Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20150201 From: mcmillan@apo.nmsu.edu Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2015 13:44:49 +0000 (UTC) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Sunday, February 01, 2015 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- S.Hawley A.Youngblood,K.France DIS,ECHELLE --:-- --:-- M.Hammergren M.Hammergren SPICam --:-- --:-- A.Ritchey A.Ritchey ECHELLE 02:50 06:15 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS NOT USED I/ROW/DN START FINISH D B D B D B D B ---------------------------------------------------------------- UW01/R 17:44 22:10 0 4.4 0 0 0.0 4.4 0 0 AD02/R 22:10 00:10 0 2.0 0 0 0.0 2.0 0 0 UW09/R 00:10 06:49 0 2.6 0 0 0.9 3.1 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: R.McMillan For most of the night, we had some combination of high humidity, low clouds, and/or fog. But we could see that above the fog the sky was pretty clear. At one point during first half I was almost ready to open for just a few minutes to get one spectrum, but before that could happen I found a problem and then the fog moved back in. After 1 am, the clouds cleared and the Sloan dewpoint sensor began to indicate the humidity was dropping, but the one remaining sensor for the 3.5m didn't agree. The two sensors reported dewpoints differeing by 4-5 deg C. Over the next couple of hours I tried to figure out which sensor was correct or if it was possible there was a real physical difference between the two locations. After watching the two nearby NWS stations and another hygrometer inside the dome, I concluded the humidity really had dropped, so I opened the dome. I kept checking surfaces inside the dome at intervals and everything seemed fine. But I did leave the fans off, just in case; that's why the focus values look far from the norm. Around the start of twilight, the humidity rose again for real. ------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 02:58 ecamera 650( -755) 135 62 10.0 -0.2 2.7 -0.5 -1.3 ND4 1.27 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp C Dewp C MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:00 0 1 9 224 (SW) 43 ptly cldy fog 17:00 0 0 6 257 (WSW) 38 ptly cldy fog 18:00 -1 -1 7 266 (W) 39979 ptly cldy fog 19:00 -1 -1 5 285 (WNW) 39 ptly cldy fog 20:00 -1 -1 15 343 (NNW) 77 ptly cldy fog 21:00 -1 -1 5 317 (NW) 52 ptly cldy fog 22:00 -1 -1 3 327 (NNW) 35685 ptly cldy fog 23:00 -1 -2 1 30 (NNE) 253 ptly cldy fog 00:00 -2 -2 2 311 (NW) 1685 ptly cldy fog 01:00 -2 -2 17 2 (N) 105 clear humid 02:00 -1 -2 9 30 (NNE) 176 clear humid 03:00 -1 -2 11 337 (NNW) 139 clear none 04:00 -1 -3 13 8 (N) 162 clear none 05:00 -2 -4 10 354 (N) 149 clear none 06:00 -2 -4 11 359 (N) 120 clear 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: 1.0.4 Current TUI version: 2.3.2