MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observing Report for 2016 Jan 14

Observer(s): Alper
Institution(s): Dartmouth

Instrument: Modspec/Echelle

Worked for 9 hours (first half of the night)
Conditions were Mixed most of the night.
Problems were encountered, see the separate trouble report for details.

Seeing and Weather:
   Clouds from 02:00 until 06:00.
   Beg: Clear, Winds Calm
   Mid: Patchy Clouds, Winds Light & Variable
   End: Overcast, Winds Moderate

Observing Summary:

Night started out well for a few hours, with good conditions.
However, around 9:00 pm the dome stopped tracking with the
telescope. Eric said this is a semi-recurring problem - see more
detail in the trouble report.

Around 10:00 pm the guider stopped working properly as well - it
simply went to the wrong spot. Setting it at the origin did not
correct. This has also been a problem during the past week (the
prior group told me), and after a few hours it simply started
working again. In the meantime, a y-offset of 500 units seemed
to do the trick.

Clouds came in around 1:00 am, and by 2:30 or so were covering
the sky. While the forecast showed no chance of rain, KPNO still
closed, and with rising humidity, increasing winds, and
absolutely no visible stars in the telescopes, I felt it best
to close both domes. The clouds cleared around 5:45 am, right
before twilight.

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Submitted on 2016 Jan 15 [7:26:13]