Day 4158

Last night didn't go as planned. The fog lifted during the day and by mid-afternoon the sky was completely clear. Everyone was feeling pretty good when we assembled for a lesson on how to properly align our star trackers and telescopes around 5 PM. We ate dinner around 6 PM and almost immediately afterwards a thick bank of low fog rolled in out of nowhere. The weather reports were still saying that we had clear skies, but maybe fog doesn't show up on weather radar. At any rate there was nothing to see. We drove to the top of Mount Locke to see if we could get above the clouds, but the fog was even worse up there. The fog kept getting thicker and just before midnight we gave up and called it a day.

I returned to the Astronomer's Lodge and went to bed. About 4 AM I woke up to go to the bathroom. Since I was up, I decided to go outside and see if the skies had cleared. There were still clouds, but there were patches of clear sky. This looked promising. I quickly got dressed and grabbed a camera and tripod. Whenever I saw a patch of clear sky I took a series of photos. Sometimes a clear patch would last about thirty seconds. Other times the sky was clear for five or ten minutes. As it turned out, 4 AM was the perfect time to see the core of the Milky Way. For a while I was able to see the entire arch of the Milky Way as it crossed the sky. The photos I took weren't as as spectacular as the ones I took last October, but I felt good that the evening wasn't a total disaster. 

My little window of opportunity didn't last long. After I felt comfortable that I had captured something, I returned to the Astronomer's Lodge to change camera lenses. I was only inside a few minutes, but when I returned to my tripod, there were no stars. The fog had become very thick again. I went back to sleep and when I woke up this morning, the mountain was still shrouded in a thick fog. The humidity has been very high for the past few days. This is very rare for West Texas. The humidity was 90% this morning which is almost unheard of at the observatory.

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but I don't really feel tired. I ate breakfast and then circled the mountain again like I did yesterday. It was interesting to watch the fog slowly lift as I walked. Each time I completed a loop around the mountain I could see a little more of the terrain below. It was actually quite beautiful to watch the fog lift and the sky gradually become blue. 

So far, today looks like an exact repeat of yesterday's weather. The skies are completely clear now and it's easy to feel optimistic about observing conditions tonight. Things can change quickly in the mountains though as we learned last night. If it's clear tonight, we'll probably skip some of the planned classroom time and try to catch up on the observing we missed yesterday. At least I know how to use my star tracker now. If I can see Polaris tonight I"m going to set the thing up and try to step up my game a bit. I feel more confident now. All we need are some clear skies.

I had a bit of a scare yesterday. When I was driving to the top of Mount Locke after dinner, a warning light came on saying that my left front tire was very low and ended to be filled immediately. Not good. I was miles away from a gas station that was probably closed anyway. I had visions of waking up in the morning with a flat tire and no spare. Luckily one of my astronomer friends came to the rescue. He said that the observatory fire station had an air compressor where I could fill the tire 24-hours a day. So far, so good.  I'm going to check all the tires again before I return to Dallas. I don't think anyone even bothers to maintain rent cars anymore. They just fill them with gas and send them out on the road again. The last time I rented a car, a warning light came on saying that I was low on oil. This time one of my tires had only half the air pressure of the other three tires. After all you pay for rent cars these days, you'd think they could do better.

I'm really hoping that we get some better weather tonight. It's going to be a long time before I get to see dark skies like this again. Clouds are easy to see in Dallas. I was looking forward to seeing stars.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3733

I took a final walk around the mountain early this morning before saying goodby to a place I'd grown to love. Birds were starting to sing. The deer were grazing. The skies were starting to clear after last night's rain. It looked like it was going to be a good day. Too bad I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. It's still hard to believe that the observatory will be closed for 37 days. It seems like overkill to me. Call me a skeptic, but I think a lot of places are closing simply to avoid a lawsuit. If you are closed, nobody can blame you for making them sick.

It's a long drive from the Davis Mountain to Dallas. As I left the solitude of Mount Locke, I expected things to change. Oddly, the quiet seemed to continue. Sometimes the traffic is bad on I-20, but not today. The traffic was surprisingly light. I turned on the radio in the car and discovered that there was no escape from the coronavirus. Sirius XM already has a dedicated coronavirus channel. I turned the radio off. I've already heard enough about washing my hands and hoarding toilet paper.

I approached Abilene in heavy fog. The thousands of wind generators that dot the landscape in this part of the country all seemed to disappear into the sky. You'd see part of a blade descend out of the clouds and then disappear again as it continued to rotate. Hundreds of wind generators obscured by fog would have made a great picture, but there are few places to stop on the freeway. I continued to drive. I'll just have to remember this picture in my head. I just wasn't in the mood to look for an exit and search for backroads, just so I could capture a moody shot of some windmills.

I didn't see a single Land Rover on the road until I was approaching Fort Worth. It still seems ironic to me that this go anywhere vehicle is only seen in upscale, urban parts of Texas. When farmers and ranchers need to leave the highway, they take their truck. The absence of imported cars in remote parts of West Texas is making me rethink my affection for Citroën and Land Rover vehicles. Maybe it would be better to just buy a normal American car next time. The last time I traveled to the Davis Mountains I rented a Cadillac. This time I rented a Chevrolet Impala. Both cars were just fine.

When I turned off the alarm on my phone this morning I noticed a message saying that I had a dental appointment. I immediately called the dentist and left a message that I was out of town and would need to reschedule. It was only later that it occurred to me that the dentist never works on Saturday and that Apple phones always list your next appointment, no matter when it happens to be. It was a little embarrassing to realize that my next appointment of any kind was April 7. Such a busy guy I am these days. Oh, well. I'm sure my dentist is used to dealing with old people by now.

I'm not sure that Dawn initially recognized me when I returned home late this afternoon. She gave me a big nervous smile and looked at Janet as if to warn her there was a stranger in the house. She warmed up quickly though after I gave her a few treats. We're buddy's again now.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day