Windy night at Lick

by Rich Neuschaefer


Several of Tacies were at Lick Observatory for volunteer orientation. The high point of the of the night was a great view of M3 through the 36" refractor with a 55mm eyepiece. The seeing early was very good. The core of M3 was full of individual stars.

The wind got really bad by 11 pm. Even sheltered on the east side of the observatory we were getting buffeted pretty badly. The wind was blowing water from the little fountain about 40 feet into the parking lot where our scopes were set up. Per my wind meter, the wind was blowing 25 knots plus on the south side near the flag pole.

Alan Adler was getting very nice views of Mars with his flex mirror 8" Newt. As I about three quarters of the way done setting up my 7" AP he announced the seeing was going south. Sandra started to set up her 14.5" Dob and wisely put it back in her SUV. Jay wisely didn't even start to set up his 10" AP MC. Mars looked nice for brief moments in the 7". It was still an interesting night at Lick. The staff at Lick are great, they really make you feel welcome.