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Night Reports 2006
December 2006
Hours spent Observing: 166.4, Weather: 114.0, Technical downtime: 56.6
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 31 December | 10.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 30 December | 10.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 29 December | 7.9 | 0.0 | 3.0 | Photometric. Oil chiller fault (2.5), tracked into altitude limit (0.5). |
| 28 December | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Cloud, high humidity. |
| 27 December | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Thick cloud. TCS OK. Test observing at start of night (but frames mostly blank). |
| 26 December | 0.0 | 5.4 | 5.5 | TCS computer failure. Cloudy second half. |
| 25 December | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.9 | TCS computer failure |
| 24 December | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.9 | TCS computer failure |
| 23 December | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.9 | TCS computer failure |
| 22 December | 10.3 | 0.0 | 0.6 | Photometric. Alt lost, autorecovered ok. |
| 21 December | 5.5 | 0.0 | 5.4 | Photometric. RCS problems (3 hours), Oil Chiller Problems (2.4 hours) |
| 20 December | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | High humidity |
| 19 December | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Thick cloud, high humidity |
| 18 December | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Thick Cloud |
| 17 December | 2.9 | 8.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric then Rain. |
| 16 December | 10.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 15 December | 10.3 | 0.0 | 0.6 | Non-photometric. Alt axis limit. |
| 14 December | 10.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 13 December | 10.6 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Photometric. RCS problem. |
| 12 December | 0.0 | 2.8 | 8.1 | Borderline atmospheric moisture count. Oil chiller problem (now fixed). |
| 11 December | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Ice, high humidity. |
| 10 December | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Freezing Fog, Ice buildup. |
| 9 December | 0.0 | 10.8 | 0.0 | Cloud, freezing fog, ice. |
| 8 December | 0.1 | 10.7 | 0.0 | Cloud, humidity, rain. |
| 7 December | 10.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 6 December | 10.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Poor Seeing. |
| 5 December | 10.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 4 December | 10.4 | 0.0 | 0.4 | Photometric. Tracked into altitude limit. |
| 3 December | 10.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 2 December | 10.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 1 December | 10.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
November 2006
Hours spent Observing: 116.8, Weather: 171.4, Technical downtime: 29.5
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 30 November | 10.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 29 November | 10.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 28 November | 2.3 | 8.0 | 0.5 | Only north side of enclosure open, manual observing. Closed most of night by poor seeing. Autoguider deployment failure. |
| 27 November | 10.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Autoguider testing and manual GRB observing, only North side of enclosure open. |
| 26 November | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.7 | Enclosure encoder fault. |
| 25 November | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.7 | Enclosure encoder fault. |
| 24 November | 0.0 | 10.7 | 0.0 | High wind, humidity, ice. |
| 23 November | 10.3 | 0.0 | 0.4 | Non-photometric. Auxiliary mechanism node fault, autorecovered. |
| 22 November | 10.4 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Non-photometric. Altitude node fault, autorecovered. |
| 21 November | 0.0 | 10.7 | 0.0 | High winds. |
| 20 November | 0.0 | 10.6 | 0.0 | Thick cloud. |
| 19 November | 0.0 | 10.6 | 0.0 | Thick cloud, high humidity |
| 18 November | 0.0 | 10.6 | 0.0 | Thick cloud, high humidity |
| 17 November | 10.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric |
| 16 November | 8.0 | 2.6 | 0.0 | High humidity at start of night, non-photometric |
| 15 November | 0.0 | 10.6 | 0.0 | High humidity and rain. |
| 14 November | 1.1 | 9.5 | 0.0 | Thick cloud, high humidity |
| 13 November | 10.1 | 0.0 | 0.4 | Non photometric. Cass node lost, autorecovered ok. |
| 12 November | 0.0 | 10.5 | 0.0 | Thick high cloud. |
| 11 November | 0.0 | 10.5 | 0.0 | Thick high cloud. |
| 10 November | 10.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 | Photometric. Tracked into rotator limit. |
| 9 November | 10.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 8 November | 0.0 | 4.4 | 6.0 | Thick cloud first half. On-mount power tripped. |
| 7 November | 0.0 | 10.4 | 0.0 | High humidity. |
| 6 November | 0.0 | 10.4 | 0.0 | Thick cloud. |
| 5 November | 0.0 | 10.4 | 0.0 | Thick cloud. |
| 4 November | 10.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | Non photometric, especially second half. Cass node unresponsive, autorecovered. |
| 3 November | 0.0 | 10.3 | 0.0 | Thick cloud. |
| 2 November | 0.0 | 10.3 | 0.0 | Bad weather. |
| 1 November | 0.0 | 10.3 | 0.0 | Bad weather. |
October 2006
Hours spent Observing: 122.8, Weather: 152.1, Technical downtime: 7.8
