----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mauna Loa Solar Observatory Observer's Log ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fri May 15 16:45:56 GMT 2026 Year:26 Doy:135 Observer: mcotter Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 16:50:50 GMT 2026 MLO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-05-15 16:41:00 Temperature : 43.75 deg F Dew Point : -4.31 deg F Pressure : 677.65 mbar Wind Speed : 2.91 mph Wind Direction : 171.8 deg Skies: Heavily overcast in the Saddle Valley with dense fog up the 7,500' elevation level. A dark blue gray inversion layer visible on the horizon above 10,000'. Overhead the sky is covered with Cirrus, Cirrostratus and Altocumulus clouds. ___end___ GENERAL COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 16:52:06 GMT 2026 Dome closed: At this time no observations are possible so the Dome will remain closed and the instrument idle. ___end___ Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 17:34:52 GMT 2026 MLO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-05-15 17:32:00 Temperature : 48.88 deg F Dew Point : 12.11 deg F Pressure : 678.25 mbar Wind Speed : 3.58 mph Wind Direction : 348.3 deg Skies: The overhead skies have cleared up a bit. ___end___ KCOR COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 17:36:16 GMT 2026 Kcor: The sky overhead has cleared a bit so I am going to start the Kcor computer and attempt to get the instrument on sky, if the sky is not too bright. ___end___ Fri May 15 17:52:01 GMT 2026 Kcor Focus/alignment program exited Fri May 15 18:11:07 GMT 2026 Kcor Focus/alignment program exited GENERAL COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 18:19:13 GMT 2026 Opened windows upstairs ___end___ GENERAL COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 18:19:18 GMT 2026 Dome open ___end___ KCOR BY mcotter: Fri May 15 19:17:23 GMT 2026 Kcor: The Kcor Instrument has been started. The Focus Routine ran as normal but when starting the Observing program the screen came up with five sets of Synoptic images (ten total) rather than the normal four sets (eight total) that I have typically saw in the past. I thought the program may have been corrupted. I stopped the Observing code and exited the program. I also shut down the MC4U program as it had flickered a few times while it was on the desktop and I was uncertain if there had been a glitch to the program when opening. I restarted the MC4U program and the Focus Routine, then ran the focus again. Next I restarted the Observing program as normal. Again the Observing screen shows five sets of synoptic images (ten total). The top four sets looked good and when I put the polarizer into the beam the images looked correct (Mid, Bright Dark, Mid). I am letting the instrument continue to observe, as the images that I normally look at look good and correct. The very bottom set of images looked odd to me, so I took a screen shot of the desktop and put it into a shared Google Doc and texted Ben to see if he knew what was going on with the Synoptic images and Observing code. Ben called me back and explained to me that this was a feature that he was working on (not yet completed) that would give the observing operator a new tool and visual reference to ensure that the polarization was in the correct position. There was no issue with the observing when I first started the Observing program, but only that I had not yet been informed of the new feature in the GUI. The new bottom set of Synoptic images is set up to look like a Level 0 display. If there is an issue with the polarizer position at any time the bottom images will show this error in a 15 second cadence. If the polarizer is an odd number of steps off the images will have the appearance of a "Flower like" pattern with four petals around the occulter. If the polarizer is an even number of steps off the images will have an over saturated reverse exposure appearance. ___end___ KCOR COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 19:19:22 GMT 2026 Kcor: The Kcor Instrument is observing with no problems. The sky has cleared up nicely and the images look good. ___end___ Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 19:49:06 GMT 2026 MLO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-05-15 19:41:00 Temperature : 51.24 deg F Dew Point : 29.64 deg F Pressure : 679.23 mbar Wind Speed : 6.04 mph Wind Direction : 303.6 deg Skies: Clouds have increase quite a bit in the Saddle Valley and are making their way up the northern slope of Maunaloa. Also Orthographic clouds are forming to the west and moving up the western slope. Additionally, Clouds have crested the top of the mountain to the south-southeast and are moving toward the observatory. ___end___ Fri May 15 20:16:21 GMT 2026 KCOR Start Calibration script: c:\kcor\mlso-calibration22deg-20171025.ini Fri May 15 20:31:32 GMT 2026 KCOR End Calibration Script Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 21:03:46 GMT 2026 MLO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-05-15 20:59:00 Temperature : 50.2 deg F Dew Point : 33.56 deg F Pressure : 679.57 mbar Wind Speed : 6.71 mph Wind Direction : 5.6 deg Skies: Clouds have moved into the observing area and are now covering the sky. ___end___ KCOR BY mcotter: Fri May 15 21:05:07 GMT 2026 Kcor Stopped: Due to overcast sky conditions the instrument has been stopped. ___end___ GENERAL COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 21:12:45 GMT 2026 Dome closed. Windows closed. ___end___ KCOR COMMENT BY KCOR: Fri May 15 21:15:42 GMT 2026 KCOR file transfer report KCor created 692 .bin files 690 .fts files NOTICE ? 2 .bin file(s) with no matching .fts: 20260515_175831_kcor.bin 20260515_210054_kcor.bin Remote site is complete ? no rsync required. ___end___ GENERAL COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 22:39:51 GMT 2026 End Of Day: The morning started off with overcast skies, but cleared within an hour or so. We were able to observe for a couple of hours before skies became overcast again. Short day of observing but good day. ___end___ Logger COMMENT BY mcotter: Fri May 15 22:39:56 GMT 2026 Log closed ONSITE STAFF: mcotter ___end___