MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2007 Jul 01

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

Instrument: Modspec + Echelle CCd

Worked for 5 hours (most of the night)
Conditions were Mixed most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:
   Clouds from 22:00 until 05:00.
   Beg: Seeing 1.5 arcsec, Clear, Winds Light & Variable
   Mid: Overcast, Winds Calm
   End: Seeing 1 arcsec, Cirrus, Winds Moderate

Observing Summary:

Started off pretty clear, with mediocre seeing as things cooled,
but heavy cirrus rolled in after a couple of hours -- they had 
boiled off monsoon activity over New Mexico.  Soldiered on for a
while, but closed for several hours in the middle of the night.
The satellite IR loops indicated a thinner portion coming, and
sure enough it became possible for me to once again work on 
my very bright target around 2:45 AM.  Stayed on it 'til dawn.
It was fortunate that I was able to find anything to work on
given the poor transparency and extremely bright scattered 
moonlight.

Everything worked.  Thanks to everyone on staff for their 
support of this extremely successful run.  Note the dewar was
last filled around midnight, since I know an instrument change 
is coming.

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Submitted on 2007 Jul 2 [4:57:30]