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 31 October | 0.0 | 10.3 | 0.0 | Rain, wind, general nastiness. |
| 30 October | 0.0 | 10.3 | 0.0 | Cloud |
| 29 October | 0.0 | 10.2 | 0.0 | Bad weather |
| 28 October | 0.0 | 10.2 | 0.0 | Bad weather |
| 27 October | 0.0 | 10.2 | 0.0 | Bad weather |
| 26 October | 0.0 | 10.2 | 0.0 | Wind, high humidity. |
| 25 October | 0.0 | 10.1 | 0.0 | Cloud, rain, high wind. |
| 24 October | 0.0 | 10.1 | 0.0 | Cloud, rain, high wind. |
| 23 October | 7.5 | 2.6 | 0.0 | High Humidity at start of night. Photometric later. |
| 22 October | 10.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 21 October | 9.0 | 0.0 | 1.1 | Mountainwide mains supply failures, Non-photometric. |
| 20 October | 9.2 | 0.8 | 0.0 | Thick cloud at start of night, then Non-photometrc. |
| 19 October | 4.6 | 5.4 | 0.0 | High humidity at start of night, then Non-photometric |
| 18 October | 0.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 | High humidity, rain. |
| 17 October | 0.4 | 9.6 | 0.0 | High humidity most of night. |
| 16 October | 0.0 | 9.9 | 0.0 | High humidity all night |
| 15 October | 2.1 | 7.8 | 0.0 | Humidity, high winds. Non-photometric. |
| 14 October | 9.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | Non-photometric. RCS problem. |
| 13 October | 9.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 12 October | 5.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 4h scheduled maintenance, 0.3h CSC node dropout, autorecovered. Non-photometric. |
| 11 October | 8.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.1 hours of scheduled maintenance. |
| 10 October | - | - | - | Scheduled maintenance. |
| 9 October | - | - | - | Scheduled maintenance. |
| 8 October | 9.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 7 October | 8.7 | 0.0 | 1.0 | Cassegrain axis fault, autorecovered. |
| 6 October | 5.8 | 3.9 | 0.0 | Cloud, high winds. |
| 5 October | 0.0 | 9.6 | 0.0 | Cloud, high winds. |
| 4 October | 0.0 | 9.6 | 0.0 | Cloud, high winds. |
| 3 October | 5.1 | 0.0 | 4.5 | Non photometric. Autoguider - RCS problems. |
| 2 October | 9.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non photometric. |
| 1 October | 8.2 | 1.3 | 0.0 | Non photometric. High humidity. |
September 2006
Hours spent Observing: 184.1, Weather: 33.6, Technical downtime: 44.0
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 30 September | 9.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 29 September | 9.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 28 September | 9.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 27 September | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.4 | SCC disk replaced. System rebuild underway |
| 26 September | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.4 | SCC disk failure. Engineer in transit to La Palma. |
| 25 September | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.3 | SCC disk failure. |
| 24 September | 9.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 23 September | 7.3 | 2.0 | 0.0 | High humidity at start of night. Non-photometric. |
| 22 September | 3.4 | 1.2 | 4.6 | Non-photometric. AGS failure (4.6) |
| 21 September | 0.6 | 8.6 | 0.0 | Non-photometric |
| 20 September | 7.6 | 1.6 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Cloudy first half. |
| 19 September | 9.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Second half of night probably was photometric. |
| 18 September | 9.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric |
| 17 September | 0.0 | 9.1 | 0.0 | Cloud. |
| 16 September | 9.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 15 September | 9.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 14 September | 9.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 13 September | 4.5 | 2.7 | 1.8 | High humidity. RCS/OSS problem. Non-photometric. |
| 12 September | 0.6 | 0.0 | 8.3 | RCS problem. Non-photometric. |
| 11 September | 8.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 10 September | 8.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 9 September | 8.4 | 0.0 | 0.4 | Unresponsive nodes. Non-photometric |
| 8 September | 8.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometeric. |
| 7 September | 0.0 | 8.8 | 0.0 | Thick cloud |
| 6 September | 8.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 | Cass rotator tracked into limit. Non-photometric |
| 5 September | 8.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Part autoguider tests. |
| 4 September | 8.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-Photometric. Moderate Calima |
| 3 September | 0.0 | 8.6 | 0.0 | Cloud, Rain, Calima. |
| 2 September | 8.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Non-Photometric. AZM unresponsive, autorecovered. |
| 1 September | 8.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-Photometric. |
August 2006
Hours spent Observing: 191.5, Weather: 43.7, Technical downtime: 14.8
Headlines
- Autoguider now in routine use on LT
- WCS transformation provided for CCD data
- Cloud monitor to be installed on site
- Call for proposals for 2007A (PATT)
- SupIRCam temporarily unavailable due to servicing
- Technical downtime at a record low
Autoguider
We are pleased to report that an autoguider is now in successful
routine use with the LT. Guided (closed loop) exposures may be made
up to a maximum of 30 minutes; the overhead for use of the autoguider
is 60 seconds.
