----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mauna Loa Solar Observatory Observer's Log ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sat Aug 01 16:43:03 GMT 2026 Year:26 Doy:213 Observer: mcotter Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 16:45:19 GMT 2026 MLsO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-08-01 16:41:00 Temperature : 47.97 deg F Dew Point : -18.9 deg F Pressure : 681.92 mbar Wind Speed : 20.58 mph Wind Direction : 151.2 deg Skies: The sky appears clear in all directions, but it is very windy and gusty. The inversion layer is visible on the horizon just above Hualalai. The air appears a bit hazy at lower elevations. ___end___ GENERAL COMMENT BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 17:00:45 GMT 2026 The windows in the dome were left closed due to the strong winds. The lower dome shutter door was completely opened, but the upped dome shutter was opened only a quarter of the way due to the very windy conditions. ___end___ ** KCOR PM mcotter ** : Sat Aug 01 17:00:52 GMT 2026 Blew off Kcor O1 ___end___ Sat Aug 01 17:02:41 GMT 2026 Kcor Focus/alignment program exited KCOR BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 17:06:23 GMT 2026 Kcor: Kcor now observing. The initial synoptic images are a little light, but they are perfectly acceptable. ___end___ Sat Aug 01 17:14:17 GMT 2026 Kcor Focus/alignment program exited KCOR COMMENT BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 17:18:48 GMT 2026 The first couple of NRGF images looked a little out of focus to me, so I re-ran the focus routine and manually set the focus to 134.5 from 133.5. It will take a few minutes to see if this adjustment has improved the NRGF image. ___end___ KCOR BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 17:29:32 GMT 2026 Kcor: Some NRGF images have come through since I made the focus adjustment and though it is slight I believe the image focus did improve. ___end___ Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 18:01:26 GMT 2026 MLSO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-08-01 17:53:00 Temperature : 51.96 deg F Dew Point : -9.04 deg F Pressure : 682.24 mbar Wind Speed : 20.58 mph Wind Direction : 146.0 deg Skies: The sky continues to be clear. The wind is howling and very gusty at this time, though I don't see any noticeable changes in the SGS signals indicating shake on the spar. ___end___ ** GENERAL PROBLEM REPORTED BY mcotter ** : Sat Aug 01 18:13:24 GMT 2026 Internet down: The network went down for a minute or so, but it is back up again and the control panels and instruments have been reconnected. ___end___ BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 18:22:19 GMT 2026 Due to the strong gusty winds I raised the dome lower shutter almost all the way and continued to open the dome upper shutter approximately half way, keeping the dome opening to a minimum in order to mitigated any unwanted wind shake on the spar. ___end___ Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 18:22:45 GMT 2026 MLSO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-08-01 18:20:00 Temperature : 52.43 deg F Dew Point : -2.63 deg F Pressure : 682.64 mbar Wind Speed : 21.7 mph Wind Direction : 145.9 deg Skies: Clear ___end___ Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 19:05:30 GMT 2026 MLSO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-08-01 18:59:00 Temperature : 52.83 deg F Dew Point : 6.82 deg F Pressure : 682.63 mbar Wind Speed : 23.49 mph Wind Direction : 159.5 deg Skies: The sky remains very clear with some aerosols appearing periodically. The wind speed continues to increase and it is very gusty, blowing mostly from the south southeast. ___end___ BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 19:08:06 GMT 2026 Due to the very strong gusty winds, I closed the dome lower shutter all the way and opened the dome upper shutter approximately half way in order to limit spar shake from the wind. ___end___ Sat Aug 01 20:06:57 GMT 2026 KCOR Start Calibration script: c:\kcor\mlso-calibration22deg-20171025.ini Sat Aug 01 20:21:54 GMT 2026 KCOR End Calibration Script Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 20:50:16 GMT 2026 MLO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-08-01 20:32:00 Temperature : 58.64 deg F Dew Point : 11.79 deg F Pressure : 682.99 mbar Wind Speed : 16.78 mph