MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2004 Oct 19

Observer(s): Zosia Krusberg
Institution(s): Dartmouth College

Instrument: Echelle

Worked for 5 hours (off and on through the night)
Conditions were Non-Photometric most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:
   High Humidity from 21:30 until 03:00.
   Beg: Seeing 1.5 arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Moderate, High humidity
   Mid: Patchy Clouds, Winds High, High humidity
   End: Seeing >2 arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds High

Observing Summary:

Complete frustration.  Clouds seemed to be everywhere but straight
above at sunset, and I managed to get about 2.5 hours of decent 
data.  Predictably, the humidity quickly rose and remained at 100% 
until around 3am, when I opened up again.  However, strong winds
(>20 mph) made the telescope shake - I closed the dropout, which
improved things somewhat - and there were plenty of clouds, so
guiding was a disaster.  With seeing way above 2 arcsec and 
having to constantly re-focus, I don't think I came away with much
useful data.

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Submitted on 2004 Oct 20 [5:10:53]