For short exposures (e.g. 2 minutes or less) it is generally
recommended that unguided exposures are used since the telescope
open-loop tracking suffices to provide good image quality.
WCS transformation provided for CCD data
WCS transformations are now written to the FITS header of all CCD data
enabling WCS mapping of individual pixels of the array.
Cloud monitor to be installed on site
A cloud monitor has been procured and is currently undergoing testing.
It is hoped to install it on site in the next few months.
Call for proposals for 2007A (PATT)
PATT has issued a call for proposals for the LT for semester
2007A. The deadline for applications is 30 September 2006. For more
details see the PATT 07A news item.
SupIRCam temporarily unavailable due to servicing
Recently we have been experiencing increasing problems with SupIRCam,
and the decision has been made to ship the camera back to the UK for
major overhaul. Accordingly SupIRCam will be unavailable for observations
for the next several months. Every effort is being made to get
SupIRCam back online as soon as feasible; we will keep you informed of
progress.
Technical downtime at a record low
The average operational availability
of the telescope since the last report is 90.1%, just surpassing our target
of 90%. For August, the telescope operational availability equalled our best
previous record of 93% of time and the telescope was on-line, observing
completely unsupervised for over 191 hours making this our current record month.
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 31 August | 8.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 30 August | 0.0 | 8.5 | 0.0 | Dense Calima (dust) & Cloud. |
| 29 August | 0.0 | 8.5 | 0.0 | Dense Calima (dust) & Cloud. |
| 28 August | 8.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Calima. |
| 27 August | 8.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Possibly Photometric, some calima |
| 26 August | 8.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 25 August | 8.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 24 August | 8.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Azimuth node unresponsive, autorecovered. CCD 10 degrees warmer than nominal. |
| 23 August | 0.5 | 0.0 | 7.8 | Power supply interruptions tripped circuit breakers |
| 22 August | 8.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Part autoguider/RCS test |
| 21 August | 8.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Part autoguider/RCS tests |
| 20 August | 8.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 19 August | 8.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 18 August | 3.1 | 2.9 | 2.1 | Non-photometric. High humidity. RCS autoguider problem, azimuth node unresponsive, autorecovered. |
| 17 August | 0.0 | 8.1 | 0.0 | Cloud. GRB alert test. |
| 16 August | 0.0 | 8.1 | 0.0 | Cloud |
| 15 August | 4.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 | RCS autoguider problem. |
| 14 August | 8.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Patchy cloud. RCS problem. |
| 13 August | 7.4 | 0.0 | 0.6 | Non-photometric. TCC(0.1) and AMN(0.5) unresponsive. Auto recovered |
| 12 August | 7.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 11 August | 7.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 10 August | 7.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 9 August | 7.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 8 August | 7.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 7 August | 7.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 6 August | 7.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 5 August | 7.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Windy |
| 4 August | 7.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 3 August | 0.0 | 7.6 | 0.0 | Calima |
| 2 August | 7.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Mild calima |
| 1 August | 7.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
Hours spent Observing: 187.8, Weather: 8.4, Technical downtime: 27.1
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 31 July | 7.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | Photometric. TCC unresponsive, autorecovered. |
| 30 July | 7.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 29 July | 3.6 | 0.0 | 3.9 | Elc node unresponsive, autorecovered. Fold mirror rotation problem. Many failed exposures. |
| 28 July | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.5 | Power failure to instrument supply |
| 27 July | 6.4 | 0.0 | 1.0 | Robotic software corrupted. Photometric |
| 26 July | 7.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 25 July | 7.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric - Thinner Calima |
| 24 July | 0.0 | 7.3 | 0.0 | Calima |
| 23 July | 1.0 | 0.0 | 6.3 | Main Oil Pump Tripped, Calima |
| 22 July | 6.2 | 1.1 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Humidity spikes. Calima |
| 21 July | 7.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 20 July | 7.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 19 July | 7.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 18 July | 7.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 17 July | 7.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 16 July | 7.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 15 July | 7.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 14 July | 7.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 13 July | 7.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 12 July | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.1 | Mountain wide electricity supply problems |
| 11 July | 7.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 10 July | 7.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 9 July | 6.7 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Non-photometric. Unresponsive node autorecovered. |
| 8 July | 7.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Substantial cloud in 2nd half of night. |
| 7 July | 7.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Just a little cirrus around at dawn. |
| 6 July | 7.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 5 July | 6.7 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Photometric. Unresponsive node autorecovered. |
| 4 July | 6.7 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Photometric. Az Ven failure, autorecovered. |
| 3 July | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 2 July | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 1 July | 6.6 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Photometric. Az Ven failure, autorecovered. |
June 2006
Hours spent Observing: 122.6, Weather: 3.6, Technical downtime: 28.6
Engineering upgrade work
The telescope was taken offline for a period of approximately 8 days for
major engineering work in mid-June. The telescope is now back online.
