APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY SDSS 2.5M OBSERVING LOG Saturday December 8, 2001 (MJD 52252) ---=== OBSERVING TEAM ===--- Swing: Atsuko Nitta Kleinman (APO) Night: Mike Harvanek, Pete Newman (APO) Support: French Leger (FNAL), Russell Owen (U.Washington, by phone) ---=== OBSERVING PLAN ===--- Science: Imaging if conditions allow, otherwise spectroscopy. ---=== OBSERVING SUMMARY ===--- 2 plates completed (767, 567) plus good data on 2 more (724, 557). 5.5 hours lost to a (different) problem with secondary mirror actuator A. ---=== OBSERVING LOG ===--- Photometric from sunset (only clouds seen are below 3deg alt over Mexico), but the clouds passing before sunset were coming form the east, so we start with a spectro cartridge to assess the seeing before deciding if imaging is possible. This proved a good decision, as initial seeing had FWHM ~ 3 arcsec. After a "red monster" warning from SoS on the first plate, we taped over the errant north rail stop light (PR2963 submitted last night) to see if that would help. However, we continued to see the error in some later exposures. On setting up for the second plate, we lost guide stars during a scale change which we traced to the secondary actuator A position being way off. See problems section #1 for the numbers. Called French. Tried homing the secondary. First two attempts showed no motion on A, then A moved (but slowly). French inspected the actuators finding nothing obviously amiss. Called Russell, and after trying a variety of moves concluded that A is running, but running slow and stopping short of its commanded position. This prevented us from working, as every time the collimation process or focus or scale change, we lose guide stars. French and Mike removed and dismantled the actuator A motor, finding it hard to turn and also finding a possible bad connector in the connection to the stepper motor so that it may have been driving on less than its full complement of poles. On reassembly, the motor was once more running fine and gave no further trouble. As last night (MJD 52251), we saw repeated instances of large fiducial errors on rotator and azimuth axes during the slews to instrument change. See problems section #2 for examples. Each required manual intervention to re-cross and accept a fiducial position. This was at ambient temperatures between -2C and -6C. The sky remained photometric all night but seeing was >= 1.7 arcsec. Observing sequence: UT 01:20 Plate 724, cartridge 3. Not done in 2 exposures, but good data. Seeing 3+ arcsec kept S/N rate low. Stopped when we ran to the end of the design time for the plate. SoS was slow in reducing the second science exposure, recommending postCalibs after we had already started instrument change. This has occured several times recently, so we raised a change request (PR#2965) to get a hardware upgrade for SoS to be able to reduce all four cameras in parallel instead of two at a time. 02:40 Plate 693, cartridge 6. Mounted but no data. See notes above on secondary actuator failure. 05:52 Plate 412, cartridge 9. Mounted during secondary actuator debugging but no data. 08:08 Plate 767, cartridge 2. Done in 4 exposures. Stars found on gotoField, and seeing much improved. SoS reported only 13 lines from the preCalibs arc in camera b1, so an additional arc was taken after the first science exposure. This also reported only 13 lines in b2, as did the postCalib arc. The next plate showed 16 lines in b1. Is this a cartridge problem? SoS also reported many 'red monster' sections in camera r1, which had low S/N. 10:17 Plate 567, cartridge 8. Done in 3 exposures. Stars found on gotoField despite uncorrected fiducial errors on azimuth and rotator (see above and problems section #2). 12:06 Plate 557, cartridge 7. Not done in one exposure, but good data and smear taken. fk5 star required after resetting the fiducials and clearing offsets. ---=== IMAGING RUN SUMMARY ===--- Run Stripe Flavor Lambda Last Begin End Frame Comments ------------------------------------------------------------------ 2761 100 O bias 123.76 127.30 38 IGNORE doghouse bias 2762 100 O ignore 134.05 139.24 49 doghouse bias ---=== 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 ----- sequence 12126, plate -9999 ------- 23:11 12126 0.0 bias ----- sequence 12127, plate 724 ------- 9.6 6.0 8.3 4.2 01:17 12127 10.0 flat 01:19 12128 2.0 arc 01:59 12129 1501.0 target 02:27 12130 1503.0 target 02:34 12131 240.0 smear ----- sequence 12132, plate 767 ------- 24.5 14.5 35.1 25.8 DONE 08:18 12132 10.0 flat 08:20 12133 2.0 arc 08:45 12134 1201.0 target 08:47 12135 2.0 arc 09:11 12136 1201.0 target 09:33 12137 1200.0 target 09:56 12138 1201.0 target 10:02 12139 240.0 smear 10:05 12140 10.0 flat 10:08 12141 2.0 arc ----- sequence 12142, plate 567 ------- 18.7 14.9 18.9 