MDM Observatory 1.3m Telescope Observing Report for 2009 Sep 18

Observer(s): S. Lepine
Institution(s): AMNH

Instrument: MkIII + Nellie

Worked for 7 hours (off and on through the night)
Conditions were Mixed most of the night.
Problems were encountered, see the separate trouble report for details.

Seeing and Weather:
   Beg: Clear, Winds Calm
   Mid: Patchy Clouds, Winds Calm
   End: Patchy Clouds, Winds Calm

Observing Summary:

Good conditions to start the night, with clear skies
and essentially zero wind. Problems came up around
9PM when the telescope started losing tracking,
first intermittently, then systematically after 5-10
seconds. After much tinkering (see trouble report) 
I finally got the tracking to behave around 11PM.
Bands of patchy clouds appeared/developed after 1PM and
were much of a hindrance; observations continued 
only on and off until morning. I finally managed to get
spectra of 24 targets, about half what I would 
normally get in an eventless night but still not so bad.


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Submitted on 2009 Sep 19 [5:39:11]