The outcome of the engineering work is as follows:
- The azimuth tape encoder was replaced with a new tape. This has resulted in a very marked improvement in open-loop tracking for the telescope.
- An autoguider and associated optics were installed on the telescope. Closed-loop tracking with this instrument has been achieved. Further work is in progress to integrate the instrument with the robotic control system of the telescope. This work is on schedule to ensure provision of a fully functional system for users at the start of the coming semester (2006B).
- The fractured coolant pipes for SupIRCam were replaced by new pipes of a more flexible material. Unfortunately there is a, as yet unexplained, slow leak of coolant from the camera. This is being investigated as a matter of urgency. Users will be notified when this problem has been solved; in the meanwhile, SupIRCam will remain offline.
All three allocation committees (PATT,CAT and (most recently) JMU) have met and assigned time allocations for proposals in semester 2006B. PIs for JMU proposals should receive feedback and time allocations shortly.
We are now receiving PHASE 2 forms for 2006B. Please ensure these are submitted as soon as possible to ensure no delay to the start of your programme at the beginning of the semester (1 August 2006).
There are only two weeks remaining for semester 2006A. If you have remaining observations to be done, be sure to submit the appropriate Phase 2 form as soon as possible though for the reasons given above, SupIRCam will not be available for the remainder of the semester.
Enhanced features for the Telescope system- Quick Look facility : All data taken with the Liverpool Telescope is now available online within approximately 15 minutes of the observation. Note carefully that the quick look data do not use the most up to date flat fields and have not undergone any quality control inspection. Full reductions using the most recent flat fields and which are passed by quality control inspection are typically available from the data archive and Recent Data resources the following day. For further details, see: quicklook.
- Tracking for Near-Earth objects has improved : At users' request we recently changed the way we handle observations of rapidly moving targets to make it easier to observe Near-Earth objects. An excellent opportunity to test the new software came with the close pass of 2004XP14 last week which was enthusiastically covered by much of the media. On the night of 3rd July, the asteroid was moving at a non-siderial rate of 2 arcminutes per minute and the robotic scheduler was able to successfully make observations.
In the period since the last newsletter (approximately 2 months) the telescope usage figures are: observing, 407.4 hours; time lost to weather, 113.8 hours; and time lost to technical faults (excluding scheduled maintainance period), 116.1 hours. The technical downtime was 22% of available time, and exceeded our target figure of 10%. Much of this downtime was due to errors associated with the azimuth tape encoder system, and this contributed to the decision to replace the tape. Now that a new tape has been successfully installed (see 'Engineering Upgrade Work' above), it is anticipated that technical downtime will be considerably reduced, and initial figures for July are indeed encouraging; so far only 3.5%. National Schools' Observatory (NSO)
We are pleased to announce that thanks to sponsorship from LJMU, schools can now make observations with the Liverpool Telescope free through the NSO. We are now busy developing many new resources for schools to use, so please encourage every teacher you know to register at www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/register ! Open Day on La Palma
A very successful open day was held at the La Palma Observatory on Saturday 8 July. The Liverpool Telescope had some 400 visitors who watched the telescope being controlled remotely from LJMU in the UK.
