Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:02:35 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20130322
From: "Alysha Shugart"
                      Apache Point Observatory
                      3.5m Telescope Night Log
                      Friday, March 22, 2013
                                                           ACTUAL
 ASTRONOMER      OBSERVER(S)            INSTRUMENT     START  FINISH
--------------------------------------------------------------------
M.Klaene          J.Dembicky,R.McMillan EYEPIECE       17:30   00:25
Z.Tsvetanov       Z.Tsvetanov           ECHELLE/TSPEC  --:--   --:--
   INST       SCHEDULED     WEATH     EQUIP      OBS     NOT USED
 I/ROW/DN   START  FINISH   D    B    D    B    D    B    D    B
 ----------------------------------------------------------------
EN01/R     19:25   01:10    0    0    0    0   0.0  5.8   0    0
JH01/R     01:10   06:54    2.3  3.4  0    0   0.0  0.0   0    0
note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time
              ------------- ACTIVITY LOG --------------
Observing Specialist: A.Shugart
Tours ran successfully until the end of the open house, through the first
half of the night. It was cloudy, so only 3 groups were able to look
through the eyepiece. Open house was successful. JH01 observer began
taking cals at 00:35, but clouds kept us closed until 03:04. The wind
gusts were under 32 mph, and the average speed was ~20 mph. I thought it
was safe.
At 03:04, I opened the dome, and waited a few minutes with the observer
for the clouds to clear. At 03:28, I slewed up to 80 degrees altitude to
rotate the tertiary. A giant gust of wind pushed the telescope during the
slew to 92 degrees altitude, and I was too slow to hit the stop button.
Luckily, Jack was here to help me by-pass TUI and get the telescope to a
safe altitude. We did several test slews until we were satisfied that the
error was cleared. Now feeling quite gun-shy, and noting that the severity
of the gusts and general wind had increased, I remain closed. I did not
log this in failure as we were not on sky, and lost no observing time. The
wind did not calm down after that.
                    ------- 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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
               ------------- WEATHER LOG ----------------
                                   Wind                      Precip.or
     Time   Temp F Dewp F  MPH  Direction    Dust    Sky    Conditions
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
     16:00    46    19     26   268    (W)   2243 mstly cldy   none
     17:00    47    18     30   267    (W)   6286 mstly cldy   none
     18:00    46    17     30   269    (W)   3227   cloudy     none
     19:00    45    17     30   274    (W)   3988   cloudy     none
     20:00    44    18     24   267    (W)   3769 mstly cldy   none
     21:00    43    17     34   285  (WNW)   3754   cloudy     none
     22:00    42    13     18   269    (W)   7657   cloudy     none
     23:00    41    12     25   283  (WNW)   4559 mstly cldy   none
     00:00    40    14     18   270    (W)   1621 mstly cldy   none
     01:00    40    16     15   267    (W)   1590   cloudy     none
     02:00    39    17     29   260    (W)   1485   cloudy     none
     03:00    37    18     29   267    (W)   1516  ptly cldy   none
     04:00    36    19     18   271    (W)   1309 mstly cldy   none
     05:00    36    19     28   273    (W)   1479   cloudy     none
     06:00    35    19     17   271    (W)   1361 mstly 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: 2.15.0
    Current TUI version: 2.0.0