MDM Observatory 1.3m Telescope Observer's Report for 2006 May 26

Observer(s): armstrong, piscionere, shulman
Institution(s): columbia

Instrument: templeton/direct

Worked for 9 hours (all night)
Conditions were Photometric most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:
   Beg: Seeing 1.9 arcsec, Clear, Winds Light & Variable
   Mid: Seeing 2.0 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate
   End: Seeing 2.0 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate

Observing Summary:

Followed the optical afterglow of GRB 060526 with 600-s exposures
in R.  At start (03:26 UT) it appeared around R=20 (I write this 
before doing any real calibrations.)  Finished with a Landolt 
field.  Cloudless night but windy.


Long, Long Ago, in a Galaxy at Redshift Three ...

A bunch o' billion years ago,
A gianormous star
Expired in a gaudy throe
Dramatic and bizarre.

In quite a plight, mass could not fight
Its potent gravitation:
The core free-fell into a well,
Pitch black beyond salvation.

The outer shells freaked out and swelled
In super-flashy features.
Afar they spewed: the seeds of you
And me and earthly creatures.

Meantime, charged pairs were forming there
Inside the fated core.
Neutrino-bred, they up-and fled:
Out of the corpse they bore.

Internal shocks would bump and knock
'Em, 'til they'd soon collide
With ISM surrounding them
On each and every side.

Resulting light escaped in fright,
To free from this debris.
At redshift three, look quick - you'll see
A fleeting GRB!

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Submitted on 2006 May 27 [3:02:52]