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 30 June | 5.9 | 0.0 | 1.0 | Photometric. Autorecovery problem following Az Ven failure. |
| 29 June | 1.0 | 0.0 | 5.9 | Non-photometric. Network link to La Palma lost. Contact lost while in manual engineering mode. |
| 28 June | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. CCD camera offline. |
| 27 June | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 26 June | 6.6 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Photometric. Azimuth ven failure; autorecovered. Alt returned to full range movement. |
| 25 June | 6.6 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Photometric. Azimuth ven failure; autorecovered. Restricted Alt range. |
| 24 June | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Restricted Alt range. |
| 23 June | 2.6 | 0.0 | 4.3 | Photometric. Autorecovery problems following Ven failure. Restricted Alt range. |
| 22 June | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Autoguider comissioning at start of night. Restricted Alt range. |
| 21 June | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Restricted Alt range. |
| 20 June | 3.4 | 0.0 | 3.5 | Photometric. Autorecovery problems following Ven failure. Restricted Alt range. |
| 19 June | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Restricted Alt range. |
| 18 June | 5.3 | 1.6 | 0.0 | Intervals of high humidity. Restricted Alt range. |
| 17 June | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Restricted Alt range. |
| 16 June | 6.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 | Photometric. SCC problem. Restricted Alt range. Az returned to full free movement. |
| 15 June | 5.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Scheduled maintenance at start of night. Restricted Az,Alt ranges. |
| 14 June | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Half night of scheduled maintenance. Restricted Az,Alt ranges. |
| 13 June | - | - | - | Scheduled Maintenance |
| 12 June | - | - | - | Scheduled Maintenance |
| 11 June | - | - | - | Scheduled Maintenance |
| 10 June | - | - | - | Scheduled Maintenance |
| 9 June | - | - | - | Scheduled Maintenance |
| 8 June | - | - | - | Scheduled Maintenance |
| 7 June | 7.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric, Restricted range in Alt and Az. |
| 6 June | 0.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | Humidity, Focus Problems |
| 5 June | 7.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Restricted range in Alt and Az. |
| 4 June | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.0 | AMN node unresponsive. Focus problems after restart. |
| 3 June | 6.6 | 0.0 | 0.5 | Photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. Tracked into Az limits (0.5) |
| 2 June | 6.6 | 0.0 | 0.5 | Non-photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. Tracked into Az limits (0.5) |
| 1 June | 7.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | Non-photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. Tracked into Az limits (0.1) |
May 2006
Hours spent Observing: 141.1, Weather: 23.7, Technical downtime: 66.1
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 31 May | 6.6 | 0.0 | 0.5 | Photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. Tracked into Az limits (0.5) |
| 30 May | 6.8 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. Azimuth node dropped off network, autorecovered in 0.3h |
| 29 May | 7.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. |
| 28 May | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.2 | Photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. Tracked into Az limits (0.2) |
| 27 May | 7.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. |
| 26 May | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.2 | Camera controller fault. |
| 25 May | 6.7 | 0.0 | 0.5 | Photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. Tracked into limits (0.5) |
| 24 May | 7.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 | Non-Photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. Tracked into limits (0.2) |
| 23 May | 7.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Restricted range in Alt and Az. |
| 22 May | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.3 | Scheduler problem. |
| 21 May | 1.0 | 0.0 | 6.3 | Az encoder errors(1.1); Oil level fault (5.2). |
| 20 May | 3.1 | 0.0 | 4.2 | Az encoder errors(3.7); Oil level fault (0.5). |
| 19 May | 1.9 | 0.0 | 5.4 | Az encoder errors(1.1); RCS restart in engineering mode after rack reboot (4.3). |
| 18 May | 0.0 | 0.0 | 7.4 | Oil level fault. |
| 17 May | 5.1 | 0.0 | 2.3 | Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors. |
| 16 May | 0.0 | 7.4 | 0.0 | Thick cloud. |
| 15 May | 5.0 | 0.5 | 2.0 | High humidity at start of night. Non-Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors. |
| 14 May | 6.1 | 0.0 | 1.4 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors. |
| 13 May | 6.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors. |
| 12 May | 5.3 | 0.0 | 2.2 | Non-Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors. |
| 11 May | 6.1 | 0.0 | 1.5 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors. |
| 10 May | 6.3 | 0.0 | 1.3 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors. |
| 9 May | 2.8 | 0.0 | 4.8 | Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AMN unresponsive and did not recover. |
| 8 May | 6.8 | 0.0 | 0.8 | Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors |
| 7 May | 6.7 | 0.0 | 1.0 | Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors |
| 6 May | 5.6 | 0.0 | 2.1 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors |
| 5 May | 6.4 | 0.0 | 1.3 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors |
| 4 May | 7.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors |
| 3 May | 4.3 | 0.0 | 3.6 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors |
| 2 May | 0.0 | 7.9 | 0.0 | Humidity |
