Night Reports 2019

In the tables below, Observing, Weather and Technical refer to time spent observing, time lost to bad weather, and time lost because of technical problems. Note that Observing includes time spent on calibration observations and, occasionally, scheduled on-sky test observations; Technical does not include scheduled downtime (e.g. for planned engineering work).

The Night Duty Officer estimates whether the night was photometric or non-photometric (spectroscopic) based on satellite imagery and SkyCam data obtained through the night. This is a qualitative assessment only and may not always be entirely accurate. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT, ON OCCASION, OBSERVATIONS REQUIRING PHOTOMETRIC CONDITIONS ARE ACQUIRED IN NON-PHOTOMETRIC CONDITIONS. Users should check the quality of their data carefully. Good, average and poor seeing refers to inferred zenith seeing of < 1.0 arcsec, 1.0-2.0 arcsec, and > 2.0 arcsec, respectively. Calima refers to a warm wind that occasionally blows over from the Sahara and brings a lot of fine dust forcing a shutdown to protect the optics.

SKYCAM MOVIES AND ATMOSPHERIC TRANSMISSION

Below we also provide links to Movies constructed from a sequence of optical images obtained with either SkyCam-A (covering the whole sky), SkyCam-T (now showing a 9 degree field centred on each target; was 21 deg pre-21 Oct) or SkyCam-Z (1 degree field). Images are obtained every minute or so throughout the entire night. These movies can usually be used to establish, qualitatively at least, how clear or cloudy a given night was. On bright nights (i.e. when the moon is up), the smaller-field camera's T and Z are often more useful than the full-sky camera A. Additional movies and still images are available from the Skycam Archive. Plots of SkyCamZ Zero Point data are also provided. Zero points here are defined with respect to APASS 10 < r < 13 with no colour term. These indicate to first order periods of thin or thick cloud. A clear night usually results in a flat distribution of ZP values, while thick cloud causes a dip in the ZP level. 'A', 'T' and 'Z' in the SkyCam columns refer to the camera from which the data were acquired.

March 2019

Date	Hours Used			Comment	SkyCam
	Observing	Weather	Technical		ZP Plot	Movie
20 Mar	9.0	0.0	0.3	Non-photometric, average seeing. Alt node reboot.	T	A T Z
19 Mar	9.0	0.0	0.3	Photometric, average seeing. Alt node reboot.	T	A T Z
18 Mar	9.0	0.0	0.3	Non-photometric, average seeing. Alt node reboot.	T	A T Z
17 Mar	3.0	6.4	0.0	Non-photometric. Good seeing until high-level clouds arrived.	T	A T Z
16 Mar	9.4	0.0	0.0	Photometric. Average seeing.	T	A T Z
15 Mar	9.4	0.0	0.0	Photometric. Good/average seeing.	T	A T Z
14 Mar	9.4	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric. Average seeing.	T	A T Z
13 Mar	9.4	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric. Good seeing. Some IO:O images used bad flat image.	T	A T Z
12 Mar	9.5	0.0	0.0	Photometric, good seeing.	T	A T Z
11 Mar	9.5	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric, good/average seeing.	T	A T Z
10 Mar	0.0	0.0	9.5	Technical UPS fault, telescope offline.	T	A T Z
9 Mar	0.0	0.0	9.6	Technical UPS fault.	T	A T Z
8 Mar	0.0	0.0	9.6	Technical UPS fault, telescope offline.	T	A T Z
7 Mar	0.0	9.6	0.0	High humidity all night, no observing.	T	A T Z
6 Mar	9.7	0.0	0.0	Average to bad seeing in non photometric conditions.	T	A T Z
5 Mar	2.7	7.1	0.0	Non photometric with good to average seeing. High humidity and low temperatures resulting in an hour of ice this morning.	T	A T Z
4 Mar	9.7	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric with average seeing.	T	A T -
3 Mar	9.8	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric, good seeing. 3 Cassegrain axis stops.	T	A T -
2 Mar	9.8	0.0	0.0	Photometric, good seeing.	T	A T -
1 Mar	7.3	2.5	0.0	Non-photometric, average seeing. High cloud 2nd half of night.	T	A T -

