Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20120527
From: dembicky@apo.nmsu.edu
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 11:07:26 +0000 (UTC)
                      Apache Point Observatory
                      3.5m Telescope Night Log
                      Sunday, May 27, 2012
                                                           ACTUAL
 ASTRONOMER      OBSERVER(S)            INSTRUMENT     START  FINISH
--------------------------------------------------------------------
J.Borish          J.Borish              TripleSpec     19:33   00:58
P.Szkody          A.Mukadam             Agile          01:10   02:27
   INST       SCHEDULED     WEATH     EQUIP      OBS     NOT USED
 I/ROW/DN   START  FINISH   D    B    D    B    D    B    D    B
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
UV06/R     20:13   01:10    0    0    0    0   0.2  4.8   0    0
UW09/R     01:10   05:48   3.3   0    0    0   1.3  0.0   0    0
note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time
              ------------- ACTIVITY LOG --------------
Observing Specialist: J.Dembicky
Smoke from the fire in the Gila's got to us around 01:00, we could smell smoke and watched the outside dust levels.
Inside dust levels stayed below 3K, but outside continued to rise. I pushed the limits a bit, since the dust inside the dome was lower and humidity was 16%, but we finally closed at 02:27
I tried opening at around 04:45, when the dust counter was below 6K.  I opened the dome and shined my flashlight outside and could see smoke in the beam below and not so much above (hovering right around the catwalk level).  With the target pointing into the direction of the wind, and the smoke level just below closure I opted to close right away and not risk smoke being blown into the dome (winds were around 20MPH).  Twilight was just about to start as well, so we gave up for the remainder of the night.
Definately a very strong smoke odor outside.
                    ------- 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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 19:22 TSPEC   656(  926)  35  46  12.5 14.6 13.9 14.4 12.9   Ks  1.20
 00:05 AGILE -1200(-1734) -130  55  12.0 11.9 12.3 12.0 12.0   BG40  1.00
               ------------- WEATHER LOG ----------------
                                   Wind                      Precip.or
     Time   Temp F Dewp F  MPH  Direction    Dust    Sky    Conditions
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
     16:00    60    18     21   268    (W)   1978    clear     none
     17:00    62    19     23   247  (WSW)   2118    clear     none
     18:00    60    18     18   246  (WSW)   2103    clear     none
     19:00    59    17     18   266    (W)   2163    clear     none
     20:00    56    14     19   272    (W)   2107    clear     none
     21:00    54    11     16   269    (W)   2460    clear     none
     22:00    53     8     21   306   (NW)   2082    clear     none
     23:00    54     8     14   284  (WNW)   1911    clear     none
     00:00    55     9     20   296  (WNW)   1510    clear     none
     01:00    54     9     18   301  (WNW)   3094    clear     dust
     02:00    53     9     17   304   (NW)   6742    clear     dust
     03:00    53     9     16   296  (WNW)   8241    clear     dust
     04:00    53     8     14   304   (NW)   6950    clear     dust
     05:00    52     8     10   278    (W)   6263    clear     dust
     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: 2.15.0
    Current TUI version: 1.9.5