| 1 May | 0.0 | 7.9 | 0.0 | Humidity/Rain |
April 2006
Hours spent Observing: 143.7, Weather: 86.5, Technical downtime: 21.4
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 30 April | 7.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors (0.9) |
| 29 April | 6.6 | 0.0 | 1.3 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors (1.3) |
| 28 April | 7.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. AZM encoder errors (1.0) |
| 27 April | 7.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. ALT flywheeling (0.6) AZM encoder error (0.4) |
| 26 April | 8.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range. |
| 25 April | 0.0 | 0.0 | 8.1 | Enclosure failed to open. |
| 24 April | 0.0 | 6.2 | 2.0 | High humidity for most of night. Enclosure failed to open. |
| 23 April | 6.7 | 0.0 | 1.5 | Photometric. AZM lost homing, autorecovered (1.5). Operating over restricted Alt range. |
| 22 April | 6.6 | 0.0 | 1.6 | Photometric. AZM lost homing, autorecovered (1.6). Operating over restricted Alt range. |
| 21 April | 0.0 | 8.2 | 0.0 | Humidity |
| 20 April | 7.0 | 0.2 | 1.0 | Non-photometric. AZM lost homing x 2 , autorecovered (0.6). Cas unresponsive, autorecovered (0.4). Operating over restricted Alt range. |
| 19 April | 8.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | Photometric. AZM lost homing, autorecovered. Operating over restricted Alt range. |
| 18 April | 0.0 | 8.3 | 0.0 | Humidity |
| 17 April | 6.5 | 1.8 | 0.0 | Thick cloud at start of night. |
| 16 April | 0.0 | 8.4 | 0.0 | Thick Cloud |
| 15 April | 7.7 | 0.0 | 0.7 | Non-photometric. AZM lost homing, autorecovered ok. |
| 14 April | 8.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 13 April | 0.0 | 8.6 | 0.0 | Humidity |
| 12 April | 0.0 | 8.6 | 0.0 | Humidity |
| 11 April | 6.6 | 2.0 | 0.0 | Cloud |
| 10 April | 1.1 | 7.5 | 0.0 | Humidity until last hour of night |
| 9 April | 0.0 | 8.6 | 0.0 | Wind & Rain. |
| 8 April | 1.0 | 7.6 | 0.0 | Wind & Rain. |
| 7 April | 8.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. |
| 6 April | 7.1 | 0.0 | 1.3 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. AZM unresponsive, autorecoved ok. |
| 5 April | 7.9 | 0.0 | 0.9 | SupIRCam only. Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. |
| 4 April | 7.1 | 1.7 | 0.0 | High winds at start of night. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. |
| 3 April | 0.0 | 8.8 | 0.0 | High winds. |
| 2 April | 8.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. |
| 1 April | 8.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. |
March 2006
Hours spent Observing: 175.7, Weather: 51.5, Technical downtime: 35.8
Reliability and Downtime
Telescope reliabilty has been good through February and March,
with less than 10% downtime. Over the two months, three full nights have been
lost to three different unrelated errors. All were quickly resolved once
we had someone on site the following day. This is the expected nature of
the telescope. All other faults have been corrected remotely during the
day before start-up or automatically by the software during the night.
Engineering
We had a major engineering visit this month involving several
staff and installation of a variety of new facilities and fixes.
- The broken cryogenic system on SupIRCam has been restored and the instrument is currently operating. Its performance is still under daily review, but for the time being at least, it is in routine nightly operation. Users with SupIRCam time are encouraged to submit their phase 2 forms.
- The new encoder system developed by TTL to deal with an alignment problem with the secondary mirror has been commissioned and tested. Pointing and open-loop tracking performance have both been significantly enhanced by this. The blind pointing accuracy is currently 6 arcsec RMS and we anticipate this will improve further in the coming months.
- Following the unsuccessful work late last year, a second attempt was made at correcting the astigmatism in the primary mirror cell. The new arrangement of pneumatic actuators in the mirror cell appears to have worked very well. Performance will continue to be monitored over the coming months to ensure that this has genuinely been a long term solution.
- A change to mounting procedures for the A&G box has led to a significant increase in the repeatability and evenness of motion in the cassegrain derotator. This long standing problem, though not appearing as any obvious fault in the science data, has been degrading pointing performance.
- A change to the network wiring infrastructure has reduced the number of network communications errors (appearing as "node unresponsive" in the night logs), but not yet fully resolved this issue.
User Support and Time Allocation
A change has been made this month to the way the robotic control
system handles exceptionally poor seeing. If the system's automated
assessment of the seeing degrades past 3 arcsec, the RCS will revert to a
background mode and will simply monitor photometric standard fields until
it judges the conditions are sufficient to recommence science operations.
This means that on rare, very poor nights you might see a large
number of standards being taken.
The PATT 06B application round yielded an over-subscription rate of 1.7. The panel plans to meet in mid-May. The JMU TAC application deadline will be the end of April for semester 06B.
Among the new facilities aleady installed, tested and available for semester 06B are Ephemeris Groups and the Ringo instrument. See the phase 1 web pages for more details.
Autoguider
As described in our last report, we are working to an ambitious
schedule to deliver the new autoguider for the telescope. The required
mechanical work is now almost complete. There is a small amount of
electrical work to do, but the main task now is software development,
which is still on schedule for installation during the Summer as was
originally planned.
