From: Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20100721 Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:06:39 +0000 (UTC) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Wednesday, July 21, 2010 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH ------------------------------------------------------------------- A.Kowalski A.Kowalski,A.Brown Echelle 20:50 22:00 T.Snow J.Destree Echelle 03:50 05:04 B.Ketzeback R.McMillan Echelle,Tspec 05:05 05:50 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS NOT USED I/ROW/DN START FINISH D B D B D B D B ------------------------------------------------------------------ UW11/R 20:18 01:05 0 3.6 0 0 0 1.2 0 0 CU03/R 01:05 05:02 0.9 1.9 0 0 1.2 0 0 0 UW13/W 05:02 06:02 0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: R.McMillan The night started with clouds and nearby precipitation. When the clouds thinned we were able to open for a while, but eventually the humidity got too high. There followed a confusing period with waves of clouds and humidity variations which kept us closed until well into the second half. The cloud camera difference images had some large, sudden jumps in background level. The first time this happened I thought it was caused by dew on the mirror, but I couldn't see any dew when I inspected it. I closed it anyway at that time and again for a later episode, but after a while I decided the jumps were not coincident with the humidity variations, so perhaps the problem is with image processing instead. At the beginning of the night, the first observer requested DIS as a backup instrument due to the possibility of clouds. Unfortunately, one of the grating motors had a problem, so DIS was unusable tonight. Hopefully it will be a quick fix. SPIcam 1830 171.8K 0600 169.1K ------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20:58 ECHELLE -75( -353) 112 57 14.9 16.6 16.5 15.9 15.8 ND3 1.00 03:56 ECHELLE 85( -312) 243 61 14.0 14.3 15.8 13.7 13.9 Clear 1.00 05:29 TSPEC 125( 727) 123 38 13.4 13.6 14.1 12.8 13.2 Ks 1.20 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:00 59 49 18 76 (ENE) 63 cloudy rain 17:00 61 43 15 79 (E) 177 cloudy none 18:00 60 46 17 112 (ESE) 159 cloudy none 19:00 65 37 3 99 (E) 114 cloudy none 20:00 60 50 11 112 (ESE) 239 mstly cldy none 21:00 59 54 16 144 (SE) 277 ptly cldy none 22:00 59 55 16 164 (SSE) 308 mstly clr humid 23:00 57 56 20 144 (SE) 331 mstly clr humid 00:00 58 52 15 154 (SSE) 244 ptly cldy none 01:00 56 53 15 169 (S) 265 ptly cldy none 02:00 56 54 15 146 (SE) 245 ptly cldy humid 03:00 56 53 12 177 (S) 252 ptly cldy none 04:00 58 51 8 207 (SSW) 241 mstly clr none 05:00 57 50 8 193 (SSW) 184 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: 2.11.1 Current TUI version: 1.8.0