Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 05:52:49 -0600 (MDT)
From: Jack Dembicky
Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20050429
                        Apache Point Observatory
                        3.5m Telescope Night Log
                         Friday, April 29, 2005
                                                         ACTUAL
 ASTRONOMER      OBSERVER(S)            INSTRUMENT     START FINISH
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 G.Laurent       G.Laurent, F.Hearty    NIC-FPS        --:--  --:--
 B.Balick        N.Smith                NIC-FPS        02:30  05:35
  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      20:41  01:00  4.3   0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
 UW09/O      01:00  05:19  0.8  0.7   0    0    0   2.9   0    0    0
  note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time
                ------------- ACTIVITY LOG --------------
 Observing Specialist: J.Dembicky
 We had a freak snow storm this evening (for late April that is).  About
 1/4-1/2 inch of the powdery white stuff (hard to tell but it covered the
 ground and was, worse, was clumped in the trees.  This kept us closed for
 the first half of the night (Our mirrow was above freezing and there was
 blowing snow from the 3.5m catwalk).  Roof heaters were turned on all
 night to melt anything on top of the building.  Temps hovered right at
 freezing so the snow wouldn't melt off the trees either.  Although it was
 clear, I really didn't feel comfortable opening with high humidty
 (75%-80+%), snow in the trees that was blowing, and a mirror warmer than
 freezing.  Too risky to get snow on the mirror and have it melt there
 for the first half, especially if the winds kicked up any.
 The cloudcam images also showed snow falling on it whenever we had a gust
 of wind come thru.
 I started training of Nathan (UW09) while we were shut down due to
 weather.
 Finally around 02:30 the mirror had cooled below freezing and the
 conditions looked good enough to open.  Seeing was excellent with 0.57
 arc sec in FeII and 0.7 arc sec on the guider (R).
 Excellent seeing all 2nd half and no telescope problems.
                      ------- 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
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 02:40  NICFPS      100(1286)  52  71   -0.4/0.4    42  13  FeII  0.57
 02:48  NA2gdr    3741(40741)  47  72   -0.3/0.3     9  12   R    0.70
                ------------- WEATHER LOG ----------------
                                   Wind                      Precip.or
     Time   Temp F Dewp F  MPH  Direction    Dust    Sky    Conditions
     ------------------------------------------------------------------
     16:01    46    19     20   260  (W)     1208   Pt. Cldy   none
     17:01    43    18     19   264  (W)      850   Pt. Cldy   none
     18:01    41    20     27   264  (W)      992  Mst. Cldy  Lt. Snow
     19:01    36    28     20   321  (NW)    1794   Cloudy     Snow
     20:01    31    30      0   142  (SE)    3066   Cloudy     Snow
     21:01    30    29     16     7  (N)      296   Cloudy   Blowing Snow
     22:01    32    24     14    10  (N)      294    Clear   Blowing Snow
     23:01    31    26     14    28  (NNE)    360    Clear   Blowing Snow
     00:01    31    25      4     1  (N)      394    Clear   Blowing Snow
     01:01    31    26      4   349  (NNW)    349    Clear     none
     02:01    31    26      7     0  (N)      280    Clear     none
     03:01    31    26     15    26  (NNE)    215    Clear     none
     04:01    32    23      5   356  (N)      238    Clear     none
     05:01    32    24     12    18  (NNE)    233    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.
                              TELESCOPE STATUS
      Telescope drives operational. Current Remark version: 2.85b
      Current TCC version: 2.7.2  Current TUI version: TUI 0.94