Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20210120 From: decolib@apo.nmsu.edu Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2021 12:55:45 +0000 (UTC) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Wednesday, January 20, 2021 PROG PI ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) -------------------------------------------------------------------- UW02 Z.Ivezic P.Yoachim UW06 Y.Notsu Y.Notsu UW06 Y.Notsu Y.Notsu WY01 M.Brotherton J.McLane ACTUAL PROG INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- UW02 ARCTIC --:-- --:-- UW06 ECHELLE 22:11 23:00 UW06 ECHELLE --:-- --:-- WY01 TSPEC --:-- --:-- PROG SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS NOT USED I/ROW/DTN START FINISH D B D B D B D B ----------------------------------------------------------------- UW02/R 17:34 20:34 0 3.0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 UW06/R 20:34 00:10 0 2.8 0 0 0.0 0.8 0 0 UW06/R 00:10 05:15 4.4 0.7 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 WY01/R 05:15 06:55 1.7 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: D.DeColibus Humidity >90% in the afternoon and early evening. The humidity started to drop to borderline "acceptable" conditions by around 19:30 and the clouds thinned out. An abundance of caution regarding nearby radar returns kept us closed. After monitoring conditions for a couple hours and consulting with the 2.5m observers, we decided to open for UW06 around 22:00 and try to get some data. Because we can't have nice things, the clouds got much thicker almost immediately and the data we did get ended up being pretty much useless. After less than an hour, UW06 gave up and we closed at 23:00. The thick clouds persisted for the rest of the night, and we started getting light rain around 02:30. By 04:00, it had transitioned to a light snow and humidity was back into the red. We did not open at all during B half. No significant snow accumulation occurred overnight, but since snow is forecast during the daylight hours, I parked the dome facing south just in case. When I slewed to park south and close up for the night, the altitude drive threw repeated motion errors; see my addition to PR #1998, as I suspect it is related to the issue Russet reported with the altitude drive brake. The telescope is still parked facing south and at 10 degrees altitude. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- FAILURE MODE TIME PROG INSTR TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp Strc Prim Sec Air filt FWHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22:18 ecamera 602( -498) 40 54 1.8 1.0 1.8 1.4 1.8 Clear 1.43 Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:00 31 30 5 260 (W) mstly cldy humid 17:00 29 26 11 263 (W) ptly cldy humid 18:00 30 26 5 275 (W) ptly cldy humid 19:00 30 22 1 252 (WSW) ptly cldy humid 20:00 33 23 7 262 (W) ptly cldy none 21:00 32 23 8 264 (W) 122 ptly cldy none 22:00 37 14 11 274 (W) 166 mstly cldy none 23:00 35 17 9 264 (W) 136 cloudy none 00:00 35 15 9 264 (W) 186 cloudy none 01:00 36 14 10 258 (WSW) 222 cloudy none 02:00 37 18 13 242 (WSW) 323 cloudy lt rain 03:00 35 25 16 239 (WSW) 164 cloudy lt snow 04:00 34 32 12 264 (W) cloudy humid 05:00 34 31 11 270 (W) cloudy humid 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 SOFTWARE ---------- Current TCC version: 1.4.2 Current HUB version: v20171231_01 Current TUI version: 2.6.0