It has not looked this promising in a long time. Clear blue sky, North easterly should drop after dark. Humidity very low. Just past New Moon. What more can we ask?
Scope is setup in the Observatory ready to go.
Yes, tonight lived up to its promise. Just closed the roof of the Observatory after couple of hours touring the favourites. No mozzie at all, slight breeze, low humidity, too warm for dew. Seeing was very steady, no wobbles at all here. I didn't go out there till 11:45 intentionally, I wanted many of the Southern Gems to get up above 45 degrees, and to allow "real dark" to settle in. Best visual night in a long time. That will do me for awhile.
Finally, after a long stretch of smoke, cloud, lightning and dust storms we have had a couple of nights with clear skies. The air is now smelling fresh and clean. Time to spend a few night hours outside again.
Finally the wind dropped away, and together with very low humidity, produced great observing conditions here last night. Had a good hour prior to moonrise, touring the eastern sky faint fuzzies, and Southern Gems. So what if you can't travel - One benefit of the lockdown that I have noticed, is a noticeable reduction in light pollution (confirmed by my Sky Quality Metre). No lights from the pub/ shopping centre and tennis courts, and various other over lit attractions. Great time to make the most of what maybe the best local darkness you might ever have in your neighborhood.
Glen
Yes you can certainly tell there is less LP around
What a hobby to get involved with during this world dilemma
Take advantage of any clear night that comes around whether your a visual astronomer , imager or both
I’m out tonight and tomorrow night to image some galaxies, CFN forecast is looking promising at this stage
Enjoy !!
Yes it is Russell. I am setup and ready to go on my Double and Triple star tour.
Probably fainter open clusters and globulars for me. I have spent quite a lot of time on doubles lately with my Skywatcher 130mm Newt on its Star Discovery Mount. Amazingly versatile 'scope - low power gets the Beehive and and Southern Pleiades in the FOV and higher powers it does a nice job on doubles, lovely split on Beta Mon. Growing up I would have given my eye teeth for that setup! But I fancy a change tonight.
