Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20071222 Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2007 08:11:21 -0700 (MST) From: bketzeba@apo.nmsu.edu (Bill Ketzeback) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Saturday, December 22, 2007 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- A.Soderberg A.Soderberg DIS 17:50 19:15 --:-- --:-- T.Murphy R.McMillan APOLLO --:-- --:-- G.Wolf-Chase M.Smutko,G.Wolf-Chase Nicfps --:-- --:-- INST SCHED(TWILIGHT) WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/ROW/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B --------------------------------------------------------------------- PU03/R 18:00 00:05 0 4.8 0 0 0 1.3 0 0 0 DD02/R 00:05 01:05 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 UC03/R 01:05 06:04 0 5.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: B.Ketzeback This afternoon I shoveled snow off the catwalk and checked the enclosure. The roof was quite clean of snow and ice. The sun removed any real accumulation that was there this morning. We opened on time with photometric skies. Winds were light but by 18:00 the gusts started climbing. I wasn't paying close attention to the winds and by 19:15 the precip alarm went off. Sure enough there was a lot of blowing snow even up on the observing level. I closed right away. The mirror temperatures were well below freezing (-7C) when I closed. I inspected the mirror at 23:30 and didn't find any evidence that any snow melted on the suface of the glass. By 02:00 the outside air temperature climbed to just below freezing. With the winds still hovering around 15 - 25 mph. I decided to wait further before opening even at this time I could visibly see a little blowing snow off the trees and obs building roof when I stepped outside. Conditions did not improve for the rest of the night. We never reopened. ------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 17:42 dis-slit -207( -806) 57 69 -8.9 -6.1 -6.5 -7.7 -8.2 - 1.60 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions --------------------------------------------------------------------- 16:00 16 8 7 339 (NNW) 304 clear none 17:00 16 7 11 21 (NNE) 352 clear none 18:00 16 5 20 38 (NE) 822 clear none 19:00 19 -5 17 356 (N) 400 clear none 20:00 24 -13 33 30 (NNE) 370 clear none 21:00 26 -16 25 29 (NNE) 141 clear none 22:00 25 -16 24 22 (NNE) 124 clear none 23:00 26 -15 23 16 (NNE) 251 clear none 00:00 29 -21 12 22 (NNE) 177 clear none 01:00 31 -14 8 19 (NNE) 434 clear none 02:00 30 -11 18 14 (NNE) 547 clear none 03:00 29 -11 15 51 (NE) 508 clear none 04:00 30 -6 15 340 (NNW) 561 clear none 05:00 29 -5 13 356 (N) 582 clear none 06:00 30 -5 14 293 (WNW) 631 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: 2.9.1 Current TUI version: TUI 1.4.3