Previous Article Next Article Table of Contents
Is It Really Raining? Now You Can Confirm Your...(1Sep92) Suspicions (from CTIO, NOAO Newsletter No. 31, 1 September 1992) We now have (almost) daily weather satellite photos for Chile and the West Coast of South America available on Tololo. These are being captured by a satellite receiver system and printed on a laser machine up on the mountain. This system was placed in operation by the mountain electronic technicians, headed by Hugo Vargas. The system is currently using an inexpensive set of hardware, hooked into a spare 386 PC on the mountain. This hardware/software requires human intervention to capture and print a picture, and the electronic technicians or observer support personnel try to capture one or two pictures a day. Because of more pressing demands on the hardware and observer support, we cannot guarantee a picture every day (someone may actually want to use that spare PC for the ASCAP!). We have loaded samples of these images into the Sun via floppy disks and Kermit, but this is an inefficient procedure. We are working on batch processes and a link into the mountain computer network to reduce the workload on the mountain staff. This should also permit observers to display pictures on their workstation directly. In the meantime, we advise astronomers to trust their own observational skills. When the white flakes are falling from the sky or the raindrops are landing on the windshield, the weather satellite usually DOES show clouds. When the weather systems are large, as often happens this time of year, the pictures are often discouraging, but at least they provide grist for dinner table conversations. You may also receive predictions from interested members of the support staff. To date, these are provided free of charge. Enjoy! Bob Schommer
Previous Article Next Article Table of Contents