MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observing Report for 2011 Nov 30

Observer(s): Kevin Covey (PI: Agueros)
Institution(s): Columbia

Instrument: Modspec

Worked for 6 hours (first half of the night)
Conditions were Mixed most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:
   High Winds all night.
   Beg: Cirrus, Winds Moderate
   Mid: Clear, Winds Above Limit
   End: Clear, Winds Above Limit

Observing Summary:

The first half of the night was quite smooth, and very productive
compared to the previous night, due mostly to my increased 
familiarity with the guider.   (by the way, part of my problem the
previous night was due to having multiple offsets entered in the 
dx and dy boxes in XMIS --- only the most recent value was visible
in the box, but XMIS was reading the earliest value entered, so I
got very confused.  Enforcing a strict character limit to ensure
that only a single offset can be entered in the box might be a 
useful update for XMIS).

Winds steadily increased over the course of the night, however,
such that by midnight all the KPNO wind gauges were reporting
consistent wind speeds above 40 mph, and gusts to 60 mph.  I 
reluctantly sacrificed my science for the safety of the telescope
and closed up; I kept watch until 4:30 AM, but the winds did not 
die down so I finally filled the dewar and went to bed.

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Submitted on 2011 Dec 1 [4:27:38]