MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2008 Jun 26

Observer(s): J. Thorstensen, J. Skinner
Institution(s): Dartmouth

Instrument: Modspec + echelle CCD

Worked for 9 hours (all night)
Conditions were Photometric most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:
   Beg: Seeing 2 arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Light & Variable
   Mid: Seeing 1. arcsec, Clear, Winds Calm
   End: Seeing 0.8 arcsec, Clear, Winds Calm

Observing Summary:

Cloudy in the afternoon, with rain to the east, but thunderstorms
didn't materialize nearby.  Clouds to E at sunset, but these
eventually dissipated to give photometric conditions.  A bit
cooler, so had some moments of poor seeing early on but then 
some slightly warmer and drier air came past and the seeing
stabilized nicely.  

Equipment worked well; I had one set that didn't complete 
correctly.  Also, I've noticed that the telescope wants a high
track rate (like 15.1) to avoid constantly correcting west.  
I don't know what this might portend, if anything.

[This is a re-filing of the report, for which I'd put in the 
wrong telescope and date.  The warnings to check tend to go
unheeded at 5:30 AM ... I wonder if it's possible to fill in
defaults?]

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Submitted on 2008 Jun 27 [16:11:31]