Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20061206 Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 07:03:10 -0700 (MST) From: bketzeba@apo.nmsu.edu (Bill Ketzeback) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Wednesday, December 6, 2006 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH ------------------------------------------------------------------- M.Klaene B.Ketzeback Various 17:06 00:50 R.Campbell R.Campbell DIS 00:00 06:45 INST SCHED(TWILIGHT) WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/ROW/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B --------------------------------------------------------------------- EN01/W 17:55 00:00 0 0 0 0 0.6 5.5 0 0 0 NM06/R 00:00 05:55 0 0 0 0.1 0 5.8 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: B.Ketzeback First half was engineering time. I was able to get a few items on the nights task list done. A pointing model without sag correction was measured. The request was to get a model with sag correction turned on but it wasnt 100% clear if it was on or off. I spoke to Mark and we mistakenly convinced ourselves that it was currently on. I later spoke to Russet (after first half was over) and she said she had disabled it and forgot to turn it back on again for tonights pointing model. I applied the model anyways since it had a better solution than the last one from a month ago. It is likely a model with sag correction turned on can be done on the 11th. I was able to collect some data on "Focus stability/repeatability/twitch" using the Shack Hartmann. Focus stability was difficult to measure since the telescope had yet to fully equalize. It is hard to tell if the errors I was seeing was a stability issue or temperature related. I used the S-H to find best focus and then adjusting the secondary focus by either + or -100 microns and then back to best focus. I would then take another set of S-H data which told me how far best focus was off by. I repeated this about a dozen times total for + and - directions. The focus repeatability measured at 4 microns +/- 8.5 microns. This is of course small number statistics along with a nonequalized telescope but it matches closely to what Russet reported in the past I believe. There was no real evidence that there was any backlash present in the focus. The focus twitch (or what I'd call a image jump) was apparent on every focus change and is a jump along Azimuth (always -y in S-H video) of 1 to 2 arcseconds. Fastcam data in parallel with new top end metrology (strain gauge) measurements was collected. Five 2 minute measurements at various directions and altitudes with respect to the wind was collected. At the end of the first half the wind shifted direction and went from calm to about 15mph gusts and from the N-E. Second half, at around 00:25 we experienced an "electrical event". The observer lost his TUI connection, the lights in the control room flashed wildly for several minutes and the Azimuth and Rotator quit tracking. This had all the indications of being a problem with offsite power however there was no indication on the transformer by the loading dock that it was a phase unbalance or loss of a phase. The site generator also did not pickup on the power instability and did not kick in. It took about 5 minutes to recover and return to science. The rest of the night was calm and without problems. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE MODE TIME (SEDFNVOG) TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NM06 D T/H 00:25 00:30 utility power, loss of tracking ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp Strc Prim Sec Air filt FWHM ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 17:31 dis-slit -250(-334) 203 77 1.8 4.6 3.1 3.0 2.3 - 1.03 17:43 NA2gdr -1395(37704) 217 77 1.6 4.1 2.9 2.8 2.0 R+nd2 0.75 21:48 s-h -242(296) 188 61 1.3 1.1 0.5 0.8 1.3 - good 00:02 dis-slit -88(-240) 175 72 3.5 1.3 0.5 1.4 2.4 - 1.5 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------- 16:01 41 7 5 254 (WSW) 356 clear none 17:01 37 6 2 194 (SSW) 330 clear none 18:01 35 5 1 209 (SSW) 399 clear none 19:01 34 5 1 289 (WNW) 434 clear none 20:01 35 1 1 202 (SSW) 334 clear none 21:01 34 3 0 306 (NW) 330 clear none 22:01 36 6 7 1 (N) 73 clear none 23:01 31 6 1 124 (SE) 233 clear none 00:01 38 -3 18 22 (NNE) 70 clear none 01:01 36 -4 2 342 (NNW) 81 clear none 02:01 34 -2 6 20 (NNE) 75 clear none 03:01 36 -3 8 52 (NE) 87 clear none 04:01 34 3 15 62 (ENE) 132 clear none 05:01 33 5 21 68 (ENE) 199 clear none 06:01 34 6 14 80 (E) 162 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 TCC version: 2.8.5 Current TUI version: TUI 1.2