MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observing Report for 2011 Jan 30

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

Instrument: Modspec + Templeton CCD

Worked for 4 hours (off and on through the night)
Bad weather most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:
   Clouds all night.
   Beg: Seeing 1+ arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Moderate
   Mid: Seeing 1+ arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Moderate
   End: Seeing 1+ arcsec, Patchy Clouds, Winds Moderate

Observing Summary:


Mostly cloudy night, but managed to get some useful data in the
holes.

At the very end, had a nice clear interval, but then it clouded up--
and ABRUPTLY started to snow!  I had just ducked outside and
felt a few flakes, so immediately closed the mirror cover and
started closing the dome.  Snow started falling pretty heavily
before the dome got closed, so a fair amount got in the dome and
a little must have fallen on the mirror before the covers 
came down.  There wasn't any time for niceties like zeroing the
rotator, obviously, which is why it's at a screwy angle.  After
I closed I did move the telescope far to the west to inspect the
mirror cover in case it had snow to brush off, but there were 
only a couple of small damp spots.

I sure hope the Director doesn't find out about this.

------------------------------

Submitted on 2011 Jan 31 [6:19:35]