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Old 06-08-2019, 09:06 AM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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mental4astro is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 4,979
Much of what is being mentioned in this thread does come to also work into site selection for astro. Sure, if you are doing this from home, there's not much choice and one needs to deal with the conditions that are.

However, this does also present the opportunity to examine what factors that do present difficult conditions, and then to identify those geographic and environmental situations that provide for a BETTER and more optimal astro location. We spend and invest a lot of time and money into astro, and we only do half cocked job if we don't investigate site selection any further than "here is an open grassy field, this will do".

Dew does not need to be the unavoidable bedfellow of astronomy.

It is possible to find locations that more routinely offers better seeing conditions.

If dew is eliminated from the equation, the associated mist that comes with it is also diminished, and then transparency is also enhanced.

Yes, what I have mentioned above does little for one when doing astro from home. But the broader context of this thread's "bad seeing in Sydney" does lend itself to the discussion and identification of what factors do provide the best conditions for astro.

As an example, the dark site my observing buddies and I used this last Saturday, we had no dew what so ever, our exposed optics stayed bone dry as was all our gear. Yet in the surrounding areas, everything was sodden with dew. Not one battery needed to power a single dew heater.

Alex.
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