APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY SDSS 2.5M OBSERVING LOG Thursday January 3, 2002 (MJD 52278) ---=== OBSERVING TEAM ===--- Pete Newman (swing) Steph Snedden Atsuko Nitta Kleinman Wating for actuator to fail: Wendell Jordan Jon Brinkman ---=== OBSERVING PLAN ===--- Science! ---=== OBSERVING SUMMARY ===--- No science done due to clouds. Actuator A did not fail. Wendell and Jon were here to catch the actuator fail in action, but it behaved itself. We tried stellar plate (plate 799) observing. Due to clouds any of the data we took are no good. We never managed to get all guide stars (5 of them) down the fiber for the first pointing. We got 4 guide stars, but that was not enough for the guider to converge and pull in the 5th star. Steph struggled trying to get all stars in for about 2 hours before giving up. If we need all 5 stars to get useful data, plate 799 is not scientifically observable at this time. If it is not necessary to get all stars down the fiber, then the instruction on how to observe the stellar plates are clear and easy to follow. ---=== OBSERVING LOG ===--- Steph combined the two pointing model data from last night, but since it gave worse RMS (2.2") than the 40point model (1.8"), we decided to implement the 40point model. Since all the early night plates are the stellar plate, we went to the sdssTest www site to read the instruction. We encountered error message saying the site was not available. We tried several times, every few minutes, but all we got was the error message. So we decided to just checkout the procedure instead of just viewing it on the www site. Pete almost tripped and went down the stairs to the lower enclosure when he bumped into a chain on the hatch on the south side. Normally, there is a chain on the north side only, but this afternoon, there was one on the south side. Pete tied the chain to one of the beam of the enclosure, next to the telephone. Note that there are only special plates that needs to be observed in photometric condition to be scientific useful. So although the sky was not photometric, we had to observe one of the special plates. We started with cartridge 9 plate 799. cart 9 plate 799 ----------------- The slew to the field got "too large to apply correction" in AZ. I tried to capture all messages on "too large to correct" in murmur log and put it in the problem section. Getting 5 guide stars in the fiber took a while. After getting 4 of them down the fiber, the fifth one came in and out. We first got 2 stars. Then did rotateAbout to get 3 stars. Manually centering (offset in RA, DEC, rotateAbout and scale change) got 4 stars and occasionally the 5th star (fiber 5 star), but the guider apparently could not converge on all 5 stars an will loose the 5th star. Steph tried VERY patiently and VERY hard for 2 hrs or so. One of the reasons why we have this difficulty might be because 4 (fiber 10, 11, 3, 8) of the 5 guide stars are in one half of the plate. After two hours of struggle, Steph decided that she will let the guider guide on 4 stars and see if they are stable. She chose stars in fiber 10, 11, 8 and 5 and gave up fiber 3 star. Fiber 10 is close to the center and fiber 11, 8, 5 makes a nice triangle around the plate with the plate center as the center of the triangle. BFW, due to the clouds, we could not use 1s integration for the guider as requested in the instruction (the instruction was for photometric condition anyway, so no surprise.) Unfortunately around ~3:42, we got more thicker clouds making it hard to see the guide stars. Few minutes later, we tried a 20s exposure and we found none of the guide stars. We had to find the fk5 star before going back to the field. Perhaps we just had a small thicker clouds where we were pointing at and we could have easily gotten the guide stars back if we were patient. We got stars in 10,11,8,5 back easily, so we decided to take data without worrying about fiber 5. The s/n plot in sos shows that we are not getting much data on the upper half of the plate -- is this because the plate is designed that way or because we never got fiber5 star?? When the third smear exposure of the 1st pointing readout, we noticed that we no longer could see the bright star in sp1 which was there in the previous exposures on the monitor. This could be because of the clouds, but also possible that without any guiding and doing 3 x 10min smear exposures, we no longer have the stars centered in the fibers by the time we take the third exposure. Perhaps we have to modify the procedure to recenter after each smear exposures. After the first pointing and the three smears requested were done, we did pointing 799B which requires only one guide star (fiber 2 star). We decided on this pointing because we wanted to observe bright stars -- thwith the clouds we did not think it was worth doing this excercise with dimm stars --- and also