MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observing Report for 2011 Feb 02

Observer(s): Milisavljevic and Parrent
Institution(s): Dartmouth

Instrument: CCDS

Worked for 12 hours (all night)
Conditions were Non-Photometric most of the night.
Problems were encountered, see the separate trouble report for details.

Seeing and Weather:
   Beg: Seeing 1.2 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate
   Mid: Seeing 2 arcsec, Overcast, Winds Moderate
   End: Seeing 2.5 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate

Observing Summary:

What a night! As I type, the temperature reads -17.3 Celcius. How low can you go!
Clear most of the night but threatening clouds rolled in around 11pm and we closed
for an hour. No clouds after that. Seeing started off well around 1.2 arcseconds, but
deteriorated drastically to > 2 after the clouds had passed.

Closing up we faced a number of snags. First, one of the mirror covers would not
close. The motor moaned but no movement. We opened all petals (via switchboard)
then attempted to close again. This worked after a few minutes of waiting.
The dropout had significant troubles closing. It moved in jolts. Thankfully it closed,
however, and the slit had no troubles sliding overtop. Also, I could not raise the
platform under the telescope. Hydrolics just wouldn't budge. 

Despite all of this, we manage to get useful data! Classified some supernovae,
obtained spectra of an X-ray transient, and even got some late-time spectra of
an evolved supernova. The Mighty Hiltner - though taking a beating - performed
like a hero under stress and strain tonight.

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Submitted on 2011 Feb 3 [8:11:01]