MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2006 Jun 17

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 1.2 arcsec, Clear, Winds Light & Variable
   Mid: Seeing 1.2 arcsec, Clear, Winds Light & Variable
   End: Seeing 1.2 arcsec, Clear, Winds Light & Variable

Observing Summary:

Another fine night, but the seeing wasn't quite as sharp as last
night I believe.  Significantly warmer, perfectly clear or
apparently so, with light breezes.  I think I over-cooled the 
mirror a bit, it never approached ambient (RH has been 
really, really low, by the way - no worries about condensation).

The telescope was tempremental tonight.  I had a new manifestation
of the dome fugue state -- turning and turning at slow speed, in
which it was superposed on a non-completing pointing command.
At a subtler level, I'm perceiving that the drive rate is not
perfectly smooth, but this could still be my imagination.  On
the plus side, I haven't had a single asynchronous read error
for two nights now, so it's likely that it's fixed (knock on 
formica).

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Submitted on 2006 Jun 18 [5:20:16]