Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2007 05:07:47 -0700 (MST) From: Jack Dembicky Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20071105 Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Monday, November 05, 2007 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- R.Walterbos R.Walterbos, J.Choi, DIS 17:40 23:07 C.Wu J.Marriner J.Dembicky DIS 23:07 02:45 INST SCHED(TWILIGHT) WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/ROW/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B --------------------------------------------------------------------- NM04/R 18:04 00:05 0 0 0 0 6.0 0 0 0 0 UC01/W 00:05 05:30 0.7 2.1 0 0 2.7 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: J.Dembicky There was some confusion when I went to calibrate the gratings tonight. R1200 gratings were installed (high red) and I forgot we call them R1200 and not high in the parameter file (which is for the R830 gratings). Needless to say I got some very strange numbers for wavecenters using the R830 "high" descriptor. It took me about 30-40 mins to figure out what was going on, although I had it solved before twilight ended. Next problem was the wind (and the direction we were pointing (ie. into the wind). I could see the stars moving in the slit image and seeing was pretty poor (and got worse). My observer wanted to do a cal lamp (which required me closing the mirror covers/stopping the drives.). When I closed the wind pushed the telescope vertical to the hard stop. They needed cals in the same position as their object so we had to close the dome (to keep the wind from pushing the telescope up). It then became a challenge to get the telescope dome open, and mirror covers opened, and drives on, before the wind blew the telescope vertical. Wind speed was only 26MPH but we were facing right into it. The Slitviewer locked up once or twice but for the most part behaved. Rene gave up about an hour of his time to help the SN folks try to get a setting SN, unfortunately the clouds didn't cooperate. Seeing went from bad to worse as the night progressed and the clouds also increased making SN observations next to impossible. I could not ID the first SN (SN19899). Seeing was very poor,3.5+ arc sec, there were cirrus on the horizon and it was 26 deg alt. We gave up at 04:40 due to clouds. The stairwell light, to obs level) gave me problems again tonight (it wouldn't turn off with the switch). I tried turning it off via computer control but that didn't work either. Used the dimmer. It fixed itself when I went upstairs the next time a couple hrs later. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE MODE TIME (SEDFNVOG) TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp Strc Prim Sec Air filt FWHM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 18:29 DISslit -157(137) 105 40 9.3 10.8 10.7 9.9 9.5 -- 1.6 00:07 DISslit -182(-149) -66 25 3.5 4.0 4.4 3.2 3.5 -- 4.0 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions --------------------------------------------------------------------- 16:00 52 9 4 296 (WNW) 899 cirrus none 17:00 51 10 5 84 (E) 975 cirrus none 18:00 50 15 8 109 (ESE) 1361 cirrus none 19:00 48 6 18 88 (E) 1185 cirrus none 20:00 47 7 15 81 (E) 1668 cirrus none 21:00 44 9 16 87 (E) 3025 cirrus none 22:00 42 12 16 88 (E) 2967 cirrus none 23:00 41 13 8 99 (E) 3127 mst. cldy none 00:00 38 13 11 88 (E) 3085 mst. cldy none 01:00 38 14 11 90 (E) 3384 mst. cldy none 02:00 38 15 10 124 (SE) 3017 cldy none 03:00 38 16 5 121 (ESE) 3089 cldy none 04:00 45 13 11 178 (S) 1940 cldy none 05:00 44 13 8 169 (S) 1908 mst. cldy 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: 2.9.1 Current TUI version: TUI 1.4.1