Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:05:39 -0600 From: "Jeff Coughlin" Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20080728 Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Monday, July 28, 2008 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH ------------------------------------------------------------------- Q.Hart Q.Hart, T.Yan NICFPS 22:00 01:05 G.Wolf-Chase M.Smutko, G.Wolf-Chase NICFPS 01:05 05:16 INST SCHED(TWILIGHT) WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOT USED I/ROW/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- CU07/R 21:04 01:05 0.9 0 0 0 3.1 0 0 0 0 UC03/R 01:05 05:16 0 0 0.2 0 1.5 2.5 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: J. Coughlin Az velocity scale was measured to be 581.4. At twilight we had high humidity, >90%, but few clouds. By 22:00 the humidity had dropped to 85% and was stable, and dew point was no longer in closure limits, and no clouds, so I cautiously opened with louvers closed and only telex fans on. Humidity continued to drop and so I turned on intex and opened louvers, and we then obtained as low as 0.6" seeing. On the last target of first half, the rotator froze with a "servo error", as encountered by Russet last night, but first half completed thier sequence. At the switchover I re-intialized axes and was able to get it to complete one move, but on a second request it froze with the same error. I halted axes and manually moved the rotator +/- 30 degrees and confirmed it had not wrapped. I then intialized the axes twice in a row, and then the rotator successfully completed multiple requested slews. There were no further problems for the remainder of the night, and second half only lost 10 minutes. A few clouds popped up second half but the majority was clear with good seeing. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE MODE TIME (SEDFNVOG) TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CU07 NICFPS T/U 01:05 01:15 Rotator Servo Error ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp Strc Prim Sec Air filt FWHM ----------------------------------------------------------------- 22:20 NICFPS -28( 1139) -68 52 15.1 19.5 17.1 17.6 16.1 J 0.95 23:03 NICFPS -100( 989) -105 55 16.6 17.9 17.0 16.6 16.5 Ks 0.80 23:37 NICFPS -100( 962) -90 55 16.7 17.4 17.0 16.2 16.4 Ks 0.70 01:25 NICFPS -118( 925) -46 48 16.9 16.8 17.1 16.4 16.9 Ks 1.10 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------- 16:00 65 57 10 355 (N) 1563 ptly cldy humid 17:00 65 57 6 335 (NNW) 1397 ptly cldy humid 18:00 64 54 10 342 (NNW) 1234 mstly clr humid 19:00 66 59 7 295 (WNW) 1456 mstly clr humid 20:00 60 58 4 306 (NW) 1857 mstly clr humid 21:00 59 58 6 346 (NNW) 2049 clear humid 22:00 60 56 3 335 (NNW) 1994 clear none 23:00 62 53 1 286 (WNW) 1918 clear none 00:00 63 52 6 356 (N) 1665 clear none 01:00 63 50 7 2 (N) 1601 mstly clr none 02:00 62 50 10 357 (N) 1427 mstly cldy none 03:00 63 47 20 11 (N) 1507 mstly clr none 04:00 62 47 17 15 (NNE) 1617 clear none 05:00 63 43 20 25 (NNE) 1585 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 TCC version: 2.9.1 Current TUI version: TUI 1.5