MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observing Report for 2010 Nov 02

Observer(s): Joe Antognini, Catherine Grier
Institution(s): OSU

Instrument: OSMOS

Worked for 2 hours (part of the night)
Conditions were Mixed most of the night.
Problems were encountered, see the separate trouble report for details.

Seeing and Weather:
   High Winds from 8 until 2.
   Beg: Seeing 1.3 arcsec, Clear, Winds High
   Mid: Seeing 1.1 arcsec, Clear, Winds High
   End: Seeing 1.3 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate

Observing Summary:

We had high winds up until about 2:00 AM, averaging about 20--25 mph, with gusts
up to 35 mph.  The seeing was much better than last night, though still not
ideal.

We started by taking some exposures of standard stars and early on had some
problems getting the guider in focus.  We ultimately had to focus the guider
manually.  After getting the guider in focus we took a spectrum of a quasar for
Kate.  Because the conditions were so windy, we decided not to take images of
UKIDSS UDS and instead attempted to take some spectra of Calen's OB2 stars.

By this point the guider had fallen out of focus again, so we had
to refocus it manually.  Unfortunately, the guider had become so loose that it
fell severely out of focus any time the telescope or guider was moved by a large
distance.  We tried securing the guider, but to no avail; we could keep the
guider in focus for at most three exposures.  Later in the night, the guider
became so loose that we couldn't keep it in position at all, particularly when
the telescope was pointed anywhere away from the zenith.  Without accurate
tracking, the few images we did get were not very good.

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Submitted on 2010 Nov 3 [8:31:12]