Dear everybody: We are extremely fortunate to be in Tucson, Arizona for an extended visit! It is a lovely, charming city in a gorgeous setting surrounded by mountains and the Sonoran Desert. It is also the center of gravity of astronomy!!! It has no peer. The only thing bad about Tucson is that the recent onset of El Nino provided high cirrus clouds during new moon in February. But so far the new moon period in March is showing day after day of clear and transparent skies. The optical depth from aerosol is about 0.05 or less typicallly, one of the lowest in the world! I've had three nights out in a dark sky location one hour's drive from Tucson. In this location there are no lights at all. Furthermore, it is clear, transparent and warm. Light pollution and urban sprawl is a massive and growing problem. Here in Tucson there is still the chance to do something about this problem since the economy of the region is quite dependent and growing more and more on things optical and astronomical. To those of you who love our hobby of photographing and imaging the deep sky, I urge you to look into Tucson as your future center of activity. sincerely, glenn shaw
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