Mauna Loa Solar Observatory Observer's Log ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thu Feb 2 17:12:07 GMT 1995 Year: 95 Doy: 033 Observer: yasukawa WEATHER COMMENT: Thu Feb 2 17:12:25 GMT 1995 Cool, clear, southwest wind. Temp=39F Thu Feb 2 17:19:57 GMT 1995: Patrol Start MKIII COMMENT: Thu Feb 2 17:20:14 GMT 1995 MKIII will get a late start, need to wait for extinction to slow, then do correction before taking data. MKIII COMMENT: Thu Feb 2 17:33:11 GMT 1995 Comments about yesterday's alignmment adventures: Sky cleared in the latter afternoon so KVS and EAY fired up the MKIII and started alignment work on both channels 1, then 0. First, we put in slot mask and opal to document the starting pixel heights. Next we applied the use of a polarizer ahead oof the beam splitter in channel 1 (optical chan 3) to determine the polarization axis that gives the best amplitude, then attempted focus of the S detector using the focus adjustment ahead of the filter/lens/beam-splitter/ detector assemblies. A slight adjustment of about a 45-degree CW turn was made to sharpen the middle-slot peak was made. The polarizer was removed, and alignment adjusting the up/down and rotation was done with the goal of flattening the middle and outer slot P-S signatures at the expense of the inner slot signature to optimize chan 1's outer corona coverage since we are still not able to flatten all of the P-S peaks. After we were satisfied that we were at the best alignment, we documented the slot mask with opal to tape. We next checked focus on channel 0 (optical chan 2) and it looked good. We then moved both P and S detectors inward the same amount in order to eliminate the 10-outer pixel loss that we got after the last (1/19) alignment. We moved the detectors lower in the corona until the lower slot in the mask became visible. Then we adjusted the detectors with the goal of reducing the sawtooth P-S signatures, compromising the outer signature in favor of the inner and middle slot signatures. When we were satisfied (burned-out, actually), we documented the mask with opal to tape. Since the day's data tape was already removed, we started another tape for the alignment documentation. Used H00956. Scan-log for that tape: DOY 32(33) START TAPE H00956: 00:24:24 FILES: Before alignment: 0:27 0:30 0:34 After chan 1 alignment: 2:19 2:22 After chan 0 alignment: 3:28 3:31 We did not perform corrections as mentioned earlier because the sun was about to set by the time we finished the last steps. Corrections will be performed today in a little while after the sun climbs out of the rapidly changing airmass before starting MKIII data acquisition. Thu Feb 2 18:01:58 GMT 1995: Calibration MKIII COMMENT: Thu Feb 2 18:23:04 GMT 1995 Corrections pau. Beginning scans. Loaf-of-bread and P-S profiles look a bit ugly. MKIII COMMENT: Thu Feb 2 18:25:19 GMT 1995 Oops, just took opal out. MKIII COMMENT: Thu Feb 2 18:47:29 GMT 1995 Stopping to re attempt alignment. Thu Feb 2 19:02:01 GMT 1995: Calibration Thu Feb 2 20:02:01 GMT 1995: Calibration Thu Feb 2 21:02:03 GMT 1995: Calibration Thu Feb 2 22:02:06 GMT 1995: Calibration Thu Feb 2 23:01:56 GMT 1995: Calibration MKIII COMMENT: Thu Feb 2 23:43:27 GMT 1995 Attempt to get alignment back and possibly better finished. Running CORRECT on both channels. Fri Feb 3 00:01:56 GMT 1995: Calibration MKIII COMMENT: Fri Feb 3 00:10:04 GMT 1995 I think we: 1. aligned chan 0 fairly well, enough to convince ourselves that we are seeing corona in a rather noisy sky. 2. Vdiff looks brighter when comparing latest scan so we think we are looking closer in again. 3. Channel 1 still needs work. We think it is focused. This will help when we experiment by taking the compensator plates out and need to refocus. we tried adjusting the rotation and up/down but probably fell into the trap of being fooled with using just the mask to align. We learned that: 1. We need to look at the slit without the mask and adjust the rotation of the detectors to optimize the P+S ramp. 2.adjust P or S to get three single peaks on P+S, maximizing the amplitude OR optimize the phasing of the sawtooth on P-S, closing in to where the phase changes if one can't flatten the profile out completely (have never gotten to that point). 3. Adjust P and S together (both inward or outward) together or use the prism adjustment to change the height of the detector pair. Since scans were so noisy and previous scans were badly misaligned, we decided to call today a GREEN DOT, maintenence day and recycle the tape. The plan is to get coronal data with the present alignment over the weekend (Eric will be on vacation) and on Wednesday, weather permitting, Eric will document the pixel heights using the slot mask. Eric will upload the corrector tables to Boulder at that time also. Then as time permits Eric will fine tune the alignment of ch0 and work on re-aligning ch1. COMMENT: Fri Feb 3 00:46:04 GMT 1995 Activity Report: QP: 221; No coronal data Tapes: DPMON: P00273 LOWL: L00175 Fri Feb 3 00:47:27 GMT 1995: Filemark