Wind Direction : 138.4 deg Skies: The sky continues to be very clear, with the exception of periodic aerosols. No clouds of any kind are visible where observing is and will be taking place. The wind has started to drop a bit and it is no longer howling as it was earlier, but the wind and gusty conditions are still present so I will continue to do what I can to keep the dome and slit oriented to inhibit unwanted wind induced spar shake. ___end___ Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 22:29:50 GMT 2026 MLO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-08-01 22:23:00 Temperature : 61.99 deg F Dew Point : 12.79 deg F Pressure : 682.87 mbar Wind Speed : 17.9 mph Wind Direction : 126.5 deg Skies: Orographic clouds are moving up over the western slope of Maunaloa and are now approaching the Observatory area. ___end___ Weather COMMENT BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 23:08:18 GMT 2026 MLO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-08-01 23:02:00 Temperature : 61.07 deg F Dew Point : 17.72 deg F Pressure : 682.55 mbar Wind Speed : 17.45 mph Wind Direction : 126.8 deg Skies: In addition to coming over the western slope, Orographic clouds are starting to come up over the southern slope of Maunaloa as well. So far they have been keeping their distance and the observing area remains clear. ___end___ KCOR COMMENT BY mcotter: Sat Aug 01 23:28:01 GMT 2026 Kcor: After Kcor reached the zenith point for observing the dome was manually rotated 180 degrees in order to point it away from the wind. This was done so that the wind will have a negligible effect on the spar and instrument. ___end___ Weather BY mcotter: Sun Aug 02 01:16:33 GMT 2026 MLO Current Weather Timestamp (UTC): 2026-08-02 01:05:00 Temperature : 60.93 deg F Dew Point : 21.71 deg F Pressure : 682.07 mbar Wind Speed : 14.09 mph Wind Direction : 109.2 deg Skies: The Orographic clouds to the south and west that were witnessed earlier have pulled back and diminished a bit, but large bands of Cirrus clouds are now visible on the western horizon stretching from the south to the north. Additionally, aerosols are increasing quite a lot and becoming very visible in the Level 0 and NRGF images, though so far the synoptic images still look good. ___end___ Sun Aug 02 01:21:21 GMT 2026 Kcor Focus/alignment program exited KCOR COMMENT BY mcotter: Sun Aug 02 01:31:33 GMT 2026 entry was edited When looking at the synoptic images the brightness of the corona was brighter on the upper left side of the occulter than the other. I have witnessed this before, so when working with Ben I had him show me how to make corrections for this anomaly. I stopped the observing program and Socketcam and opened the focus routine so that I could get a better look at where the coronal brightness bias was on the occulter. While in the focus program I adjusted the Kcor-SGS X Target value from 506 to 500, which corrected for the coronal light bias. I closed the focus routine and set the X Target value on the observing GUI to 500 prior to starting the observing program. The synoptic images look much better after making this adjustment and the coronal ring now looks symmetrical. ___end___ GENERAL COMMENT BY mcotter: Sun Aug 02 02:03:19 GMT 2026 The Cirrus clouds visible on the western horizon have increased, but fortunately they appear to be blowing in a more north-northeast direction. The Orographic clouds have receded a bit and appear to be staying near the very edge of the south and western slope of Maunaloa. Aerosols have continued to increase and the Level 0 and NRGF images are getting grainy and showing a lot of aerosols, but the synoptic images continue to look good. ___end___ KCOR COMMENT BY KCOR: Sun Aug 02 02:33:38 GMT 2026 KCOR file transfer report KCor created 2220 .bin files 2217 .fts files NOTICE ? 3 .bin file(s) with no matching .fts: 20260801_171152_kcor.bin 20260802_011727_kcor.bin 20260802_012226_kcor.bin WARNING 1 fts file(s) found locally that was not transfered dawn ACTION must be taken to copy: 20260801_180706_kcor.fts ___end___ GENERAL COMMENT BY mcotter: Sun Aug 02 02:40:13 GMT 2026 End of Day: Nice and clear all day, though there were strong gusty winds in the morning and aerosols got heavy in the afternoon. ___end___ Logger COMMENT BY mcotter: Sun Aug 02 02:40:20 GMT 2026 Log closed ONSITE STAFF: mcotter ___end___