-opened. Humidity gradually crept upward and reached the limit during twilight. We did have a couple of slitviewer crashes and one pointing problem to deal with, which cost a little time -- but the echelle itself was just fine, fortunately. While we were closed, I did some investigating of changes in telescope cooling behavior after recent adjustments to the airseals on the cone. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE MODE TIME (SEGDFNVO) TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ----------------------------------------------------------------------- UW12 E I/S 03:28 03:31 Ech SV crash UW12 E T/H 03:56 04:03 bad alt magnesensor measurement UW12 E I/S 05:20 05:25 Ech SV crash ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Air/Truss Wind Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp-C Dir MPH filt FWHM --------------------------------------------------------------------- 00:24 NICFPS 25(1445) 278 36 1.4/2.9 291 14 J 1.16 01:10 Echelle 40(110) 217 59 1.3/1.6 272 14 ND2 1.27 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 17:01 44 26 25 245 (WSW) 959 Mst. Cldy wind 18:01 43 24 30 253 (WSW) 1416 Mst. Cldy wind 19:01 42 23 24 269 (W) 1597 Mst. Cldy wind 20:01 40 25 30 269 (W) 1255 Cloudy wind 21:01 38 27 20 274 (W) 2092 Cloudy none 22:01 37 24 22 289 (WNW) 2114 Cloudy none 23:01 36 22 18 269 (W) 1772 Cloudy none 00:01 35 22 18 300 (WNW) 1559 Pt. Cldy none 01:01 34 22 15 270 (W) 643 cloudy none 02:01 33 24 7 271 (W) 643 cloudy none 03:01 32 23 8 289 (WNW) 462 mstly clr none 04:01 30 24 8 339 (NNW) 474 ptly cldy none 05:01 29 25 3 274 (W) 490 mstly clr none 06:01 29 24 13 357 (N) 566 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: 2.7.2 Current TUI version: TUI 0.94