I have been renting time on telescopes located near beautiful downtown Rodeo, New Mexico, in the extreme southwest corner of the state. Rodeo is nestled in a mountain valley at an altitude of 4,000 feet in an area known to astronomers for pristine skies with “good seeing.” If you have ever been out on the south forty on a clear dark summer night, you know what this means.

Except for the months of July through September. Like clockwork these months bring the monsoons. A monsoon, according to Wikipedia:

Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea. Usually, the term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a seasonally-changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase.

The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the West African and Asia-Australian monsoons. The inclusion of the North and South American monsoons with incomplete wind reversal may be debated.

The term was first used in English in British India (now India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) and neighbouring countries to refer to the big seasonal winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea in the southwest bringing heavy rainfall to the area.

SW New Mexico has been seeing almost daily thunderstorms this summer, which has put a crimp in my use of their ‘scopes in my pursuit of the perfect color astronomical image. For obvious reasons the roofs of the observatories close at the first hint of wind or rain. I have some great images of the inside of an observatory dome.

Steve Cullen recently took this dramatic shot of Mother Nature’s monsoon rage. Steve is the president of LightBuckets, a company who owns and maintains several observatories with research-grade telescopes in Rodeo. I suspect he was a little nervous at seeing all those unleashed ergs.

Dave, getting nervous just looking at the picture!