Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20251024 From: mcmillan@apo.nmsu.edu Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2025 13:18:16 +0000 (UTC) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Friday, October 24, 2025 PROG PI ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) -------------------------------------------------------------------- NM03 T.McQuaid T.McQuaid NM05 K.Sanderson K.Sanderson,M.Prescott ON-SKY PROG INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- NM03 ECHELLE 18:43 00:09 NM05 ARCTIC 02:16 06L57 PROG SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS NOT USED I/ROW/DTN START FINISH D B D B D B D B ----------------------------------------------------------------- NM03/R 18:28 01:10 1.0 0 0 0 4.0 1.7 0 0 NM05/R 01:10 07:07 1.1 0 0.3 0 4.5 0.0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: R.McMillan At the start of the night, it was beautifully clear with good seeing. But some clouds and radar echoes were approaching. For hours, the clouds on the satellite and the radar blips kept disappearing just as they reached Alamogordo. But eventually some clouds did move over APO with some associated radar, so I closed. About an hour later there were just a few sprinkles on the IRSC, then the clouds and radar moved away and we were able to open. Just before morning twilight, the NA2 rotator had a communication failure which stopped tracking on all axes. I accidentally restarted the altitude controller first instead of the rotator controller, then after restarting the correct controller I also needed to restart TCC to get the commumincations flowing again. Fortunately the observers were able to get their last standard before the sky got too bright, and they also got morning twilight flats. ------- FAILURE LOG ------- FAILURE MODE TIME PROG INSTR TI/SHU START FINISH DESCRIPTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NM05 R T/H 05:57 06:16 rotator stopped communicating ---------------- FOCUS LOG --------------- Time Instrument Focus Az El Temp Strc Prim Sec Air filt FWHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18:49 ecamera 441( -51) 60 60 7.1 8.7 8.8 8.1 7.1 ND3 0.88 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:00 51 23 12 261 (W) 583 mstly clr none 17:00 49 19 18 272 (W) 627 mstly clr none 18:00 47 20 14 293 (WNW) 633 clear none 19:00 45 19 9 278 (W) 648 clear none 20:00 44 18 10 264 (W) 630 mstly clr none 21:00 43 21 10 232 (SW) 678 clear none 22:00 43 24 6 262 (W) 662 clear none 23:00 41 23 5 350 (N) 659 clear none 00:00 41 25 16 9 (N) 565 ptly cldy none 01:00 42 27 12 352 (N) 384 mstly cldy lt rain 02:00 40 27 13 5 (N) 301 mstly clr none 03:00 38 27 14 11 (N) 313 clear none 04:00 39 27 18 12 (NNE) 290 clear none 05:00 38 28 18 23 (NNE) 283 clear none 06:00 38 29 18 358 (N) 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 SOFTWARE ---------- Current TCC version: 1.4.2 Current HUB version: v20171231_01 Current TUI version: 3.1.8