[AZ-Observing] Re: Seeing Conditions During Monsoon
- From: "Richard Harshaw" <rharshaw2@xxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:50:30 -0700
As a double star observer for 20 years, I can tell you that the best seeing
for splitting tight pairs is a night with appreciable humidity. In fact,
nights with a little haze are often MUCH better in the seeing department
than 10 out of 10 skies. I don't know why, but I think the moisture DOES
have a steadying effect on the air. Not all the time, but all of my best
splits have occurred under humid skies. I observed from suburban Kansas
City, but noticed the same effect at dark sites too.
Dick H.
-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Derrick Lim
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 1:45 PM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: Seeing Conditions During Monsoon
I noticed this too last week while observing Jupiter briefly from Queen
Creek. The humidity was a little high that evening (dew point in the 50s).
Are you in the outskirts of the city or in the middle of the city? Just
curious because it seems you are probably hinting that the humidity does
stabilize the atmosphere, but I'm wondering about the heat island effect
from Phoenix.
Best Regards,
Derrick
On 7/22/07, Tom Polakis <tpolakis@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> I should probably mention this while it's happening, but the seeing on
> both Thursday night and tonight have been very good in my backyard in
> Tempe. You may remember Thursday as the night when all of the Valley
> was hit hard by lightning and rain. While clouds slowly encroached from
> the east and breezes swirled, I was enjoying excellent views of Jupiter
> through my 10-inch at magnifications approaching 400x. What amazed me
> was that the seeing remained steady for a couple hours right up until
> Jupiter was touched by the first debris clouds.
>
> Tonight the seeing was not quite as good, but it was better than any
> night on which set up this past June. Again, there were light breezes
> coming from varying directions, but they had very little effect on the
> local seeing. The lighting on both the Straight Wall and Plato was
> about as good as it gets.
>
> We're told that the Monsoon is a poor time for observing, but this past
> couple sessions is changing my thinking on lunar and planetary viewing
> in July and August.
>
> Tom
>
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