Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20190622 From: cgray@apo.nmsu.edu Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2019 13:45:45 +0000 (UTC) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Saturday, June 22, 2019 ACTUAL ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- A.Kosakowski A.Kosakowski DIS 20:24 12:53 S.Bhatiani S.Bhatiani NICFPS 01:06 05:42 INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS NOT USED I/ROW/DN START FINISH D B D B D B D B ---------------------------------------------------------------- OU03/R 20:24 01:10 0 0 0 0 3.8 1.0 0 0 OU04/R 01:10 05:47 0 0 0 0 0.0 4.6 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: C.Gray The night started out mostly cloudy with high cirrus for most of the night but it cleared around 3 am. We had moderate seeing all night. We had some interesting issues tonight. The gcam filters weren't being displayed but a "gmech readFilterNames" command did the trick. Nicfps started reading all 0's at 5:28 and 06:03 for no reason I could discern. A nicfps expose expose init fixed it. When I went up to the dome to close at dawn everything was fine but when I came back downstairs a bright red light was flashing on the ground floor. The light is new and is located just below the "drives are active" red light. I wasn't sure what issue it was indicating (there were no alarms or emails) so I contacted Mark/Ben/Bill. ------- Chapter 3: The Missing 20 It is common in Japanese culture to laugh when one is nervous rather than display any signs of nervousness. I did not know this at the time. My rescuers laughed at me when they picked me up (but really, who wouldn't have?). In racing to the other excursion spots we nearly drove off the side of the mountain, which they found hilarious. When they told me 10 people were still missing they were practically cackling with mirth. So, in reality, they probably didn’t find any of this humorous. In fact, having lost nearly 10% of the Venus community in one day under their watch, they were each probably in need of a new pair of pants. After returning to the hotel I discovered that one true friend did notice I was missing and had sent out my rescue party. Knowing what state I'd probably be in when I returned, he had sake on the table before I even sat down (which was emptied in a surprisingly short amount of time). Having organized the search party, he told me that there weren't 10 missing Venusians but 20. Apparently, 20 people (split into two groups) had decided that they would rather walk back to the hotel from the hiking point rather than take the buses. Who was stupid enough to attempt a hike back to the hotel through the mountains? The answer was: members of the Venus Express team, multiple university professors, the original lead singer to Pantera, and the director of NASA's Science Mission Directorate’s Planetary Science Division. Wait, what?! The Venus conference LOST NASA’s Planetary Science Mission Director?! If Venus’ prospects of ever getting a US funded mission were grim before they were practically non-existent now! It was almost 9pm and sunset was two hours ago. There was nothing either of us could do but wait, fret, drink more sake, and hope for the best... ------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20:01 dcamera 489( 1142) 0 48 14.7 16.5 16.6 16.3 15.1 -- 1.26 21:04 dcamera 561( 1127) -21 55 14.6 14.9 15.6 14.8 14.6 -- 1.37 00:18 NICFPS 588( 1676) 262 36 13.1 13.1 13.8 13.1 12.9 MK-H 1.67 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:00 68 22 15 256 (WSW) 308 mstly cldy none 17:00 68 24 26 240 (WSW) 299 mstly cldy none 18:00 65 21 24 285 (WNW) 364 mstly cldy none 19:00 62 19 21 259 (W) 403 mstly cldy none 20:00 60 17 22 254 (WSW) 354 mstly cldy none 21:00 59 16 19 254 (WSW) 383 mstly cldy none 22:00 59 16 20 254 (WSW) 360 mstly cldy none 23:00 58 16 21 267 (W) 333 ptly cldy none 00:00 58 12 22 263 (W) 383 mstly clr none 01:00 57 14 18 265 (W) 381 ptly cldy none 02:00 53 25 4 351 (N) 711 mstly clr none 03:00 51 27 14 8 (N) 662 clear none 04:00 51 26 16 1 (N) 583 clear none 05:00 51 25 16 12 (NNE) 532 clear none 06:00 51 25 7 21 (NNE) 525 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: 1.2.4 Current TUI version: 2.6.0