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Old 11-11-2015, 10:33 AM
Spacebrain
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This Sydney weather...



I'm new to the hobby, but between Scorpius and saturn setting before night and orion coming over (cant wait) I have a small window of opportunity to see Tuc47 above my trees while its at its highest in the sky.

Been trying all week but looks like I'm going to have to wait a long time to find out if its possible from my backyard

Are the taurids meteor showers worth looking at while waiting for orion to get higher? How long would you expect to watch this area before seeing something?
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Old 11-11-2015, 10:40 AM
glend (Glen)
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Such are the frustrations of astronomy. When you do get a clear view of your target the clouds will roll in, or the Moon will flood it out, or your neighbor will decide to turn on all his yard lights so the dog can do a poo, etc etc. Your not even safe at a dark site, as good astro weather, new moon periods, are a combo that is rarely achieved.
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Old 11-11-2015, 10:59 AM
sharptrack2 (Kevin)
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I feel your pain... I've been trying to get some decent views early morning (3:30-4:00am) of Jupiter, Venus and the last of the new moon. My smallish binoculars are getting more of a workout than my scope. It's been fun trying to find things between the clouds though, definitely a challenge and will help in the long run. I have the added problem of high light pollution where I live so straight up is sometimes my only option. Which leads me to the Taurids, I understand they are peaking once again over the next 2 days. Having done a modest amount of meteor watching, it can vary from time to time. If I remember correctly, you can expect upwards of 10-15 an hour for the Taurids when peaking. Being this far south, and having the Sydney glow around you, may limit that to only 2 or 3 an hour, but they should be quite bright.
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Old 12-11-2015, 09:19 PM
FI93 (Norm)
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Sydney weather? try Moss Vale!

I have set up a EQ6 pier in the back yard about 18 days ago, 150mm steel tube set in 400mm x400mm x0.9 mtr deep concrete block, then pipe filled with cement...... took 17 bags cement all up. machined up the seating and leveled to a split hair, all while the nights were perfect. then the night I went to set up for aligning the clouds/rain/hail started and has been that way ever since....grrr.
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Old 13-11-2015, 05:19 AM
sharptrack2 (Kevin)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FI93 View Post
I have set up a EQ6 pier in the back yard about 18 days ago, 150mm steel tube set in 400mm x400mm x0.9 mtr deep concrete block, then pipe filled with cement...... took 17 bags cement all up. machined up the seating and leveled to a split hair, all while the nights were perfect. then the night I went to set up for aligning the clouds/rain/hail started and has been that way ever since....grrr.


Your concrete will be throroughly set... I wish I had the opportunity to establish a setup like that! The weather has to break soon, Xmas is right around the corner.
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Old 17-11-2015, 09:06 AM
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The conditions last night were glorious. All the rain must have cleared the air because the transparency was amazing. Even from my light polluted balcony in Ryde I was picking out 10th magnitude galaxies with my little C6.
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Old 17-11-2015, 09:29 AM
sharptrack2 (Kevin)
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I imagine a lot of us were out late last night getting in what observing we could. As a inexperienced observer, as much as I wanted to go for gold, I stuck with two simple targets I should be able to see before midnight (work day today). I managed to identify and observe the Reflection and Orion nebulae using 7x40 binoculars and my 5" newtonian. Even managed a reasonable snapshot with my mobile phone of the Reflection nebula stars (no detail really, just the stars). I was fascinated with just roaming the skies with the binoculars. Made me realise I need to get a star atlas or two. Hopefully tonight will be just as cloudless.
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Old 17-11-2015, 01:00 PM
dimithri86 (Dimithri)
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Hi Kevin

Try this:
http://www.geocities.jp/toshimi_taki/atlas/atlas.htm
http://www.geocities.jp/toshimi_taki/

I can not function without my laminated copy.
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Old 17-11-2015, 01:36 PM
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I use SkySafari on my tablet instead of a heavy paper atlas.
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Old 17-11-2015, 10:47 PM
sharptrack2 (Kevin)
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Thanks guys,

Am very anti Apple, have been for years. Not really their fault any more, just stuck in my ways. Might take a look for an Android compatible one but prefer to use paper to start.

I have actually already downloaded Toshimi's effort. I just haven't printed it up. I have both the A4 and A3 libraries, I should decide which one I want and go for it. Have also been looking at a couple of highly recommended books to populate my library as well as be practical. Time and money... never enough of either.

Had another great night tonight, comparing and practising with the 5" Newtonian and 8" SCT (I just picked up). Waiting for my new EP's to arrive to really put them both to work. Have re-enforced my learnings of the celestial equatorial system and was able to star hop to several targets (boring ones like Aldebaran, VdB 23 and it's nebula, Fomalhaut, etc).

Looking forward to a couple more clear nights. Shame the weekend will be clouding over. Difficult to get any decent observing in when you have to go to work at 5 am.

Again, thanks for the suggestions. Hope you were able to get out tonight.
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  #11  
Old 21-11-2015, 10:50 PM
FI93 (Norm)
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Sky cleared just in time

Finally finally got a good shot and setup my EQ6 on the pier, centre popped the precise south pole bearing into the mounting/pier base plate and re aligned the elevation spot on. I have a ripper of a program on my ipad mini and Iphone..... SkySafari Pro, besides driving the scope, it has a compass/gps facility for identifying visually whats up there.
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