APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY SDSS 2.5M OBSERVING LOG Saturday December 27, 2003 (MJD 53001) ---=== OBSERVING TEAM ===--- Night: Steph Snedden, Pete Newman Support: Wendell Jordan (on site and by phone), Jon Brinkmann (phone), French Leger (phone) ---=== OBSERVING PLAN ===--- Science. ---=== OBSERVING SUMMARY ===--- One plate completed (1499), then operations stopped by multiple failures due to cold weather. ---=== OBSERVING LOG ===--- Swing shift: Wendell CO2-cleaned the primary and secondary mirrors and the common corrector lens following last night's dust event. He reported that the surfaces did not look very dusty, but we are glad to have had them cleaned if only as a precaution this early in the aluminizing year. We found the lid to the IR sky camera frozen down, probably as a result of being stowed in humid conditions last night. It freed easily with a few minutes of hot air from a heat gun, but isn't there supposed to be a set of heaters around the seal to prevent this? As it turned out, this was the first of many cold-related problems. Night: Photometric but moony at sunset, so we start with spectroscopy. Just after sunset, the ambient temperature was already down to -8C and falling, so we were alert for low-temperature hardware and wetware problems tonight (and the forecast for tomorrow night is colder still). Despite ventillating the enclosure for an hour before sunset, the primary was still ~3K warmer than ambient at sunset, which we think contributed to poor measured FWHM guider images at the start. We did not check the spectrographs' focus before starting, but current values proved good initially. Guide stars acquired on gotoField unless noted. Observing sequence: 00:41Z Plate 1499, cartridge 2. Done in 5 exposures, 6300 s. Merged program requiring standard survey S/N. FK5 used to center during twilight. SoS reported large sky-subtracted-sky residuals for r1 from the science exposures, indicative of drift in the Wsigma measurement, supported by weak S/N in r1 and confirmed by the postCalib arc being out of tolerance. We decided to finish the plate on the current spectrograph focus, then adjust. See end of log for details of our attempts at focus adjustments, where we ran into problems. See problems section #2 for details of what the cold did. We logged this time first as a spectrograph problem, and also as an "Other weather" problem. At this point, we discussed the situation with French and Wendell. They determined that they would be unable to resolve the problems to get us back on the sky tonight. We invoked PR 3348 (opened on 2002/3/3 as critical/high and still open) which noted that unless cold-weather problems with the spectrographs were solved, Tamb = -10C should be a closure condition. We closed around 06:35Z and did not reopen. At 09:10Z, the rain sensor sounded as ice formed in clear air and Tamb approached -15 C. endNight completed. ---=== IMAGING RUN SUMMARY ===--- Run Time Stripe Lambda Last Flavor Comments Start End Begin End Frame ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4348 22:47Z 23:02Z 100 O 147.02 150.69 38 ignore doghouse bias ---=== IMAGING RUN DETAILS ===--- ---=== SKIPPY RESULTS ===--- Run Frame nFrames stars muErr muRms nuErr nuRms rot az el --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---=== LTMATCH RESULTS ===--- Run Field nFields alt az nGood rowMean rowSig colMean colSig rot ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---=== SPECTROSCOPY DATA SUMMARY ===--- Summary Checked (y/n): y QA Procedures Done (y/n): n UT Exp Time flavor comment (S/N)^2 totals ========================================== b1 r1 b2 r2 ----- sequence 24284, plate -9999 ------- 22:43Z 24284 0.0 bias Ignore ----- sequence 24285, plate 1499 ------- 23.3 17.5 32.5 30.5 DONE 01:14 24285 10.0 flat 01:17 24286 2.0 arc 01:40 24287 900.1 target 02:03 24288 1200.1 target 02:27 24289 1200.1 target 02:55 24290 1500.1 target 02:59 24291 10.0 flat 03:01 24292 2.0 arc 03:32 24293 1500.1 target 03:36 24294 2.1 arc Ignore - Hartmann test 03:39 24295 2.1 arc Ignore - Hartmann test 03:50 24296 2.1 arc Ignore - Hartmann test 03:52 24297 2.1 arc Ignore - Hartmann test ----- sequence 24298, plate 1565 ------- 04:27 24298 10.0 flat Ignore - focus tests 04:30 24299 2.0 arc Ignore - focus tests 04:50 24300 10.0 flat Ignore - focus tests 04:52 24301 2.0 arc Ignore - focus tests 05:02 24302 10.0 flat Ignore - focus tests 05:21 24303 2.0 arc Ignore - focus tests ---=== TELESCOPE OFFSETS AND SCALE I ===--- Time Instrument Az Alt Rot Scale pos offset pos offset pos offset ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 01:23Z 2 1499 13.03 0.0039 56.53 -0.0036 190.87 0.0072 0.999900 ---=== DATA TAPE SUMMARY ===--- Goes: JL7146 Stays: JL7147 ---=== FOCUS LOG ===--- setmir piston Temp Wind Time Inst scale M1 M2 Foc Az Alt (C) MPH Dir filt fwhm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 01:24Z 2 1499 0.99990 988 2829 850 13 56.6 -9.2 23 279 BG39 2.1 ---=== WEATHER LOG ===--- Wind Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust DIMM Sky 00:03Z 18 -3 18 260 (W) 1177 - Clear 00:35Z 16 -2 18 260 (W) 850 - " 01:08Z 16 -1 26 296 (WNW) 659 - " 01:40Z 15 0 23 271 (W) 701 - " 02:12Z 14 0 18 275 (W) 663 - Occasional clouds 02:45Z 13 1 21 289 (WNW) 667 - " 03:17Z 13 2 27 287 (WNW) 606 - " 03:47Z 12 2 20 296 (WNW) 687 - " 04:19Z 12 2 17 295 (WNW) 819 - " 04:49Z 11 2 13 275 (W) 689 - " 05:21Z 11 2 10 280 (W) 802 - " 05:54Z 11 2 20 298 (WNW) 732 - " 06:26Z 10 2 23 299 (WNW) 627 - " 06:58Z 10 2 21 296 (WNW) 678 - " 07:31Z 10 1 15 303 (WNW) 552 - " 08:03Z 9 1 13 331 (NNW) 545 - 08:35Z 7 2 9 335 (NNW) 660 - 09:07Z 7 5 17 354 (NNW) 409 - 09:38Z 6 1 8 348 (NNW) 265 - ---=== TELESCOPE STATUS ===--- 23:10Z Doors open, fans on. 00:25Z Enclosure off. 06:35Z Enclosure on, fans off, louvres closed: cold-weather problems. No interlocks bypassed. Status at 09:54Z: Telescope stowed at: 30 deg altitude Instrument mounted: Cartridge 3 Counterweights at: 270 Autofill systems: On 180L LN2 dewar scales: Spectro 247 lb, 24 psi Imager 133 lb, 17 psi The altitude brake was left enabled. ---=== SOFTWARE USED ===--- IOP/SOP: v3_124_0 Watcher: v2_24_0 MCP: v5_23_0 TPM: tpm_v2_36_0 AstroDa: v14_47 TCC: TCC 2.7.1 July 22 2003 sdssProcedures: v1_81 SoS: v4_10_7 hoggPT: v1_6_9 plate-mapper: v4_3_1 ---=== MIRROR NUMBERS ===--- PRIMARY: -------- Scale: 1.000000 MIGS TONIGHT NOMINAL Axial A 0.5430 0.5420 Axial B 0.6390 0.6390 Axial C 1.0910 1.0900 Trans D -8.4550 -8.4610 Lateral E 10.8839 10.8966 Lateral F 10.8458 10.8712 GALILS Commanded: 4600. -2850. 850. -9250. 18400. 17850. Actual: 4600. -2850. 850. -9250. 18400. 17850. SETMIR VALUES PriDesOrient: 0.00 0.00 15.20 829.90 1.60 PriOrient: 0.00 0.00 14.91 830.49 3.19 SECONDARY: ---------- Focus: 0.00 Air Temp.: -7.6 Alt.: 30.385997 MIGS TONIGHT NOMINAL Axial A 1.5110 1.5160 Axial B 1.1120 1.1180 Axial C 1.1190 1.1210 Trans D -0.0020 -0.0050 GALILS Commanded: 1628644. 1548115. 1574458. -3900. -8750. Actual: 1628650. 1548200. 