Affiliation
British Astronomical Association, Variable Star Section (BAA-VSS)
Fri, 09/23/2016 - 13:31

Any news on when SRO-50 might be up and running?  Don't seem to be able to find any recent information on AAVSOnet at all on the forum.  My last image was June 20!

Thanks,

Gary

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
SRO-50

Hi Gary,

John Gross (the site owner) said that he had some lightning damage that was evident when he started getting ready to restart after the normal summer monsoon.  He hopes to have things repaired by early October.

Arne

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Monsooney?

Why do they need to shutdown the whole summer for a monsoon? BSM-Hamren operates year-round thru continuous "monsoons" :)

Mike

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
monsoon

Hi Mike,

The southwestern monsoon is appropriately named, as it is a change in wind direction that is accompanied by an increase in moisture.  It is one of the two wet seasons and essential for most everything that grows there.

That said, the major problem with the southwestern monsoon that you don't get in the tropics are the vicious thunderstorms.  Most observatories shut down and unplug as much as possible during this period, as you will get a thunderstorm just about every day with lots of lightning.  These are usually afternoon storms, and in theory you can open up after about midnight on some of the nights, and the monsoon typically takes a couple breaks through the May30-Sep15 period, where you may get a handful of nights.

For SRO, the issue is that the telescope is located an hour's drive from John, and so it is easier to keep it off-line through the monsoon and start back up in September.

Arne