Site Selection for the Southern Utah Observatory

During 2007-2008, the University of Utah performed a survey of various high-altitude sites in southern Utah to select the site for the new 32" Southern Utah Observatory telescope. The site survey process consisted of evaluation of weather and climate databases as well as characterization of atmospheric seeing at each site over several months using several automated SBIG Polaris monitors that were deployed at selected sites. In this talk, I will describe the results of the site survey, including atmospheric seeing measurement histories at several potential sites. I will also describe the final selected site and the timeline for construction and operation of the telescope.