From: Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20100124 Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:11:32 +0000 (UTC) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Sunday, January 24, 2010 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- X.Liu X.Liu TripleSpec 18:20 03:00 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS NOT USED I/ROW/DN START FINISH D B D B D B D B ---------------------------------------------------------------- PU04/R 17:37 06:54 3.9 0.7 0 0.1 0.4 8.2 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: R. McMillan High humidity in the afternoon started to resolve around sunset. We were on generator power with some dips, which also made me hesitate to open. But the utility power came back before sunset and seemed fairly stable. The remaining concern was wind-blown snow. There were small accumulations on the roof of the dome, some crusted and some still dry. Nothing blowing around at telescope level at the time of checkout, although there was some blown snow at ground level. I discussed with Mark whether a lower wind limit would be appropriate and we didn't make a firm decision; I later concluded that I should have gone with the lower limit. The dome was opened near the end of twilight, and just a few small chunks of snow fell in during opening. Observations generally went well with clear skies, but poor seeing did make for occasional guiding difficulties. At 02:30 MST the power dropped enough to abort a slew and trigger the generator to start, but we remained on utility power and it stabilized. It just took a few minutes to check for collision (there was none) and reset the dome. Wind speed starting rising, and since we were facing away from the wind I waited until it reached the limit before closing. I found more small snow chunks in the dome and also light dustings of snow on the floor and the telescope. I couldn't see any flakes stuck to the mirror, which was well below freezing, but a closer look in daylight conditions would be good. The wind didn't drop again for the next few hours, and some clouds moved in anyway, so the observer gave up not long before morning twilight. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- PROG INST FAILURE MODE TIME (SEDFNVOG) TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PU04 T T/H 02:35 02:40 power dip aborted slew ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp Strc Prim Sec Air filt FWHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18:28 TSPEC 200( -182) 21 59 -9.3 -5.9 -6.9 -6.8 -7.4 Ks 1.40 19:52 TSPEC 146( -314) -58 43 -9.3 -7.9 -8.0 -9.0 -8.5 Ks 2.20 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:00 18 14 14 12 (NNE) 130 clear none 17:00 17 12 6 19 (NNE) 158 clear none 18:00 16 10 15 11 (N) 214 clear none 19:00 16 8 9 350 (N) 350 clear none 20:00 16 7 8 33 (NNE) 477 clear none 21:00 16 7 14 0 (N) 199 clear none 22:00 15 7 20 37 (NE) 107 clear none 23:00 15 8 11 22 (NNE) 126 clear none 00:00 16 6 25 19 (NNE) 105 clear none 01:00 16 5 12 359 (N) 140 clear none 02:00 17 2 14 23 (NNE) 238 clear none 03:00 18 1 22 44 (NE) 211 mstly clr none 04:00 17 1 29 35 (NE) 281 ptly cldy none 05:00 18 0 12 19 (NNE) 232 ptly 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: 2.11.1 Current TUI version: 1.7.0