MDM Observatory 2.4m Telescope Observer's Report for 2007 Aug 20

Observer(s): chris peters
Institution(s): dartmouth college

Instrument: modspec + echelle

Worked for 10 hours (all night)
Conditions were Mixed most of the night.
No equipment or software problems were encountered.

Seeing and Weather:
   Beg: Patchy Clouds, Winds Light & Variable
   Mid: Patchy Clouds, Winds Light & Variable
   End: Patchy Clouds, Winds Light & Variable

Observing Summary:

For a night that was supposed to be full of crummy weather, 
it turned out OK.  Not great, but OK.  Through partly cloudy 
skies, I got some decent time series spectra of a handful of 
CVs.

On a more frightening note, as I was sitting in the control room, 
I felt something on my barefoot (I was wearing sandals at the 
time).  I shook my foot to get whatever it was off, and 
what do ya know! It was a 1-1.5 inchlong scorpion! He/she met 
his/her fate by way of an astronomical almanac, but not before 
giving me quite the scare.  I have no idea how I wasn't stung, 
and haven't figured out if it was better or worse to be wearing 
sandals at the time.  If I hadn't, I definitely wouldn't have 
noticed it on my leg through shoes; however, the likelihood of 
it stinging me with sandals was clearly higher.  I guess I just 
lucked out.

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Submitted on 2007 Aug 21 [5:53:16]