OSU/RC Queue Observing UTC 2010 Oct. 02
(civil date Oct. 01-02, 2010)
===============================================================================

Observer:
Jeff Blackburne (OSU), Matthias Dietrich (OSU)

Observing Assistant: Steve Allason
Support Astronomer : Dave Thompson
Instrumentation    : Tim Shih

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Instrument:
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LBC

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Summary:
=========

Weather was fairly warm. Cirrus clouds all night, clearing somewhat
toward wee hours. Seeing below 1" all night (once we got science
observations going).

LBC Blue gave us problems in first 2/3 of the night. Before doing
anything, it would check the CCD Temp. Anytime CCD Temp got above
223K, it would reset itself. If this happened between integration and
readout, we lost the data as the camera reset. If too many resets
happened in a row, the camera would quit, and we would have to stop
and start LBC, a ~7 minute process, not counting lost data. After
Instrument Scientist removed the cover, the average temp settled to
~220K, and slowly fell through the night.

During the OSU_weaklens observations (04:44 to 08:08), overheads were
very high because LBC Blue would spike above 223K and reset. By 08:08,
the problems had subsided.

We lost at least 3 hours to the instrument.

Aside from that, the conditions were fine and we got good data for
projects that needed good seeing and didn't care too much about
photometric conditions.


Evening Flats:

01:26 SDT_Us in blue, V in red. SkyFlatUsV.ob
      20k to ... in blue, 30k to ... in red

01:30 B in blue, R in red. SkyFlat_BR_5.ob
      20k to ... in blue, 25k in ... in red

01:34 g' in blue, r' in red. SkyFlat_gr_5.ob
      20k to ... in blue, 10k to ... in red

01:37 r' in blue, z' in red. SkyFlat_rz_5.ob
      6k to ... in blue, 4k to ... in red
      exptimes scaled by 2.0


Pointing:
01:53 LBC Blue error (CCD controller)
      45	2010/10/02	01:52:01.179986	 	 	camera system encountered a problem
      44	2010/10/02	01:52:01.179917	CAMERA 		CCD Controller error errcode:9 [src/camera/camera.c:1185]
      43	2010/10/02	01:52:01.179875	CAMERA 		reinitializing CCD Controller failed

Restarted the LBC

Ran dofpia... it was taking a long time, and M101 was setting, so we chose a new pointing target near our next target

02:41 Another LBCB CCD controller error

02:52 Again. Sending instrument scientist up to camera for diagnostic.

03:10 Clouds on all-sky camera

Finally removed the back end lid from LBC Blue. Temperatures are now
just below the limit rather than just over them. The time between
twilight and now should be counted as instrument time.


04:44 OSU_weaklens program TEIFLER_RCS2327_zg_1of2_ob

05:10 Restarted TEIFLER_RCS2327_zg_1of2_ob after recollimating -- good seeing!

05:23 Blue channel controller error 

05:31 Restarted TEIFLER_RCS2327_zg_1of2_ob ... finished successfully

06:21 Collimation. Clouds seem to have cleared up some, but still not photometric.

06:49 Started TEIFLER_RCS2327_ir_1of4_ob. Two images lost from blue side camera (read out but never appeared on disk).

07:30 Collimation. Moonrise illuminates some cirrus in the NW especially, but also overhead.

07:40 Started TEIFLER_RCS2327_ir_2of4_ob. 


08:08 Started ND_howk program. Slewing.

08:10 Collimation.

08:17 Started pks0232a.

08:47 Collimation. Definitely cirrus overhead. Seeing holding steady at ~0.6

08:52 Audible alarm for the supply auxillary chiller temp during
collimation. Mirror ventilation turned off, but mirror temps are ok
for now.

09:01 Started pks0232b. 


09:32 Started OSU_monitor program. Slewing.

09:34 Started focus OB.

09:35 Collimation.

09:40 Started OSUmonitorN628. Still some cirrus overhead. Seeing still good.

10:16 Started focus OB. Slewing.

10:18 Collimation. Less apparent cirrus now.

10:25 Started OSUmonitorN672.

11:02 Started focus OB. Slewing.

11:07 Collimation.

11:15 Started OSUmonitorN925.

11:20 Focus OB coordinates were wrong, so aborting and repeating focus
OB. We must have chosen the wrong OB the first time.

11:23 Collimation.

11:26 Started OSUmonitorN925 (again).

11:51 Started focus OB for NGC2403. Slewing.

11:55 Collimation.

12:34 Collimation was oscillating between focus values on Blue side,
because of spherical term. Time is up; time for flats.

Morning Flats:

12:43 r' in blue, z' in red. SkyFlat_rz_5.ob
      11k to 19k in blue, 9k to 15k in red

12:46 V in Blue, I in red. SkyFlat_VI_5.ob
      16k to 38k in blue, 48k to Inf in red

12:49 U in Blue, V in red. SkyFlat_UV_5.ob
      10k to 15k in blue, 18k to 30k in red
      exptimes scaled by 0.5


Bias and Darks:
In base directory: 25Bias_Bino.ob and 3Darks_Bino.ob