LBT OSURC Partner Observing Notes
February 19, 2015 (Night 4)
Observers: Sarah Jane Schmidt, Scott Adams, Jake Turner
Support Astronomer: Barry Rothberg (on call)
Telescope Operator: Geno Bechetti

Summary:
A night of MODS. At sunset, there were thick clouds overhead. The clouds were banded, with thicker and thinner regions passing by. Cloud extinction ranged from 0-4 mags through the first several hours. Around UT 5:30, we hit a large hole in the clouds, with extinction closer to 0-0.5 mags. The clouds remained very light and patchy for the rest of the evening. Wind and humidity low. Seeing relatively constant at 1”.

Targets observed:

standard g191b2b
ND_k2-0/k2-0
UM_CO/J0825
ND_Void/Void
UVa_Mgiants/mgiant25
OSU_M101/M101_6
OSU_M101/M101_3
OSU_M101/M101_4 (2 of 6 exposures)
standard HZ43


UT 00:30 vent doors open

UT 01:30 There are 3 magnitudes of extinction.

UT 1:55 slewing to ND_k2-0/k2-0 (still pre-twilight)
got one acquisition - realized it was too faint for twilight, decided to move to standard first

UT 2:00 slewing to standard g191b2b
dimm says 1” seeing, we are in a hole (not cloudless, but thinner clouds)
UT 2:10 observation of the standard

UT 2:26 slewing to ND_k2-0/k2-0
UT 2:37 science obs for ND_k2-0/k2-0
dimm seeing ~ 1”, cloud extinction 0-1.2 mags
SN started at 15 and then went 20; Clouds are coming in waves
UT 03:15 science obs for ND_k2-0/k2-0 again due to clouds

UT 03:50 slewing to UM_CO/J0825
UT 04:01 starting science obs for UM_CO/J0825
Seeing hovered around 1”, cloud cover ranged from 0.5 to 3 magnitudes
We took 2 additional exposures to ensure signal despite cloud cover.
MODS tried to take an additional exposure which we cancelled, resulting in two blank images. (so 18-22 are of the target, 23 and 24 are blank)

UT 5:29 slewing to ND_Void/Void
UT 5:41 starting science observation on ND_Void/Void
seeing hovered around 1.1”, with cloud cover from 0-1.5 mags

UT 6:21 slewing to UVa_Mgiants/mgiant25
UT 6:31 science obs for UVa_Mgiants/mgiant25
seeing still about 1”, cloud cover nearly 0

UT 6:55 slewing to OSU_M101/M101_6
UT 7:07 science obs for OSU_M101/M101_6
to start, minimal cloud cover, seeing around 1”
At UT 8:00, hit a patch of clouds with up to ~1 mag of extinction, seeing at ~1.1”
At UT 8:50, out of patch of clouds, seeing back down to 1”
Extinction was <1 mag, so we did not take additional exposures

UT 9:22 slewing to OSU_M101/M101_3
UT 9:38 science obs for OSU_M101/M101_3
At start, very light clouds and seeing of 1”
Throughout the exposure, a few patches of clouds (~0.5 magnitudes) and slightly worse seeing, but conditions mostly stayed the same.

UT 11:48 slewing to OSU_M101/M101_4
UT 12:02 science obs for OSU_M101/M101_4
After we began exposure, hit a thicker patch of clouds (1 mag) for ~10 minutes
Otherwise, light clouds and seeing of ~1”
Finished 2 exposures; second one went 10 minutes into twilight.

UT 12:48 slewing to standard HZ43
UT 13:01 obs of standard HZ43
seeing 1”, some clouds

UT 13:18 closing telescope

UT 13:30 set of 5 biases