OSU/RC Queue Observing UTC 2012 June 10
(civil date 2012 June 9/10)
======================================

Observers: R. Pogge
Telescope Operator: G. Bechetti
Support Astronomer: O. Kuhn
Support Tech: T. Shih

Instrument: LUCI + MODS Calibrations

Summary:

  Clear but very windy, above limits since about noon.  Forecast called for
  continued high winds around Mt. Graham, and nature delivered.  We never
  opened because of wind.

  This is the first full night, we've got a full LUCI program except for
  the last hour of the night where moonlight is a problem for other
  instruments.

  On taking thru-mask flats to map the slits on the MOS masks, we found
  that mask ID545528 for OSU_PC, target PC1220 had some badly cut slits
  (partial burn in sections), and some pinhole defaults.  Mask was removed
  and we'll see if we can get it remade. Images of the problem mask are
  mods1x.20120610.0011.fits.

  Caught up with MODS mask calibrations since we could not open.


Afternoon Calibrations:

   MODS thru-mask images for the MOS masks. Images in blue (SDSS g) and red
   (SDSS r) cameras of the VFLAT lamp to use for mapping the aperture
   locations.  Created the maskSnap.pro script using the beta-test version
   of mkMaskSnap.  Images are taken with the focus stepped to the optimal
   field-flattened setting we will use for MOS acquisitions with MODS this
   run to see if this helps address the problem of aberrated images far off
   axis that has hampered mask alignment precision in some fields.  The
   images are in mods1x.20120610.0006-13.fits

   A pair of images if ID553211 at nominal and "optimal" focus are in
   mods1x.20120610.0016-17.fits


Details: All times are UTC unless otherwise noted

0240: Sunset, still very windy, sustained winds >20m/sec, so not opening
      just yet.  Clear, but some haze on the horizon, a mix of dust and
      smoke.  Very dry up here, RH=10-15%, T=11C, wind out of the SSW as
      usual.  Some blowing dust from the road.

0340: Still windy.  Revisited the LUCI mask alignment from last night for
      OSU_GCX Mask 2.  Ran the LUCI MOS ACQU tool again on the original acq
      images, and it gave the same (bad) result. It is not a simple plate
      scale error as the residual in both dimensions is different. At least
      we're now sure it wasn't us.

0500: Wind starting to trend downward, not as many building-rattling gusts
      as the past few hours, but still getting above 20m/sec at times.  
      We wait...

0600: Wind starting a slow upward trend the past 20 minutes. Not catching
      any breaks so far.

0700: Wind back to 18-22m/s.  Nice and clear out, though.  Mirror temps are
      far out of equilibrium, so when we open it will be a while before
      they settle and give good images.

0800: Wind a little better, but the trend is very flat.  Since we're
      looking at a possible loss, I'm catching up on MODS calibrations while
      waiting on the wind.  Not promising for the wind tonight.

MODS Calibrations:

   Dual Grating Long-Slit:
      grpixflats.cal 
      grlamps.cal - LS5x60x0.6 slit and full complement

   MOS Masks:
      OSU_CHAOS (2 masks - dual grating, flats+lamps)
      OSU_PC (3 masks, dual prism, flats+lamps)
      OSU_CLASH (1 mask, dual prism, flats+lamps)
      UM_M101Stars (2 masks, dual grating, flats+lamps)

   MODS Biases (8Kx3K, 3Kx3K, 4Kx3K) x 10 red+blue