Seeing in Sydney

[multiweb (Marc)]

Is it just me or anyone else is getting really frustrated with the seeing in Sydney lately? The sky has been clear for the past few days and the transparency pretty good but the jetstream's been roaring non stop. Might as well stick the mount on the washing machine and put her on a spin cycle. I'd get better pictures...

[Atmos (Colin)]

Just use the FSQ, at 530mm you should permenantly be undersampling

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by Atmos

Just use the FSQ, at 530mm you should permenantly be undersampling

Even with a 15mm lens I doubt I'd be able to focus.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

You are not alone in your frustration, brother

[Wavytone]

I had the first chance to try my Santel mak on Saturday night so I'm not surprised the weather gods teased me into setting up by turning on clear skies, but utterly defeated the whole point of it - seeing was so bad that anything beyond 50X was pointless.

At least the out-of-focus diffraction patterns looked nice

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

The seeing down my way has been terrible as well for weeks, lots of clear skies but trying to get some usable avis' of lunar ,Jupiter and Saturn has been near impossible, also have some local topography that causes issues. Anything over 100X is a blurry mess and tomorrow evening there are some interesting stuff with Jupiter, red spot and shadow transits, hope to get something usable at last.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Well seeing is significantly improving this arvo and tonight. Shame the clouds are coming to the party. I reckon there is a celestial equation for astro photography. On one side terms are clouds and good seeing, on the other jetstream and clear skies. Moon's on both sides so it just cancels out...

[atalas]

[Marke (Mark)]

Mate I know what you mean I though it was just me had reasonably transparency the other night seeing was ok for may be 30min then just terrible . Trying to do some more planet imaging and I can't even focus it's so bad.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by Marke

Mate I know what you mean I though it was just me had reasonably transparency the other night seeing was ok for may be 30min then just terrible . Trying to do some more planet imaging and I can't even focus it's so bad.

It's all Louie's fault. He can't play violin. Just sayin'...

[xelasnave]

I have a dark site in Sydney but only 20 degree fov thru the trees.
Alex

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by atalas

Hey Louie, another great clear night in Sydney tonight.
Make sure you're out imaging.
I'll be

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Hey Louie, another great clear night in Sydney tonight.
Make sure you're out imaging.
I'll be

you just have to roll with the punches and laugh really.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by Retrograde

you just have to roll with the punches and laugh really.

You know what? I've just realised we've been having this jetstream for nearly a month. The whole of July certainly as there's no calm in sight.

[Atmos (Colin)]

That's why I am heading out with both a 14mm and 85mm tonight I don't think seeing matters at 125"/pixel

[andyc (Andy)]

Yup, seeing has been a nightmare. 2nd July I got some excellent Jupiter & Saturn pics, since then it's been varying between getting fuzzy shots and not even bothering. One deep-sky effort ended with trailed blurry stars and my laptop repeatedly turning itself off, bah humbug! All a right tease when you're British and can't get out of the habit of thinking of clear skies as being precious gold-dust not to be wasted

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Atmos

That's why I am heading out with both a 14mm and 85mm tonight I don't think seeing matters at 125"/pixel

Play the cards you are dealt.

I have only small binos at this address but I still am enjoying being out there so dark.

Alex

[astronobob (Bob)]

Not just you Marc'o, ,
Brisbane not much betterra, eh. for last three months, I was seriously thinking my scope was 'shot', , , to the extent I set up 3 of them for comparison sake, and found out 'All them three scopes are shot

And I have three nights out west this weekend & the heart of the Jet stream is sittin' riot over us
Some wied fields will have to do

[xelasnave]

I can't even get a start trail.

I set up the eq6 mount yesterday mainly to see what works, it is still not powered up.

I put a 150 mm x 1200 fl old doublet refractor on it and did manage to get a peek at some Sun spots.
Rather windy and the view was bouncy....but I found it most satisfying to be getting things sorted.

Last night I tried for some star trails hoping to find South but I couldn't even catch a star.

I only tried at 1600 iso with an old 450 d canon ...but nothing.

I tried a piggy back with the standard lens which had part of the house in the field of view and at 30 seconds I caught some stars but the sky was very bright and the house looked like the shot was taken in daylight. I took about 80 shots and it seems the mount is close but at this point thru the current scope there is not much hope to capture anything.

Obviously I need a new scope and a new camera

Will see if I can power the mount today and bring up a 6 inch reflector and try it out.

Its a long road back that's for sure.

And now I remember why I stopped doing astro all those years ago...A lengthy spell of moisture that not only left equipment dripping but made seeing really poor.

But on the bright side was moving most of the day and some of the night rather than sitting doing zip.

Hopefully I will have something functioning for my next trip North.

Alex

[ChrisV (Chris)]

When looking at cloudfreenight.com, I've focused on clouds not the jet stream. My subs taken on a 200mm F5 newt were dodgy last night, and guiding SNR wasn't great. Looking at this thread makes me think that it might not be entirely my fault.

So what is a good number/colour on the map for jet stream? Anything at or below 100/yellow. Or less?