February 2019

Date	Hours Used			Comment	SkyCam
	Observing	Weather	Technical		ZP Plot	Movie
28 Feb	6.8	0.0	3.0	Non-photometric, good-average seeing. 2 Cassegrain Node reboots, leading to repeat of hour long groups.	Z	A T -
27 Feb	9.8	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric,ggood-average seeing.	T	A T -
26 Feb	9.9	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric, good seeing.	T	A T -
25 Feb	9.9	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric, good-average seeing. High cloud 2nd half of night.	T	A T -
24 Feb	9.9	0.0	0.0	Photometric, good-average seeing.	T	A T -
23 Feb	10.0	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric, average seeing.	T	A T -
22 Feb	10.0	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric, average-poor seeing.	T	A T -
21 Feb	4.8	5.2	0.0	Non-photometric, poor seeing. Very windy at times.	T	A T -
20 Feb	6.2	3.8	0.0	Non-photometric, good-to-average seeing. Cloud during first half of the night.	T	A T -
19 Feb	4.1	5.9	0.0	Non-photometric, average seeing. Cloud in middle of night.	T	A T -
18 Feb	0.0	10.1	0.0	Ice risk on enclosure mechanisms.	-	-
17 Feb	0.0	10.1	0.0	Ice	-	-
16 Feb	0.0	10.1	0.0	Ice	-	-
15 Feb	0.0	10.1	0.0	Ice	-	-
14 Feb	0.0	10.1	0.0	Humidity. High winds.	-	-
13 Feb	8.7	1.5	0.0	Photometric. Very poor seeing. High winds. Poor data quality.	T	A T -
12 Feb	10.2	0.0	0.0	Photometric. Good seeing.	T	A T -
11 Feb	9.4	0.8	0.0	Non-photometric. Average seeing. Cloud before midnight.	T	A T -
10 Feb	10.2	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric. Seeing average to poor. Intermittent thin cloud	T	A T -
9 Feb	10.3	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric. Seeing good to average.	-	A - -
8 Feb	9.3	0.0	1.0	Photometric, degrading later. Seeing good to average. Cassegrain startup delayed.	-	A - -
7 Feb	10.3	0.0	0.0	Photometric. Seeing average to good.	T	A T -
6 Feb	9.6	0.0	0.7	Non-photometric. Seeing average to good. Engineering tests at 21:30 for 0.7 hours	T	A T -
5 Feb	10.4	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric. Average seeing.	-	A - -
4 Feb	10.4	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric. Average/poor seeing.	-	A - -
3 Feb	10.4	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric, average/poor seeing.	-	A - -
2 Feb	10.4	0.0	0.0	Photometric, average seeing.	-	A - -
1 Feb	3.0	7.4	0.0	Photometric, average seeing. High humidity.	-	A - -

January 2019

Date	Hours Used			Comment	SkyCam
	Observing	Weather	Technical		ZP Plot	Movie
31 Jan	10.5	0.0	0.0	Photometric, good/average seeing.	Z	A T Z
30 Jan	10.5	0.0	0.0	Photometric, good/average seeing.	Z	A T Z
29 Jan	10.5	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric, average seeing.	Z	A T Z
28 Jan	10.6	0.0	0.0	Photometric, average seeing.	Z	A T Z
27 Jan	10.6	0.0	0.0	Photometric, good/average seeing.	Z	A T Z
26 Jan	10.0	0.3	0.3	Non-photometric, average seeing.	Z	A T Z
25 Jan	10.6	0.0	0.0	Photometric, good/average seeing.	Z	A T Z
24 Jan	10.3	0.0	0.3	Photometric, average/poor seeing.	Z	A T Z
23 Jan	10.6	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric, average seeing.	Z	A T Z
22 Jan	10.6	0.0	0.0	Photometric, poor seeing.	Z	A T Z
21 Jan	0.0	10.6	0.0	High humidity, ice.	Z	A T Z
20 Jan	6.0	4.7	0.0	High humidity. Average seeing, photometric.	Z	A T Z
19 Jan	9.7	0.0	1.0	PLC Master Error, Altitude Errors. Good seeing, photometric.	Z	A T Z
18 Jan	0.0	10.7	0.0	Ice on enclosure.	Z	A T Z
17 Jan	0.0	10.7	0.0	High humidity and sub-zero temperatures.	Z	A T Z
16 Jan	0.0	10.7	0.0	High humidity and sub-zero temperatures.	Z	A T Z
15 Jan	10.7	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric with average/good seeing.	Z	A T Z
14 Jan	9.6	1.1	0.0	Non-photometric with average seeing. High humidity at beginning of night.	Z	A T Z
13 Jan	10.7	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric conditions. Average seeing.	Z	A T Z
12 Jan	10.7	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric conditions. Average seeing.	Z	A T Z
11 Jan	10.6	0.0	0.1	Photometric conditions. Average seeing.	Z	A T Z
10 Jan	10.3	0.0	0.5	Photometric observing conditions with average seeing.	Z	A T Z
9 Jan	10.7	0.0	0.1	Photometric observing conditions. Average seeing.	Z	A T Z
8 Jan	9.7	0.0	1.1	Non-photometric with average seeing.	Z	A T Z
7 Jan	9.4	1.4	0.0	Non-photmetric, average to poor seeing. High cloud at start of night.	Z	A T Z
6 Jan	2.4	8.0	0.4	Non-photometric, average seeing. Fault with cassegrain axis and closure due to cloud.	Z	A T Z
5 Jan	10.4	0.0	0.4	Non-photometric, good/average seeing. Fault with cassegrain axis.	Z	A T Z
4 Jan	10.8	0.0	0.0	Photometric, average seeing.	Z	A T Z
3 Jan	10.8	0.0	0.0	Non-photometric, average seeing.	Z	A T Z
2 Jan	10.4	0.0	0.4	Non-photometric, average seeing. Fault with cassegrain axis.	Z	A T Z
1 Jan	10.5	0.0	0.4	Non-photometric, good-average seeing. Fault with cassegrain axis.	Z	A T Z