MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2001 Mar 30

Observer(s): C Gerardy
Institution(s): Dartmouth

Instrument: TIFKAM

Worked for 10.5 hours (all night)
Conditions were Non-Photometric most of the night.
Problems were encountered, see the summary for details.

Seeing and Weather:
   Beg: Seeing 0.8 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate, Variable Humidity
   Mid: Seeing 0.8 arcsec, Cirrus, Winds Light & Variable, Aurora!
   End: Seeing 1.0 arcsec, Cirrus, Winds Calm

Observing Summary:

Sky was mostly clear for the majority of the night, but patches
of cirrus kept it from being truely photometric.  Had a 
damp-front blow through, as the RH jumped from ~45 to ~75% for
an hour or so, and then just as suddenly crashing back down to
45%. 

Around midnight there was a nice aurora.  (Thanks for the tip Paul)

I discovered a minor problem during the night:  It's not quite
possible to focus both TIFKAM and the guider camera.  With the
instrument focused, the guider focus hits its inner limit just
shy of passing through focus.  It's close enough to guide on
however.

	Obs:	NIR spectra of SNe.

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Submitted on 2001 Mar 31 [5:51:46]