MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2003 Jun 20

Observer(s): Thorstensen
Institution(s): Dartmouth

Instrument: modspec + echelle CCD

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

Seeing and Weather:
   Beg: Seeing 1 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate
   Mid: Seeing 1-2 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate
   End: Seeing 1-5 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate

Observing Summary:

Another good night, but marred by some wretched seeing from 
time to time - seeing would go from 1  up to great soft
puffballs in a few seconds sometimes.  Variable winds, from
near calm to above 20 mph. A little cooler than the previous 
nights.

At one point, around 4h 20m E and +50 N, the tracking failed.
The telescope did not complete a set because it couldn't 
keep up with the sky; then the tracking stopped entirely. 
There was no singing or screeching tone, it did this silently
(or at least quietly).  I got out of it by slewing west a little
bit past the target's position, then trying the set again, and
it worked the second time.



Spectroscopy of cataclysmic variables and related objects.

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Submitted on 2003 Jun 21 [5:29:46]