19.3 DONE 10:28 12142 10.0 flat 10:30 12143 2.0 arc 10:54 12144 1201.0 target 11:22 12145 1502.0 target 11:47 12146 1322.0 target 11:54 12147 240.0 smear ----- sequence 12148, plate 557 ------- 8.1 6.3 7.6 7.2 12:19 12148 10.0 flat 12:22 12149 2.0 arc 12:45 12150 1204.0 target 12:52 12151 240.0 smear ---=== TELESCOPE OFFSETS AND SCALE I ===--- Time Instrument getclock Az Alt Rot Scale ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 18:41 3 758 1007862118 0.003070 0.000470 -0.004056 0.999630 01:32 2 767 1007886724 0.004688 -0.001220 -0.019052 0.999930 05:29 7 557 1007900988 -0.004633 0.003398 0.000000 1.000030 ---=== TELESCOPE OFFSETS AND SCALE II ===--- ---=== DATA TAPE SUMMARY ===--- Goes: JL4739 Stays: JL4740 ---=== FOCUS LOG ===--- setmir piston Temp Wind Time Inst scale M1 M2 Foc Az Alt (C) MPH Dir filt fwhm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 18:41 3 758 0.99963 3653 4244 25 -19 45.9 -5.3 5 31 spec 3.0 19:26 3 758 0.99963 3653 4259 25 -34 41.6 -5.6 3 23 spec 2.7 01:32 2 767 0.99993 690 1790 50 135 54.4 -3.7 7 84 spec 1.7 02:41 2 767 0.99993 690 1765 50 144 64.1 -3.8 7 87 spec 1.5 03:34 8 567 1.00003 -295 933 25 16 59.5 -3.9 7 90 spec 1.9 05:29 7 557 1.00003 -295 872 -25 196 64.5 -2.8 0 145 spec 1.7 ---=== WEATHER LOG ===--- Wind Time Temp F Dewp F MPH Direction Dust DIMM Sky 15:34 27 10 6 245 (WSW) 260 - Part cloudy 16:07 27 10 3 257 (WSW) 235 - " 16:39 24 9 5 264 (W) 184 - " 17:11 22 9 1 257 (WSW) 167 - Clear 17:41 22 10 4 0 (N) 188 - " 18:11 21 10 1 1 (N) 223 - " 18:43 22 9 0 109 (ESE) 197 - " 19:16 22 9 1 51 (NE) 222 - " 19:48 22 8 4 29 (NNE) 180 - " 20:20 21 8 1 88 (E) 168 - " 20:53 20 9 1 346 (NNW) 169 - " 21:23 20 9 7 358 (NNW) 155 - " 21:54 21 3 14 36 (NE) 264 - " 22:24 23 -16 11 41 (NE) 76 - " 22:58 20 4 13 17 (NNE) 372 - " 23:28 21 4 13 35 (NE) 118 - " 23:58 21 1 11 33 (NNE) 129 - " 00:28 23 -19 14 53 (NE) 65 - " 00:59 24 -24 9 56 (NE) 72 - " 01:29 25 -28 8 80 (E) 81 - " 01:59 25 -32 6 77 (ENE) 72 - " 02:32 25 -33 8 79 (E) 78 - " 03:03 25 -33 5 93 (E) 67 - " 03:34 25 -33 6 89 (E) 80 - " 04:04 26 -34 0 169 (S) 67 - " 04:36 25 -34 0 111 (ESE) 65 - " 05:10 26 -33 0 152 (SSE) 59 - " 05:41 26 -34 1 248 (WSW) 74 - " 06:17 26 -34 1 259 (W) 67 - " ---=== TELESCOPE STATUS ===--- UT 23:20 Fans on, door opened 23:45 Enclosure off 13:10 Enclosure on, fans off Status at end of night 06:25 MST / 01:25 UT: Telescope stowed at: 30 deg Instrument mounted: Cartridge 7 Counterweights at: 280 Autofill systems: On 180L LN2 dewar weights: Spectro 55 lb (filling) Imager 328 lb Interlocks bypassed: Slip detection and building motion. NB: The imager N2 leak of last night seems fixed; the pressure remained around 1900 psi all night. Thanks, Lynn! ---=== SOFTWARE USED ===--- IOP/SOP: v3_64_3a Watcher: v2_13_2 MCP: v5_8_5 TPM: v2_4_5 AstroDa: v14_40 TCC: 2.5.5 sdssProcedures: v1_34 ---=== MIRROR NUMBERS ===--- PRIMARY: -------- Scale: 1.000000 MIGS TONIGHT NOMINAL Axial A 0.0760 0.0750 Axial B 0.8000 0.8020 Axial C 0.0710 0.0710 Trans D -1.4880 -1.4860 Lateral E 1.8690 1.8540 Lateral F 1.4290 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.: -4.1 Alt.: 30.016104 MIGS TONIGHT NOMINAL Axial A 1.5500 1.5500 Axial B 1.2280 1.2260 Axial C 1.2480 1.2480 Trans D 0.2190 0.2320 GALILS Commanded: 1600361. 1562383. 1585778. -10400. -9750. Actual: 1599620. 1565254. 1586350. -10395. -9766. SETMIR VALUES SecDesOrient: 1257.00 -3.40 -10.00 0.00 133.82 SecOrient: 1256.89 -3.72 -10.50 -0.57 133.91 ---=== PROBLEMS IN DETAIL ===--- Problem #1 - Secondary actuator failure When secondary axis A failed, we saw the following secondary mirror numbers. Note that the difference between axial A and B MIGs is usually (A-B)=0.31mm. Also note the 600k count error in the Heidenhain ("Galil") positions for actuator A: MIGS TONIGHT NOMINAL Axial A: -1.2370 1.5500 Axial B: -0.6990 1.2260 Axial C: -0.8950 1.2480 Trans D: 0.3510 0.2320 GALILS Commanded: 4292900. 4261350. 4268850. -4000. -3350. Actual: 4877548. 4255534. 4272926. -4000. -3350. SETMIR VALUES secDesOrient: 3392.79 0.98 -10.00 0.00 -18.39 secOrient: 3546.89 64.21 -206.10 -128.90 -59.86 ------------------------------------------------------------ Problem #2 - Large fiducial errors during slews We saw several instances of fiducial errors on at least rotator and azimuth axes becoming too large to correct during the slews to instrument change. These occured at ambient temperatures between -5C and -2C. Examples of the errors (the first message from each occurance) are shown below. Dec 09 01:00:28 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_E_trcErr correction for azimuth -704 is too large Dec 09 03:09:00 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_E_trcErr correction for azimuth -1779 is too large Dec 09 03:09:12 sdssmcp tLatch dsc_E_trcErr correction for rotator 1047 is too large