Hello,

This is mainly an inquiry as to viewing quality from the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. My wife has applied for a position in Puerto Rico and I will be more than happy to move to that jewel of the Antilles. However i am curious as to the quality and conditions of astronomical viewing from this island. I have read and heard much about the laminar air flow creating almost ideal seeing in places such as Florida and Hawaii. And I was hoping that this would apply too to Puerto Rico. The island is somewhat mountainous though with the largest peak i believe to be in excess of 3,000 feet which is nothing in comparison to the American and Canadian Rockies, but still jutting into the atmosphere. There are quite a few ranges stretching across the interior. But to anyone in the know how is the seeing on your island? And what amount of light pollution can i expect outside of say Arecibo and San Juan in a more rural area?

Regards and clear skies,

Yes Puerto Rico is a possession of the United States, but the International Clubs forum "seemed" most appropriate. I will not digress.

I will ask my cube-neighbor at work about this. He wasn't an observer while growing up there, but has gotten into it since we met and his brother who still lives there recently helped a friend acquire an ETX-125. I'll ask him tomorrow how that's going, where exactly they live on the island and what the conditions are like.

Carlos says the North side of the island would be best, somewhere near the coast but not too near (tidal surges due to hurricanes).

He says the mountains are shrouded in clouds most of the time but midway between the heights and the beaches would be good.

He adds that if you would be working in San Juan you will have to work out the drive time rather than the distance, as some of the roads are clogged with traffic during rush hour ... bummer.

His brother Ricky work on the east side of San Juan and lives on the eastern part of the island. He says his drive time is between 1.5 and 2 hours each way.

Carlos says the southern side of the island is hot and dry all the time but he doesn't know about the skies from there. His brother's friend with the ETX-125 recently joined the Puerto Rico Astronomical Society and he'll ask how that is going and where they observe, if they have a club site.

I had surmised as much. I chose somewhere in the vicinity of Arecibo as being the most appropriate. Bigger brains than mine already chose that locale. Thanks for your reply, but my wife decided against the job anyway. I had thought i might make the jump from stellar bum to beach bum.

I Googled Puerto Rico Astronomical Society and found a PDF file of the association which stated that even though the observing has been severely compromised by bad weather they have had an incease in membership. Looks as if I am not missing anything observing wise.

Regards and clear skies,

http://www.climatecrisis.net/

Little bit late