Monsoon — In the United States Southwest, a southerly weather flow characterized by increased humidity, periodic showers, and heavy clouds; usually occurs from mid-July to mid-September.
If you’re thinking that doesn’t sound like a great scenario for two Midwestern astronomers looking to observe, you’re right. Thursday afternoon, Astronomy Editor David Eicher and I arrived at Rancho Hidalgo in Animas, New Mexico. Each of us came armed with a detailed observing list of faint targets we hoped to spot through developer Gene Turner’s 30-inch Starmaster reflecting telescope. Read Dave's post about our first few days.
Instead, we watched thick clouds and periodic rain before, during, and after supper. We didn’t see a single star all night. “No worries,” we thought. “We still have two nights to go.”
See more pictures from Dave and Michael's trip to Rancho Hidalgo.
Friday morning, the Sun rose, but we barely noticed it. The clouds from Thursday just kept marching in from the south. And, meteorologically speaking, that’s unusual for this time of year. Most years, the monsoon season that imparts a bit of color to the desert begins in mid-July. Well, “No worries,” we thought. “We’ll compact our observing lists a bit, stay up all night, and revel in some faint galaxies and nebulae.”
Saturday morning, hardly a cloud hung anywhere in a deep-blue sky. It’s Saturday afternoon as I write this, and the clouds have increased throughout the day. But I’m not worried. Here’s why: The yearly monsoonal flow comes from the south. In the Southwest, when the clouds move in from that direction, odds are that observers will be turning to their televisions, not their telescopes. Today’s clouds, however, originate in the west. That’s not a problem for several reasons. The clouds appear to be fair-weather cumulus clouds formed in mountainous regions by ground heating (and there’s plenty of ground heating here). I see no higher clouds — only blue sky between the ones drifting by — and the humidity is lower than the previous two days.
So that’s why my hopes remain high. If I’m half the weatherman I think I am, my next blog will be a detailed observing report of some ultra-faint objects.