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

Observer(s): Sebastien Lepine
Institution(s): AMNH

Instrument: Direct + Echelle

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

Seeing and Weather:
   Clouds from 8pm until 10pm.
   Beg: Seeing 0.9 arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Light & Variable
   Mid: Seeing 0.7 arcsec, Clear, Winds Calm
   End: Seeing 0.8 arcsec, Clear, Winds Calm

Observing Summary:

The evening started with a few patches of cloud
which gradually dispersed. Followed a night with
very little wind and exceptional seeing, at times 
below 0.6 arcsec!

When I filled the dewar at the start of the night, 
I inadvertently left it running more than 30 minutes. I'm 
afraid to say this nearly emptied then tank. Mea culpa.

Around 1pm there were communication problems with the camera, 
with various error messages in CCDCOM. I eventually fixed the
problem by turning the gold power supply off and on again. I 
lost 20 minutes figuring it out.

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Submitted on 2006 May 18 [5:27:31]