OSU/RC Queue Observing UTC 2010 Dec 12 (civil date Dec 11/12, 2010) =============================================================================== Observers: Paul Martini (OSU), David Atlee (OSU), Chris Howk (ND), Terry Rettig (ND) Observing Assistant: Geno Bechetti Support Astronomer : Olga Kuhn Instrumentation : Doug Officer =========== Instrument: =========== LUCIFER ========= Summary: ========= There was light cirrus at sunset covering 5-10% of the sky. We took Ks-band sky flats. These are probably fine due to the very limited cloud cover, but the presence of clouds near the horizon should be noted. Seeing was moderate throughout the night, ranging from 0.7"-1.0" and varying by band. Clouds moved in at approximately 9 PM but were largely cleared by 11 PM. We adjusted our targets to account for continued moderate cloud cover through the rest of the night. We lost a significant amount of time due to technical errors throughout the night. We lost approximately 90 minutes at the beginning due to communication errors with the telescope. We lost an additional 2-2.5 hours due to problems maintaining collimation and focus. This resulted in a frequent need to re-point and re-focus the telescope and also caused the secondary to lose alignment on one occasion (the "sparrow problem"). Science obs: IC1613: supplemental observations of both H&K bands Starless Cores: Both H & K bands M-giants: observed SDSS #1 & a telluric standard but missed calibration lamps for target star Diskangle: five position angles (0,45,90,180,270) of HD259431 plus telluric standard HeI: Spectra of SDSS J0850 and J0836 plus telluric standards WISE: 60 minutes of total integration plus telluric standard Sky flats: Ks ============= Setup ============= 00:20 Sunset 00:22 Begin taking sky flats 00:28 Took first flat. Saturated. No dithering in flats 00:33 First viable sky flat. luci.20101211.0005 00:40 Error: No AGw unit selected. Unable to move telescope to preset from LUCIFER control panel. 00:46 Preset telescope status error: "Left authorize busy" 00:50 AGw doesn't respond to `ping' but nameserver is up 01:00 Checked AGw breaker. 01:35 Problem appears resolved. Can now send presets from LUCIFER GUI 01:39 Unauthorized preset command from left IRTC 01:40 Abort command failed because not waiting for mount 01:45 Unable to get telescope DD entries from IRS 02:21 Successfully moved telescope to pointing star. Adjusting pointing ============= UM_IC1613 ============= 02:33 Beginning J-band exposure sequence 02:53 Stopping J-band script and beginning Ks-band script due to time constraints 03:02 Error offsetting telescope command =================== UM_StarlessCores =================== 03:07 Moving telescope to target field to diagnose/correct offsetting error 03:11 Beginning first H-band exposure (seeing 1.0") 03:36 Started first K-band exposure (seeing 0.7") ============= OSU_mgiant ============= 04:03 Moving telescope to SDSS 1 04:10 Beginning first spectrum. Cloud cover encroaching. 04:38 Moving telescope to telluric standard #1. Forgot calibration lamps. 04:46 Beginning telluric spectrum 04:50 Moving calibration tower in for lamp observations 04:51 Beginning arc lamp spectra ============= ND_diskangle ============= 05:09 Moving to telluric standard field 05:18 Beginning standard star observation 05:30 Moving telescope to target field: HD259431, angle 0 05:35 Beginning spectrum at PA 0 05:44 Faint guide star. Observing through clouds 05:50 Beginning spectrum at PA 90 06:07 Beginning spectrum at PA 180 06:24 Beginning spectrum at PA 270 06:55 Beginning spectrum at PA 45 06:55 Failed initial offset: Guide star not found after offset 07:02 Beginning acquisition again 07:12 Unable to send acquisition script due to guider error. Moving to pointing star. 07:16 Problem corrected by adjusting pointing. 07:19 Beginning acquisition sequence 07:24 Beginning observation of disk angle 45 ============= OSU_HeI ============= 07:35 Moving telescope to telluric standard HIP46873 07:43 Beginning telluric spectrum 07:49 Moving telescope to SDSS J0850 07:59 Beginning quasar spectrum 08:27 Moving in calibration lamps for arc and flat spectra. 08:28 Beginning arc lamp script 08:41 Moving telescope to next object: SDSS J0836 08:45 Began acquisition sequence 08:51 Beginning first integration of SDSS J0836 (seeing 1.0") 09:20 Moving telescope to telluric standard: HIP43018 09:27 Beginning telluric spectrum ============= UVa_WISE ============= 09:39 Moving telescope to target field 09:42 Unable to acquire guide star. Re-pointing telescope. 09:46 Attempting to run acquisition script again 10:04 Beginning first spectrum 10:22 Hit primary mirror collimation limits: lost guiding 10:25 Re-aligning target 10:39 Error with telescope offset while positioning object in slit (left preset inactive) 10:40 Unable to locate guide star 10:44 Re-pointing telescope to correct any offset in guider position 10:51 Resuming acquisition sequence 11:00 Resuming target observation sequence 11:12 Primary mirror reach collimation limit. Guiding okay. 2-d spectrum does not appear to be adversely affected. 11:24 Beginning second series of spectra 11:17 Primary mirror collimation limit reached. 11:30 Primary mirror collimation limit reached. 11:33 Lost guiding. Re-pointing telescope. 11:37 Pointing star not in LUCIFER field. Trying an alternate. 11:39 Encountered the "sparrow problem" again. (PSF looks like a bird.) 11:51 Corrected collimation problem. Re-pointing telescope. 11:53 Running acquisition script again to collimate telescope 12:01 Collimation sequence failed to converge. Lost guide star. 12:05 Attempting to reset collimation parameters manually 12:26 Running acquisition script and waiting for collimation. 12:36 Beginning spectroscopic integration script 12:59 Moving calibration lamps in for spectroscopic flat 13:00 Starting spectroscopic flat script 13:04 Moving telescope to telluric field: HD97034 13:10 Error: preset timed out in 300 seconds 13:14 Failed to retract calibration tower. Trying again. 13:25 Beginning telluric standard spectrum 13:26 Grating tilt failed to stabilize 13:29 Grating tilt stabilized. Running telluric spectrum. 13:34 Finished telluric spectra. Stowing telescope. 13:52 Beginning dark frame script. 14:09 Sunrise