MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2007 Jan 11

Observer(s): Jules Halpern
Institution(s): Columbia U.

Instrument: CCDS/RETROCAM

Worked for 3.0 hours (first half of the night)
Conditions were Mixed most of the night.
Problems were encountered, see the separate trouble report for details.

Seeing and Weather:
   Very bad weather from 21:00 until end.
   Beg: Seeing 0.8 arcsec, Cirrus, Winds Moderate
   Mid: Overcast, Winds High
   End: Fog/Low Clouds, Winds High

Observing Summary:

The night started out promising, mostly clear with good seeing.
Observed a lensed QSO and a couple of faint SNe (couldn't tell
if they were detected).  But then clouds came in rapidly
around 9:00pm.  For the rest of the night, there was a combination
of clouds, wind, fog, and high humidity.  As I write this, winds
are gusting up to 30 mph, low clouds are zipping by, and the
humidity is hovering around 95%.  The only reason I am still
awake is for the possibility of getting time-critical targets:
3C 279 and hopefully a GRB.  But it looks hopeless for the
short remainder of the night. so I'm giving up now.

By the way, the mirror AC is able to cool the mirror now
even though it wasn't during the day.  So the mirror started
out too warm tonight.

Tomorrow, this observer will be reporting from the 1.3m.

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Submitted on 2007 Jan 12 [4:58:11]