The first clear sky in days. It was a little windy but bloody hell I had an absolute gut full of Melbourne's cold and cloudy lame climate.
Although the temp fell well short of the forecast as usual, it was clear. I was soon to discover that the excitement will be short lived. I took the 10" outside and cooled it for a hour, altohugh both indoor and outdoor temps were similar.
Dropped in the 18mm Ultima for 69x and aimed the scope at the lagoon Nebula. Why can't I focus the stars down to pin points?
I check my collimation, although in the dark its a bit difficult. Aiming the red light at the cheshire opening, it looks good. So what's going on? Let down, I turned to 47Tuc. At 69x, I could resolve stars almost all the way to the core. But at 166x, I couldn't even focus it. The focus just wouldn't "snap" - rather it was all 'mushy'. What the hell? This is what I'd expect at 400x or so. Not at 166x. My scope wasn't to blame, considering the views I got on a previous night. I suspect Melbourne's perpetually sensational seeing again.
I focused on Acherner at 166x and immediately confirmed my suspicions. At just 166x, the star was a fuzzy, flaring, bouncing, wavering mess. It would've been perhaps 1/4 the diameter of Jupiter. You could see the star's glare flickering in the eyepiece. Unfocusing the star, the disk was just boiling. Seeing would've been 1/10 on the pickering scale, and anyone who's seen the animated seeing scale, Acherner looked like the 1/10 or 2/10 examples.
Clearing it would be worthless staying out any longer. I just packed up and went in, ready for the next clear sky in 2-3 weeks time.