MDM Observatory 1.3m Telescope Observing Report for 2009 Sep 22

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

Instrument: MkIII + Nellie

Worked for 11 hours (all night)
Conditions were Non-Photometric most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:
   Beg: Clear, Winds Moderate
   Mid: Clear, Winds High
   End: Clear, Winds Light & Variable

Observing Summary:

Observed without any problems tonight, following the
new drill suggested by Bob: slew the telescope with
the tracking off and no dome motion, then align the slit
with the telescope using the switch in the dome, and
finally turn the tracking on and point to the target.
A little more work, but it avoids all the problems
from previous nights, with the dome never moving at 
the same time the telescope is (it works!)

Weather itself was OK, clear skies but rather strong 
north/northeast winds. The scope was shaking quite a 
lot when facing north, making guiding essentially impossible. 
I reduced the shaking by closing the doors and observing 
only targets at lower DEC (so the slit would face south).
The seeing degraded significantly after midnight, but
losses were still minimal on the 2 arcsec-wide slit.


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Submitted on 2009 Sep 23 [6:12:55]