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 31 March | 8.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. |
| 30 March | 5.3 | 3.7 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. High winds. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. |
| 29 March | 8.7 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. AMN unresponsive/reboot (0.3) |
| 28 March | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.0 | Instrument Control Computer failed |
| 27 March | 9.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. |
| 26 March | 7.0 | 2.1 | 0.0 | Thick cloud. Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. |
| 25 March | 9.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Operating over restricted Alt range due to azimuth instability. |
| 24 March | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.2 | Azimuth instability and oil distribution fault |
| 23 March | 4.6 | 0.0 | 4.6 | Non-photometric. Problems with Azimuth axis instability |
| 22 March | 9.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. |
| 21 March | 9.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. 3 hours of scheduled engineering at start of night. |
| 20 March | 9.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 19 March | 5.3 | 4.0 | 0.0 | High humidity at start and end of night |
| 18 March | 8.2 | 1.1 | 0.0 | High humidity during second half of night |
| 17 March | 0.0 | 9.4 | 0.0 | High winds and rain all night. |
| 16 March | 0.0 | 9.5 | 0.0 | High winds and rain all night. |
| 15 March | 5.6 | 3.5 | 0.4 | Non-photometric. High winds. AZM lost homing, autorecovered ok. |
| 14 March | Scheduled engineering | |||
| 13 March | Scheduled engineering | |||
| 12 March | Scheduled engineering | |||
| 11 March | 9.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 10 March | 5.2 | 0.0 | 4.4 | Photometric. Power distribution fault. |
| 9 March | 8.6 | 0.0 | 1.0 | Photometric. CCD ontrol computer locked. Manually rebooted. |
| 8 March | 9.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 | Non-Photometric. Calima, not cloud. AMN unresponsive, autorecovered (0.5) |
| 7 March | 9.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 6 March | 9.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. 5" seeing |
| 5 March | 9.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 4 March | 0.0 | 3.7 | 6.0 | High humidity, Rain sensor problems |
| 3 March | 5.8 | 4.0 | 0.0 | High humidity from 01:30 |
| 2 March | 9.4 | 0.0 | 0.4 | Non photometric, AMN unresponsive, autorecovered ok. |
| 1 March | 0.0 | 9.8 | 0.0 | Ice |
February 2006
Hours spent Observing: 128.8, Weather: 139.4, Technical downtime: 16.4
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 28 February | 0.0 | 9.8 | 0.0 | Snow and Ice, High humidity |
| 27 February | 0.0 | 9.8 | 0.0 | High humidity, rain |
| 26 February | 9.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric |
| 25 February | 0.0 | 9.9 | 0.0 | Humidity |
| 24 February | 9.6 | 0.0 | 0.3 | Reboot for encoder errors. |
| 23 February | 8.5 | 1.5 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. Cloud inceasing through night. |
| 22 February | 10.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 21 February | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.0 | Power supply to P36 Canbus node |
| 20 February | 10.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 19 February | 10.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | M2 encoder commissioning. Non-photometric. |
| 18 February | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.0 | M2 encoder commissioning, pointing problems, high humidity |
| 17 February | 10.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric. |
| 16 February | 8.0 | 0.0 | 2.1 | Photometric. RCS upgrade lost 2.1 hours |
| 15 February | 0.0 | 10.1 | 0.0 | Ice |
| 14 February | 0.0 | 10.1 | 0.0 | Freezing fog |
| 13 February | 0.0 | 10.2 | 0.0 | High winds, thick cloud |
| 12 February | 0.0 | 10.2 | 0.0 | High humidity all night |
| 11 February | 0.0 | 10.2 | 0.0 | High humidity all night |
| 10 February | 0.0 | 10.3 | 0.0 | High humidity all night |
| 9 February | 0.0 | 10.3 | 0.0 | Very wet and stormy. Snow. |
| 8 February | 0.0 | 10.3 | 0.0 | Very wet and stormy. Snow. |
| 7 February | 0.0 | 10.4 | 0.0 | Very wet and stormy |
| 6 February | 0.0 | 10.4 | 0.0 | Humidity |
| 5 February | 10.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric |
| 4 February | 10.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-photometric. (Very very little cloud) |
| 3 February | 10.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 2 February | 10.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Photometric |
| 1 February | 7.0 | 2.4 | 1.0 | Photometric until close for humidity. Network interface timeouts (1.0) |
January 2006
Hours spent Observing: 47.5, Weather: 247.3, Technical downtime: 37.8
Reliability and Downtime
Downtime this month has
been strongly dominated by the weather. Though it has
not been as bad as last February, there has been a significant
amount of snow again this year. An analysis of the technical
downtime reveals that it is split roughly 50:50 between alignment
of portal encoders and mundane IT related faults (hard disk
failures etc). In contrast to previous months, the time lost
has been in a very few full nights rather than a greater number
of short interruptions. The enclosure fault in particular required
an emergency site visit by staff. Design work is now ongoing
to investigate if the system can be made intrinsically more
robust or reoccurrence prevented simply through routine monitoring.