short exposures since we are just practicing this procedure. We started to get thicker clouds again around 5:05 when we started the smear exposure in this pointing. Next 799E. Then the final pointing for this plate, 799F (BD+21) -- the standard star for calibrations. This also requires one star for guiding. To us, it is amazing that we can get the star downt the fiber without having many guide stars to place the cartridge in the correct orientation. How is it done? When we pointed to BD+21, we could not find the star -- clouds? pointing problem? We don't know. We tried spiralPAttern. Just when we found the star in the spiralPattern image, we lost the relay server to the additinal fsaoImage spiralPattern starts up took the 30410 port. Since the exposures we are taking is short, we decided not to bother to grab the instrument back and continue. sos had many red messages complaingin about not having calibration frames to reduce data. Since each pointing is called seperate "plates", sos complains when it cannot find preCalib frames under each plates. The current sos also doesn't like exposrues less than 61s, so it complained on the exposures less than that. "decSmear" gave a oneline error message, sp1> decSmear 5.5 1.0 mcpPut: SYSTEM.STATUS 83.3864 -66.467430580278247 69.810922988634005 -66.467430580278247 69.810922988634005 0.0, 0.0, 0.000000 Setting up for the smears Opening Flat Field Screen, just in case mcpPut: ffs.open sp1 cameraNag {} t-g-sdss-2.apo.nmsu.edu 2400 sp2 cameraNag {} t-g-sdss-2.apo.nmsu.edu 2200 Flushing charge for 15 sec mcpPut: SYSTEM.STATUS appending BEGIN Finishing up decSmear, yippee Dropping at exit Dropping at exit Dropping at exit Dropping at exit appending END EXPOSURE TIME is: 1 sp1 cameraNag {} t-g-sdss-2.apo.nmsu.edu 2400 sp2 cameraNag {} t-g-sdss-2.apo.nmsu.edu 2200 sp1 camstat {} t-g-sdss-2.apo.nmsu.edu 2100 sp2 camstat {} t-g-sdss-2.apo.nmsu.edu 2200 1010122985 1010123000 Thu Jan 03 22:43:34 MST 2002: scheduling gangs2Unix transfers Thu Jan 03 22:43:34 MST 2002: finished with iccExec -riskyOn data -async sd1 re adoutBegin sp1 cameraStart {} t-g-sdss-2.apo.nmsu.edu 2100 sp2 cameraStart {} t-g-sdss-2.apo.nmsu.edu 2200 Waiting for read to finish Seq 12474 Exp 12474 Frame 12474 Do not schedule startFlushCharge sp1 200 Do not schedule startFlushCharge sp2 200 Error: can't read "deltara": no such variable This was rather painfully slow to observe just one plate. Especially, trying to get the guide stars in the fibers at the beginning of the night was painful. We need more guide stars to get solutions so that the guider can converge, or decide if we can live without all guide stars in the fibers. The instruction was clear and easy to follow. ~5:55, we then homed the actuator A,B,C for Wendell and Jon. The first homing went fine, but during the second homing, the TCC said it could not move because of the limit switch. Then the GALIL numbers jumped. After few minutes, the GALIL numbers got to the commanded values. The actuators all moved fine. cartridge 2 plate 768 ------------------------- We put this plate on since it is good for the rest of the night. With the thickening clouds and the moon, we did not think we could really get much data, but worth a try. Wendwll camped out by the telescope monitoring the actuator so that he can see what kind of signals come when things are working properly as well as find out when things start to go bad. Before we could get the guide stars centered, the clouds thickened and we could not see them any more. So we decided to slew the telescope around to try to make it fail. We closed due to clouds around 09:00 and never reopened. endNight ran all the way to the end successfully. ---=== IMAGING RUN SUMMARY ===--- Run Stripe Flavor Lambda Last Begin End Frame Comments ------------------------------------------------------------------ 2844 100 O ignore 171.47 171.47 48 ---=== IMAGING RUN DETAILS ===--- ---=== SKIPPY RESULTS ===--- Run Frame nFrames stars muErr muRms nuErr nuRms rot --------------------------------------------------------------- ---=== LTMATCH RESULTS ===--- Run Field nFields nGood rowMean rowSig colMean colSig rot --------------------------------------------------------------- ---=== SPECTROSCOPY DATA SUMMARY ===--- UT Exp Time flavor comment (S/N)^2 totals ========================================== b1 r1 b2 r2 23:26 12462 0.0 bias ----- sequence 12463, plate 799 ------- 04:11 12463 10.0 flat 04:13 12464 2.0 arc 04:29 12465 600.0 smear 04:45 12466 600.0 smear 04:58 12467 600.0 smear ----- sequence 12468, plate 3 ------- 05:08 12468 2.0 smear 05:10 12469 2.0 smear 05:12 12470 2.0 smear ----- sequence 12471, plate 4 ------- 05:19 12471 1.0 smear 05:22 12472 1.0 smear 05:24 12473 1.0 smear ----- sequence 12474, plate 0 ------- 05:44 12474 1.0 smear ---=== TELESCOPE OFFSETS AND SCALE I ===--- Time Instrument getclock Az Alt Rot Scale ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 21:16 9 799 1010117792 0.010319 0.001839 0.035334 1.000030 22:05 9 799B 1010120711 0.007395 0.002627 0.035334 1.000030 22:38 9 799F(BD+21) 1010122720 0.018677 -0.000248 0.035334 1.000030 23:34 2 768 1010126091 0.002163 0.000435 -0.006176 1.000030 ---=== TELESCOPE OFFSETS AND SCALE II ===--- ---=== DATA TAPE SUMMARY ===--- Goes: JL Stays: JL ---=== FOCUS LOG ===--- setmir piston Temp Wind Time Inst scale M1 M2 Foc Az Alt (C) MPH Dir filt fwhm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 21:16 9 799 1.00003 -296 823 -50 -27 79.9 1.8 13 286 1.7 ---=== WEATHER LOG ===--- Wind Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust DIMM Sky 16:10 36 18 9 14 (NNE) 17 - 16:42 35 16 6 0 (N) 17 - 17:14 35 15 9 2 (N) 14 - 17:46 34 18 7 352 (NNW) 17 - 18:19 32 18 7 338 (NNW) 9 - 18:52 34 14 6 307 (NW) 16 - 19:23 35 18 9 300 (WNW) 11 - 19:55 35 25 5 278 (W) 12 - 20:26 35 25 9 267 (W) 13 - 20:56 35 25 13 279 (W) 20 - 21:28 34 27 10 271 (W) 13 - 21:58 34 27 12 278 (W) 12 - 22:29 35 27 9 267 (W) 6 - 23:00 35 26 15 272 (W) 8 - 23:32 35 26 13 274 (W) 12 - 00:04 35 25 6 264 (W) 16 - 00:36 34 24 8 266 (W) 15 - 01:09 35 21 9 255 (WSW) 10 - 01:39 34 15 13 254 (WSW) 12 - 02:10 34 11 15 243 (WSW) 26 - 02:41 34 14 11 266 (W) 33 - 03:12 33 11 9 262 (W) 66 - 03:43 33 14 9 266 (W) 63 - 04:13 32 15 11 264 (W) 108 - ---=== TELESCOPE STATUS ===--- Time in UT: Fans on doors open: 23:45 Enclosure off: 00:40 Enclosure on: 09:00 Fans off dorrs closed: 11:30 Telescope @stow with cartridge 2 Dewars: imager@100.1 spectro@98 ---=== SOFTWARE USED ===--- IOP/SOP: v3_64_3a Watcher: v2_13_2 MCP: v5_8_6 TPM: v2_4_5 AstroDa: v14_40 TCC: 2.5.5 sdssProcedures: 1_37 ---=== MIRROR NUMBERS ===--- PRIMARY: -------- Scale: 1.000000 MIGS TONIGHT NOMINAL Axial A 0.0730 0.0750 Axial B 0.8030 0.8020 Axial C 0.0720 0.0710 Trans D -1.4940 -1.4860 Lateral E 1.8290 1.8540 Lateral F 1.4080 1.4240 GALILS Commanded: 5400. -3700. 900. -200. 31550. 30650. Actual: 5377. -3699. 923. -208. 31535. 30647. SETMIR VALUES PriDesOrient: 0.00 -11.80 23.00 1256.90 642.10 PriOrient: 0.00 -12.16 22.81 1257.41 642.19 SECONDARY: ---------- Focus: 0.00 Air Temp.: 2.0 Alt.: 29.999996 MIGS TONIGHT NOMINAL Axial A 1.5470 1.5500 Axial B 1.2320 1.2260 Axial C 1.2460 1.2480 Trans D 0.2240 0.2320 GALILS Commanded: 1575806. 1542427. 1553709. -10400. -9750. Actual: 1599620. 1565254. 1586350. -10395. -9766. SETMIR VALUES SecDesOrient: 1257.00 -3.40 -10.00 0.00 133.82 SecOrient: 1256.20 -3.31 -10.86 -0.80 133.64 ---=== PROBLEMS IN DETAIL ===--- Error message when trying to access the sdssTest procedures (trying to get to the stellar plate instruction). Error Error: $CVSROOT not found! The server on which the CVS tree lives is probably down. Please try again in a few minutes. CVSweb by AxisDTime error in watcher: ------------------------------- AxisDTime:alt (0.9: Jan 03 22:33:04 MST) Too large to correct fiducial crossing messages ------------------------------------------------- Jan 03 18:01:22 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_I_trcInfo Applying correction -149796 to altitude Jan 03 18:01:22 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_E_trcErr correction for altitude -149796 is too large Jan 03 18:01:22 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_I_trcInfo Not disabling MS.ON; error -149796 (max allowed: 600) Jan 03 18:07:36 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_I_trcInfo Applying correction -149796 to altitude Jan 03 18:07:36 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_E_trcErr correction for altitude -149796 is too large Jan 03 18:07:36 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_I_trcInfo Not disabling MS.ON; error -149796 (max allowed: 600) Jan 03 18:09:08 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_I_trcInfo alt fiducial 46.36 deg Jan 03 18:09:08 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_I_trcInfo err = 120 poserr = 149916 ticks Jan 03 18:09:08 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_I_trcInfo Applying correction -149916 to altitude Jan 03 18:09:08 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_E_trcErr correction for altitude -149916 is too large Jan 03 18:09:08 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_I_trcInfo Not disabling MS.ON; error -149916 (max allowed: 600) We saw Watcher error similar to the following many times tonight --------------------------------------------------------------------- rotator (addoffset: Max accl. for rotator exceeded: -296/1000 (Jan 03 20:26:01): Jan 03 20:26:22 MST ) azimuth (addoffset: Max accl. for azimuth exceeded: 272/1000 (Jan 03 22:18:59): Jan 03 22:19:06 MST ) Watcher errors that we don't remember what it means: ------------------------------------------------------ PrimDesMountOutOfRange="TTTFFF":: (Jan 04 00:15:58 MST) Text="pointing error probe does not exist:check inst data": (Jan 03 20:56:04 MST)