A final photometric night with good seeing (1.2-1.6 arcsec) closes out a very productive five-night Campaign 98. The campaign finishes at about the right time since the weather forecast has the monsoon (now affecting northern Mexico and eastern New Mexico) beginning to tickle Arizona tomorrow. More concerning is a large wild fire that started today on the eastern end of the Santa Catalina mountains. Mt. Bigelow is the second highest mountain in this range. Fortunately, the wind has been westerly. If it had been from the east, this observing campaign would have been forced to contend with the amazing amount of smoke generated by the numerous fires burning throughout eastern Arizona.
The final observing campaign of Fermi Cycle 9, Campaign 99, is scheduled
in two weeks at the Kuiper Telescope. This is the annual "monsoon run", when the observer tries to get measurements of blazars between thunderstorms.
With luck, the monsoon will bring rain before this campaign to dampen the
many fires now burning.
