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Night Reports 2024

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 2024

DateHours UsedCommentSkyCam
ObservingWeatherTechnicalZP PlotMovie
17 Mar9.40.00.0Photometric with average seeing. T A T -
16 Mar9.40.00.0Started photometric but changed to non-photometric around midnight. Average seeing. T A T -
15 Mar8.90.00.5Photometric with good/average seeing. Cassegrain torque errors/node reboot, leading to an alt homing failure/node reboot. T A T -
14 Mar9.40.00.0Photometric with good/average seeing. T A T -
13 Mar9.40.00.0Photometric with good/average seeing. T A T -
12 Mar0.68.90.0Non-photometric with average seeing. Thick cloud and high humidity. T A T -
11 Mar9.50.00.0Non-photometric with good/average seeing. T A T -
10 Mar9.50.00.0Mostly photometric. Cloud at end of night. Average seeing T A T -
9 Mar9.60.00.0Photometric. Good seeing T A T -
8 Mar8.01.60.0Photometric. Average seeing T A T -
7 Mar0.09.60.0Wet all night - - - -
6 Mar8.61.10.0Photometric, good seeing. Humidity at end of night. T A T -
5 Mar9.20.30.2Non-photometric, good seeing. SMF failed, AMN reboot. T A T -
4 Mar7.80.00.0Non-photometric, average seeing. Instrument commissioning (1.9h) at start of night. T A T -
3 Mar7.90.00.0Photometric, good/average seeing. Instrument commissioning (1.9h) at start of night. T A T -
2 Mar0.09.80.0High humidity and ice. - - - -
1 Mar0.09.80.0High humidity. - - - -

February 2024

DateHours UsedCommentSkyCam
ObservingWeatherTechnicalZP PlotMovie
29 Feb0.09.80.0High humidity. - - - -
28 Feb9.50.00.3Photometric with average/poor seeing, cassegrain axis fault. T A T -
27 Feb9.80.00.0Photometric with average/poor seeing. T A T -
26 Feb9.90.00.0Non-photometric with average/poor seeing. T A T -
25 Feb8.41.50.0Non-photometric with average seeing. Closed for thick cloud at end of night. T A T -
24 Feb9.90.00.0Photometric with average seeing. T A T -
23 Feb100.00.0Photometric with average seeing. T A T -
22 Feb100.00.0Photometric with average seeing. T A T -
21 Feb100.00.0Photometric with average seeing. T A T -
20 Feb100.00.0Photometric with average seeing. T A T -
19 Feb9.70.00.3Non-photometric with average seeing. AMN node reboot. T A T -
18 Feb10.10.00.0Photometric with very poor (improving to average) seeing. T A T -
17 Feb10.10.00.0Photometric with average/poor seeing. T A T -
16 Feb10.10.00.0Photometric with average/poor seeing. T A T -
15 Feb10.10.00.0Non-photometric with good/average seeing. T A T -
14 Feb0.69.50.0Non-photometric with average seeing. High humidity. T A T -
13 Feb10.20.00.0Non-photometric with good/average seeing. T A T -
12 Feb10.20.00.0Non-photometric with good/average seeing. T A T -
11 Feb10.20.00.0Set photometric but thin cloud after 00:00. Good seeing. T A T -
10 Feb9.80.00.4Non-photometric with good to average seeing. AMN node reboot. T A T -
9 Feb0.010.30.0High humidity. T A T -
8 Feb2.87.50.0Non-photometric with average seeing. High humidity T A T -
7 Feb10.30.00.0Non-photometric with average seeing. T A T -
6 Feb10.30.00.0Non-photometric with good seeing. T A T -
5 Feb10.40.00.0Non-photometric with good/average seeing. T A T -
4 Feb10.40.00.0Non-photometric with good/average seeing. T A T -
3 Feb6.24.20.0Non-photometric with average seeing, cloud in morning. T A T -
2 Feb10.40.00.0Non-photometric with good/average seeing. T A T -
1 Feb10.40.00.0Photometric with good/average seeing. T A T -

January 2024

DateHours UsedCommentSkyCam
ObservingWeatherTechnicalZP PlotMovie
31 Jan10.50.00.0Photometric with good seeing. T A T -
30 Jan10.50.00.0Photometric with average seeing. T A T -
29 Jan10.50.00.0Photometric with good seeing. T A T -
28 Jan10.60.00.0Photometric with average seeing. Some high calima levels. T A T -
27 Jan10.60.00.0Photometric with average seeing. T A T -
26 Jan10.60.00.0Photometric with average seeing. T A T -
25 Jan10.10.00.5Non-photometric with poor seeing. AMN node reboot. T A T -
24 Jan10.60.00.0Non-photometric with poor seeing. T A T -
23 Jan10.60.00.0Photometric with average/poor seeing. T A T -
22 Jan6.00.04.6Photometric with average seeing. Cassegrain torque fault for last half of night. T A T -
21 Jan10.60.00.0Photometric. Poor seeing. T A T -
20 Jan7.73.00.0Photometric. Poor seeing. T A T -
19 Jan7.73.00.0Non-photometric. Poor seeing. T A T -
18 Jan3.57.20.0Non-photometric. Poor seeing. T A T -
17 Jan4.56.20.0Non-photometric. Average seeing. Some instrument commissioning work. T A T -
16 Jan0.05.15.7Non-photometric with poor seeing. Telescope primary mirror/collimation problem. High humidity. T A T -
15 Jan5.94.80.0Non-photometric, poor seeing. High winds, thick cloud and high humidity. T A T -
14 Jan9.41.30.0Non-photometic, average seeing. Thick high cloud. T A T -
13 Jan2.38.40.0Non-photometric, average/poor seeing. High humidity. T A T -
12 Jan0.010.70.0High humidity and high winds. Telescope offline to fit new autoguider. - - - -
11 Jan4.56.20.0Set photometric,poor seeing. High winds. T A T -
10 Jan8.62.20.0Non-photometric. Average, but wildly variable, seeing T A T -
9 Jan8.52.30.0Photometric. Average seeing. High humidity at start of night T A T -
8 Jan10.80.00.0Non-photometric, average seeing T A T -
7 Jan10.40.40.0Non-photometric, good seeing, high humidity in evening. T A T -
6 Jan7.43.40.0Non-photometric, good seeing, high humidity in second half of night. T A T -
5 Jan0.010.80.0High humidity. T A T -
4 Jan6.23.51.1Non-photometric, average seeing, humidity at start of night, altitude axis fault. T A T -
3 Jan10.10.00.7Non-photometric, good to average seeing, cassegrain axis fault. T A T -
2 Jan7.33.50.0Photometric, average/poor seeing, high humidity at times. T A T -
1 Jan0.010.90.0High humidity. - - - -