MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2007 Jul 14

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

Instrument: modspec + echelle CCD

Worked for 3 hours (off and on through the night)
Conditions were Mixed most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:
   Clouds from 0100 until 0300.
   Beg: Seeing 2 arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Light & Variable, overcast for >1 hr
   Mid: Seeing 1 arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Light & Variable
   End: Seeing 1 arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Light & Variable, overcast for > 2 h

Observing Summary:

Mostly cloudy, with some clearer intervals in which it was 
possible to work. Brief sprinkle around 1:30 AM.  Heavy high
cloud would form and dissipate remarkably swiftly.  Seeing became
good (when one could see anything!).

No problems with equipment -- even the coffeemaker behaved itself
-- except for one odd glitch where xtcs crashed (TCS computer
was fine, just xtcs went down).  I was trying to reset the dome
azimuth reading, and it complained about an equinox being out 
of range and crashed shortly thereafter.  I restarted it and
it was fine after that.  Did not lose any time.  I've never
seen this happen before -- it appears to be a rare glitch that
is not worth worrying about.

Also, for some reason my laptop isn't getting wireless, which 
wouldn't be a problem except that its network connection is 
also fried, so it's now deaf and dumb.  It's conceivable that
there's something wrong with the router, but I doubt it.

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Submitted on 2007 Jul 15 [4:43:14]