Engineering
There have been no major scheduled
engineering works since the last report. The next is planned
to take place in March and will focus primarily on the repair
and recommissioning of SupIRCam.
User Support and Time Allocation
Recent decisions
by the PATT
and JMU Telescope Allocation
Committees (TACs) have led to a significant change in telescope
time allocation in the present semester (2006A). Beginning
with this semester, all proposals which have not been specifically
allocated time for this and subsequent semesters have been expired.
The previous arrangement whereby once a proposal was given
time, it continued to be active until either the observing programme
was completed or the proposal used up all its time allocation,
has been discontinued. Proposals which have been allocated time
by JMU and PATT TACs are listed on the LT website allocations page.
Accordingly, please note that IF YOUR PROPOSAL IS NOT LISTED IN 2006A on the above webpages then IT HAS BEEN EXPIRED AND IS NO LONGER ACTIVE. A further application will be necessary to the appropriate TAC to re-activate the proposal in a future semester.
The decisions of the two TACs were made to make available more time on the LT and encourage competitive submission and scrutiny of existing and new proposals. Both TACs are certainly keen to receive proposals which are continuations of existing programmes.
Autoguider
We are well aware that several users
have been significantly affected by the unavailability of the
LT Autoguider. Over the past couple of months we have been actively
investigating alternative ways of resolving the many problems
we have had with providing this facility and we are pleased
to be able to report we now have a way forward.
The original autoguider for the LT was supplied by TTL. This failed during the telescope commissioning process when the chip delaminated from its cooler, causing permanent damage. This month the decision has therefore been confirmed to take the process of designing and building an autoguider in-house at the ARI. The new hardware design is based around a commercial off-the-shelf CCD camera head with a back illuminated detector. The control and centroiding software will be developed in-house at the ARI building on the demonstrated success of RATCam and RINGO instruments. As well as ensuring the work is done in a timely fashion, this also has the advantage of allowing a much tighter coupling of the autoguider control with the robotic control system of the telescope which was also developed at the ARI.
Guided by the specific requests of users, we have adopted a very aggressive schedule for the required software development and plan by June 2006 to have a working autoguider available for use on the LT. We will update you with progress as information becomes available.
| Date | Hours Used | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observing | Weather | Technical | ||
| 31 January | 3.0 | 7.5 | 0.0 | High cloud. Non-photometric |
| 30 January | 10.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Full robotic night |
| 29 January | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.5 | Problems with TCC disk |
| 28 January | 0.0 | 10.6 | 0.0 | Ice |
| 27 January | 0.0 | 10.6 | 0.0 | Humidity |
| 26 January | 0.0 | 10.6 | 0.0 | Humidity |
| 25 January | 0.0 | 10.6 | 0.0 | Rain |
| 24 January | 0.0 | 10.6 | 0.0 | Rain |
| 23 January | 0.0 | 6.8 | 3.8 | Enclosure fault |
| 22 January | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.6 | Enclosure fault |
| 21 January | 10.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Full night robotic operations |
| 20 January | 0.0 | 10.7 | 0.0 | Humidty, Cloud, Ice |
| 19 January | 0.0 | 10.7 | 0.0 | Heavy Ice buildup |
| 18 January | 0.0 | 10.7 | 0.0 | Heavy Ice buildup |
| 17 January | 0.0 | 10.7 | 0.0 | High humidity, Ice |
| 16 January | 0.0 | 10.7 | 0.0 | High humidity, Ice |
| 15 January | 0.0 | 10.7 | 0.0 | High humidity |
| 14 January | 0.0 | 0.0 | 10.7 | Altitude Node will not boot |
| 13 January | 0.0 | 10.7 | 0.0 | High humidity |
| 12 January | 0.0 | 10.8 | 0.0 | High humidity |
| 11 January | 0.0 | 10.8 | 0.0 | Snow and high humidity |
| 10 January | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Humidity and cloud |
| 9 January | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Its snowing... |
| 8 January | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Its snowing... |
| 7 January | 5.5 | 3.3 | 2.2 | Humidity until 11pm. Oil Temperature Fault at 04:30 am. |
| 6 January | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Humidity, Ice |
| 5 January | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Humidity, Ice |
| 4 January | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | Freezing Fog |
| 3 January | 0.0 | 10.9 | 0.0 | High humidity |
| 2 January | 10.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Non-Photometric. |
| 1 January | 7.0 | 3.9 | 0.0 | Photometric. High humidity spikes at start of night. |
