From: Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20110411 Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:44:41 +0000 (UTC) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Monday, April 11, 2011 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- G.Wallerstein G.Wallerstein Echelle 19:50 22:05 22:55 00:50 J.Hughes J.Hughes Spicam 01:05 04:10 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS NOT USED I/ROW/DN START FINISH D B D B D B D B -------------------------------------------------------------------- UW15/R 19:39 01:10 0 0.8 0 0 0.0 4.7 0 0 UW13/R 01:10 06:29 2.3 0 0 0 1.4 1.6 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: R.McMillan Skies were mostly clear of clouds, with seeing ranging from subarcsecond to about 2 arcseconds depending on the wind direction. Also depending on the wind, we had some smoke from a grass fire 30 miles to the south. I closed for one smoke spike in the evening, which quickly subsided, then again for another wave of smoke during second half, and this one was slower to pass away. The echelle slitviewer rarely worked for more than a minute at a time without failing. Fortunately the recovery was quick (keep taking single images until it's successful, then restart guiding), but occasionally this did cause delays in acquiring targets. I tried longer exposure times which seemed to help a small amount, or perhaps that was my imagination. The tracking was excellent during the periods when we weren't guiding so few photons were lost. I checked collimation using Agile during the changeover and found it to be excellent. ------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20:10 ECHELLE 389( -966) 273 35 5.3 7.2 5.8 6.0 5.9 ND2 1.01 01:12 SPICAM 105( -237) 23 71 5.2 4.3 4.9 4.4 4.7 y 0.72 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:00 49 8 13 200 (SSW) 492 mstly clr none 17:00 53 9 9 216 (SW) 523 mstly clr none 18:00 50 7 13 228 (SW) 741 mstly clr none 19:00 45 3 11 149 (SSE) 1948 mstly clr none 20:00 42 3 13 168 (SSE) 2659 mstly clr smoke 21:00 40 6 19 145 (SE) 1478 clear none 22:00 41 5 20 132 (SE) 3491 clear smoke 23:00 42 5 23 139 (SE) 1762 clear none 00:00 40 4 17 123 (ESE) 1550 clear none 01:00 40 6 19 165 (SSE) 1006 clear none 02:00 40 7 16 179 (S) 955 clear none 03:00 41 6 20 174 (S) 1423 clear none 04:00 39 8 17 174 (S) 1971 mstly clr smoke 05:00 38 8 17 159 (SSE) 3465 clear smoke 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: 2.14.0 Current TUI version: 1.8.6