Melbourne - excellent conditions tonight!

rustigsmed (Russell) · #1 22-08-2014, 10:23 AM

Could it be? finally - a combo of factors that seem rarer than a venus transit, cloud cover predictions between 1-5% all night, windspeed 1-5km/h, Jetstream at 20-40kts, the waning crescent moon at 11.2% and rising at 4.30am.

Better free the schedule and prepare the thermos, though it seems like one night only!! Be there!

Rusty

traveller (Bo) · #2 22-08-2014, 10:25 AM

Don't jinx it Russell

rustigsmed (Russell) · #3 22-08-2014, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by traveller

Don't jinx it Russell

haha I know ... i think we are safe - I took one for the team during the Saturn occultation when my mains to dc power transformer blew up just before it kicked off

pgc hunter · #4 22-08-2014, 12:40 PM

Was out early this morning. Decent seeing and good transparency.

scagman (John) · #5 22-08-2014, 12:46 PM

I think you jinxed it.

Totally clouded out here now.

I did have a session planned for tomorrow night, but moved it to tonight, now its clouded over.

Fingers crossed it will pass.

Last night was good.

rustigsmed (Russell) · #6 26-08-2014, 11:25 AM

didn't jinx it in the end... was a fruitful night for me, I managed to get my system polar aligned and guiding for the first time ever - was pretty stoked. and I managed to repeat the results, setup again lastnight woohoo!

am working on my first 'real' images now. left the scope out last night with the aim of some more tonight and maybe even the next couple of few nights although tomorrow night is probably cloudy.

there is a flood light a few properties across lighting up the universe, i'm not sure how to deal with this in terms of getting it turned off and with my images - it wasn't a serious problem with the goto dob. the gradients could be a serious killer.

also, the dew was getting out of control lastnight!!

scagman (John) · #7 26-08-2014, 12:43 PM

Hi Russell,

No you didn't jinx it in the end, it turned out to be a great night.
Had some excellent views thru Paul's 18" SDM.

Glad you got your PA and guiding sorted, it makes a big difference to the results.

Last night looked good early but didn't last as a heavy fog rolled in, soaking everything in its path.

Tonight is looking very good at the moment so hopefully it stays like that.

Cheers

pgc hunter · #8 26-08-2014, 06:07 PM

Anyone seen the latest forecast for Melbourne?

Had to smack myself across the face to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

rustigsmed (Russell) · #9 26-08-2014, 08:49 PM

This unexpected wind is not welcome!!!!

pgc hunter · #10 27-08-2014, 02:22 AM

Just came inside from a very decent night. Usable magnification up to 400x and very good transparency. Unfortunately got clouded out at 1.30am.

byronpaul (Paul) · #11 27-08-2014, 09:15 AM

Infamous IISer erick who is back from Israel for a brief visit, dropped by my place last night to check out the SDM and get some decent southern hemisphere viewing.

Seeing was great last night with stars rock solid all night, but transparency was poor. Lots of moisture was in the air, and light pollution from my outer suburban skies limited what we could see.

Nevertheless erick had the honours of target selection and piloting the SDM. We did a Planet Nebula and Globular Cluster tour in Sagittarius. Unreal how many targets are in that part of the sky. It also really helps when you have somebody who really knows Argo Navis driving too

The SDM has pretty decent dew prevention so despite the scope and all my gear absolutely dripping by 11pm, the secondary remained 100% clear and primary about 95% - so no problem there.

Absolutely great night and fantastic to catch up with somebody who first taught some of the basics of Astronomy at my 1st Snake Valley camp about 6 years ago.

As expected by those that know me, view of the night was 47Tuc

Paul

erick (Eric) · #12 29-08-2014, 09:42 AM

Many thanks Paul. We had a great few hours and you've got a beautiful SDM scope that will delight for years. Saturn was so bright (big mirror) and we could trace the Encke division around the entire visible ring disc!

I got a great dose of the sky I cannot see from the northern hemisphere. That, and Paul's enthusiasm, will keep me going for the next year until we hopefully visit again.

Note to self: next dob must have ServoCAT tracking!

ps. Six week old grandson is doing just fine!

Nikolas (Nik) · #13 29-08-2014, 11:43 AM

Perfect day conditions but fog each evening currently make me want to cry.

pgc hunter · #14 31-08-2014, 03:06 PM

BIG session last night! Bagged a whole hoard of planetaries and galaxies.

Kevnool (Kev) · #15 31-08-2014, 07:08 PM

Just get out there.

Cheers

Hans Tucker (Hans) · #16 31-08-2014, 07:12 PM

I have been rather apathetic of late (for over a year actually) but I dragged the TEC160FL out last night for a shot at Saturn. I was able to view at 300X with a LE 3.6 eyepiece. Started off with a look at the Moon and Wow, what a scope. Saturn did not fail to impress although condition were not perfect for 300X so I pulled back to around 200X.

traveller (Bo) · #17 31-08-2014, 07:15 PM

Had a great session last night.
Only glitch was when I accidentally pulled out the USB to EQDIR cable just I finished drift alignment

so had to power off and redo the lot.
Managed to have a go a imaging the triffid nebula, but it was getting low, so switched to 47 tuc and managed to get some half decent subs.
Cloudy tonight, guess it's recessing time.
Bo

pgc hunter · #18 31-08-2014, 08:43 PM

Last night was a bit unusual in the variability of the seeing. Started off pretty decent, then became excellent for a short period around 11pm or thereabouts, then turned to custard after that. At one point I had clear airy disks at well over 300x, then an hour later, stars were quivering and jumping around at half that magnification.