[AZ-Observing] Vekol worked out too.
- From: Joe Larkin <joeclarkin@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 08:03:26 -0700 (PDT)
It is good to hear that Flatiron worked out for observing.
Vekol did too, but it took a bit longer.
I had the observing bug bad, so the thick Phoenix clouds in the
afternoon didn't deter me. I convinced Mike Mello that it was going
to clear up though he was skeptical. The Clear Sky Clock indicated
that it should be clear even though weather.com predicted
thunderstorms for Gila Bend and Phoenix.
We both arrived right around sunset. No one was there and no one
showed up later. There were thunderclouds to the south and some
scattered small clouds to the northwest. It was very breezy right at
sunset but it settled down in a bit.
We congratulated ourselves on choosing to go out and set up.
At dark it was mostly clear and seeing wasn't all that bad. Jupiter's
moons showed as non-stellar with both our scopes.
The clouds to the south were going away, but still showing us some
great lightning flashes. But the clouds to the northwest started
coming in.
These clouds were forming just to the northwest and eventually
covered almost the whole sky.
I kept on saying "it's going clear up" but it didn't look good. There
were a few sucker holes and a little clearing to the north.
This condition existed for a couple of hours. I joked that Flatiron
must be completely clear. I guess my joke was prophetic.
We even got a couple of rain drops. Mike got a little scared and
packed up his computer and contemplated covering or disassembling his
dob.
Soon after this it started clearing. And by 11 pm it was almost
completely clear with decent seeing. Conditions remained very good
for the rest of the night and we observed past moonrise.
I'm going to post some observations later and comment on the snake
and the truck with no lights and maybe review the HB Astroatlas. I
just wanted to brag of a time when optimism paid off in a big way.
Joe Larkin
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