[AZ-Observing] North country windstorm

Howdy folks;
Well, it has been an interesting 30 hours or so.

My beautiful wife gave me the OK for a trip up North to observe, seeing as how 
she had to work and was willing to have me out of the house for several days.  
So, I packed up the Nexstar 11, food and warm clothes and made my way to 
northern Arizona.  I was planning to try some spots around Stoneman Lake.  The 
drive up was pleasant and I arrived on Sunday evening.

Even though the breeze did make the seeing mediocre, I gave it a 6, the 
transparency was excellent.  Once it got up, the Milky Way was bright and 
contrasty with the naked eye, I gave it a 9.  So, I didn't use high power, but 
the views of some favorites in Sagittarius were very good.  The Trifid showed 
off those fascinating dark lanes and M 22 was a very nice ball of stars, even 
at only 125X.  Once Mars was up, I could easily see the Polar Cap and a hint of 
Sinus Meridanii, but little else at 200X.  The scope found Neptune, which I had 
not seen in years and it was an obvious little aqua dot among the stars.  So, I 
had an enjoyable evening and climbed into the sleep bag at about 3:30 AM.

I was awakened at 9:00 AM by the fact that the car was shaking as if a movie 
monster had grabbed it and was tossing it about with one claw.  It was the 
wind!  And it did not quit all day.  I drove down to a little cafe and had 
lunch, just to get out of the wind.  I kept hoping that it would let up as 
twilight approached, but it didn't.  

Once it got dark on Monday evening, I was "treated" to something I had never 
seen in 27 years of observing in Arizona.  A perfectly clear sky from horizon 
to horizon with excellent transparency, but the seeing was so bad that I did 
not want to observe!  The wind was blowing a constant 15 mph and gusting to 35 
and 40.  It just wasn't worth it to fight the elements to observe the sky.  All 
the brightest stars, regardless of their altitude, were blinking on and 
off....not just twinkling.

So, I tore down and drove home.  The wind never stopped as I descended into the 
Valley of the Sun and as I unloaded the car in a breeze, I am happy with my 
decision not to try and fight it.  Maybe in a couple of days the wind will move 
on and we can get some observing done, but until then I am not going to fight 
"Mother" Nature.  It ain't worth it!

Hey, ya can't have it all;
Steve

Author "Deep Sky Observing--The Astronomical Tourist"
Saguaro Astronomy Club website
www.saguaroastro.org

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