1574500. -3900. -8750. SETMIR VALUES SecDesOrient: 1257.00 0.00 -25.00 0.00 146.27 SecOrient: 1256.97 0.00 -25.02 0.25 146.56 ---=== PROBLEMS IN DETAIL ===--- Problem 1 - DIMM monitor ------------------------ While trying to run the DIMM tonight, we found that the images displayed in the VNC duplicate monitor in the control room showed the stars to be clearly out of focus, often appearing as distinct donuts. We believe this may have been a partial cause of the excessly large seeing FWHM reported by the DIMM software. However, when we went to the DIMM itself to adjust the focus, we found the display screen at the telescope to be quite illegible, apparently suffering some kind of interlace error that scrambled the display horizontally. This made it impossible to use that display to adjust focus. We will try rebooting the display tomorrow, but this might also be a cold weather problem. Problem 2 - Cold weather problems --------------------------------- We hit repeated problems with the sp1 actuators losing track of their positions. See the focus adjustment section below for details, but note this may well be a cold-weather problem, as we had Tamb = -11.2 C during these adjustments. We then had problems with spectro exposures failing. We traced this to an air failure in sp1, with mechSend s reporting "Air Off". We checked the sp1 mechanicals control box and heard a loud air hiss from the vicinity of the control valves. The pressure gauge on the sp1 box was reading ~55 psi, and the site air supply pressure gauge in the lower enclosure wasd reading 80 psi, both (we believe) normal. This is very reminicent of one of the many failures reported on 2002/3/2 (MJD 52336) when the temperature was also -12C (see PR 3348). (Hey! That was also a night when Steph and Pete were observing!) While preparing to stow after the sp1 failure, the azimuth brake refused to release until we toggled the air-line valve on the brake on/off control a few times. This was around 06:30Z, with Tamb = -11.5C We also had the DIMM cover fail to move under air control, but we were able to hand-crank it closed. The grease on the altitude locking pin was decidedly viscous making it difficult to operate. At 07:10Z, Russet McMillan reported that the 3.5m was also having air-related problems (instrument port eyelids not closing properly), as well as multiple other cold-related problems which caused them to abandon operations. ---=== SPECTROGRAPH FOCUS ADJUSTMENT ===--- During the initial focus adjustments around 03:35Z, sp1 actuator A lost track of its position, returning zero, and actuator B did not move as far as it was commanded. This resulted in the sp1 Xmin moving out of tolerance for both cameras. At the time of adjustment, Tamb = -10.8 C. Previous adjustments (MJD 53000) was at Tamb=+4.8 C. First, following the IDL collimate procedure required the following total motion to bring the cameras into focus. sp1> mechPiston -9047 sp2> mechPiston -7296 However, we then had to follow the spectrograph monthly check-out procedure to bring the images onto the camera. During a tilt move of 200 units, actuator B failed to move as commanded and actuator C then reset its position to zero, too! sp1> mechMoveColl -200 -200 200 goSpecFocus2003-12-28 04:45:33Z: Original command was !mb-200! 2003-12-28 04:45:34Z: expected reply was !mb-200 OK ! motor b: Mechanicals did not respond correctly; response was mb-200 Error: problem with motors (see previous error message) Original motor positions: {a -2606} {b -10739} {c 1000} Current motor positions: {a -2805} {b -10938} {c 0} We took another set of preCalibs to see where we were. We now had Xmax out of tolerance (I almost wrote Xmas!). At the same time, we ran into what we believe are shutter problems, when exposures were not timed correctly causing goStare to fail, e.g for exposures after #24303. The shutter motion times repotrted by "mechSend s" were typically: sp1 open 0.79 s close 0.60 s sp2 open 0.75 s close 0.67 s At this point, we gave up due to the cold-related problems listed above. The sp1 collimator is almost certainly in an incorrect position, so it will be necessary to adjust it once the mechanicals problem is addressed.