Subject: 3.5m Night Log 20250604 From: dembicky@apo.nmsu.edu Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2025 11:59:48 +0000 (UTC) Apache Point Observatory 3.5m Telescope Night Log Wednesday, June 04, 2025 PROG PI ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) -------------------------------------------------------------------- EN01 B.Ketzeback J.Dembicky, R.McMillan NM02 C.Gray C.Gray EN01 B.Ketzeback J.Dembicky, R.McMillan NM02 C.Gray C.Gray ON-SKY PROG INSTRUMENT START FINISH -------------------------------------------------------------------- EN01 ARCTIC 20:17 22:00 NM02 ECHELLE 22:00 23:06 EN01 ARCTIC 23:06 00:00 NM02 ECHELLE 04:46 05:46 PROG SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS NOT USED I/ROW/DTN START FINISH D B D B D B D B ----------------------------------------------------------------- EN01/W 20:17 22:00 0 0 0 0 0.0 1.7 0 0 NM02/R/D 22:00 23:06 0 0 0 0 0.0 1.1 0 0 EN01/W 23:06 04:46 0 0 0 0 2.3 3.4 0 0 NM02/R/D 04:46 05:46 0 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 note: scheduled times listed include instrument change time ------------- ACTIVITY LOG -------------- Observing Specialist: J.Dembicky Tasks for night Zero NA2 rotator - Done Throughput (if clear) - Done Pointing Model - Done Continue AGILE rotator tests (closed dome) Check/set ref focus points to around +300 for all instruments NA2 zero'ed -0.108 Continued AGILE rotator testing. -------------------------------- Low Alt ~20-30 deg alt I tested rotation (mount) from -180 to +180 @22.5 deg alt (tracking), no problems I slewed to Az 64.8 Alt 19.4 rot 30 object (Rot 35.1) @ 01:48, I let track for 10 mins. rotator going CCW (negative) I noticed a difference in angle after about 6 mins of the commanded and actual position of rotator. about 0.5 deg. 01:58 AZ 63.0 , Alt 21.4 , Rot 34.9 (34.1) Rotator seemed to get stuck at 35.0 deg, I decided to let it continue and see where it eventually failed. 02:13 AZ 60.2, Alt 24.2, Rot 35.0 (32.5), tracking, CCW, motion error 2025-06-05 02:14:32 .tcc.0 0 tcc w BadRotStatus; RotStat=34.962976,0.000130,5255806471.95000,0x00006001; RotDTime=0.17 2025-06-05 02:14:32 .tcc.0 0 tcc i TCCPos=60.299543,24.216120,32.454118; AxePos=60.299534,24.215774,34.962998; ObjInstAng=30.00000000,0.00000000,5255804921.3353662; SpiderInstAng=77.61206418,-0.00190745,5255806478.3897648 I gave the telescope to Russet to get sky flats for throughput and take some throughput data. Candace next used the Echelle for some Mars observations. Russet then took some more throughput measurements. I started a 100 point pointing model after at around 00:00 which finished a little after 03:00. During pointing model I got a motion error on Alt axis during a slew. 2025-06-05 07:52:50 .tcc.0 0 tcc w BadAltStatus; AltStat=60.881419,0.000040,5255826770.65000,0x0000e001; AltDTime=0.11 2025-06-05 07:52:50 .tcc.0 0 tcc i TCCPos=264.868079,43.345731,0.000000; AxePos=243.898802,60.881424,-0.002333; ObjInstAng=115.14368090,0.00305018,5255826791.5871229; SpiderInstAng=47.39989334,0.00348943,5255826791.5871229 Axis init of the alt axis fixed it. Star 54(53?) was bad (no star but it ID something blank instead), this was the slew after the motion error. Remove this star from the dataset. The rain sensor went off at 02:24 under clear skies. Humidity had risen and the dust was just over the 4K limit (but I really wanted to get the pointing model completed tonight). It definitely was not any sort of rain as it was clear outside. It took me a while to figure out how to remove the proper "bad" points (3 total) but I eventually figured it out. The printer jammed on me (again) when I tried to print the results. I implemented the new model, spot checked with NA2 and Echelle and all looked good. I handed the telescope back over to Candace at around 04:40 to do some Venus observations to finish the night. ------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20:57 arctic 254( 1434) 75 58 14.8 16.5 16.4 16.1 15.2 SDSS_r 0.89 22:09 ecamera 379( 390) -54 67 15.3 15.2 15.6 15.0 15.2 ND1 0.94 00:15 guider 288( 1395) 18 66 12.6 14.0 14.6 13.7 13.9 Clear 1.30 04:41 ecamera 356( 193) 82 73 10.9 11.5 12.4 11.3 11.6 ND2 1.3 ------------- WEATHER LOG ---------------- Wind Precip.or Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust Sky Conditions ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:00 69 40 21 200 (SSW) 1537 ptly cldy none 17:00 65 43 20 191 (S) 1634 ptly cldy none 18:00 65 40 14 266 (W) 1988 ptly cldy none 19:00 62 38 21 223 (SW) 2181 mstly clr none 20:00 60 38 17 209 (SSW) 2167 clear none 21:00 59 36 16 221 (SW) 2127 clear none 22:00 60 36 12 228 (SW) 2194 clear none 23:00 59 35 8 206 (SSW) 2388 clear none 00:00 53 39 6 191 (S) 2682 clear none 01:00 57 33 7 198 (SSW) 2958 clear none 02:00 55 32 10 184 (S) 3650 clear dust 03:00 55 32 6 188 (S) 3286 clear none 04:00 54 31 9 210 (SSW) 2775 clear none 05:00 53 31 7 192 (SSW) 2430 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