MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2006 Jan 16

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

Instrument: echelle CCD direct + 2in FW

Worked for 13 hours (all night)
Conditions were Non-Photometric most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:
   Beg: Seeing 1 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate
   Mid: Seeing 1 arcsec, Clear, Winds Moderate
   End: Seeing 1.5 arcsec, Cirrus, Winds Moderate

Observing Summary:

Mostly parallax of CVs and LSPM stars.  Long stretches were
quite photometric, but some cirrus blew through after 2 AM.
Seeing was mostly decent with notable exceptions, below 
1 arcsec on occasion.  A fine last night of the run.  

One unusual thing was the temperature profile -- the ambient temp
was flat for a long time early in the night, then rose by 
5 degrees C between midnight and dawn.   The telescope focus 
correspondingly increased by about 40 units -- very atypical.

It was somewhat warmer than last night and the telescope behaved
well.  

Another note: The guide-star finding software works really well
now that I found the bug (inappropriate and inconsistent 
application of nutation to some positions).  I need to center
frames accurately (a few arcsec) and was able to do so 
reasonably well by dialing in a guide star's coordinate and
putting it in a consistent location on the TV.

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Submitted on 2006 Jan 17 [7:29:41]