ving
02-01-2007, 03:30 PM
is it just me thats getting cabin fever? is it just me thats desperate to observe?:screwy:
twas a quiet afternoon with a clearing sky showing blue stuff that i had not seen for quite some time... my fingers were crossed...
7pm rolls around and the sky is showin about 60% blue. with my hopes soaring well above the disapearing clouds i gather up my courage and start setting up my gear. with the aide of my newly purchased compass i even polar aligned better than usual. meanwhile the whispy clouds that remain whiz past like a dragonfly over a pond.
8:45pm. an ever darkening sky show promise of a reasonable observing session. My current state would allow seeing of 1/10 and i'd still be happy. I set out to check my alignment via a drift... its only out by a degree or 2 so i fix it.
9pm comes and finally i can do some observing... the phone rings... its my mate who lives in an appartment overlooking hyde park (sydney), all is well with him he tells me as i hear the rain pouring down like in a bad dream in the background :help:. "oh yeah, its just started" he states "clouds everywhere and no end in sight!" :sadeyes:. Still, I cant see any clou..... hang on! WHATS THAT ON THE HORIZON? :scared:
9:30PM. A quick goodbye and i am at my lappy firing it up. cartes pops up on the screen and i start searching for some good doubles. I look at the screen, I look up at orion, I look back down at the screen again.... I am gunna have to be quick.
dodging the edge of a thick cloud bank now I knock off a couple of easy ones and a hard one(*names withheld) including the trap. the seeing is actually pretty good, i'd probably rate it 7/10 or maybe even eight. The moon however is blotting out the dim stuff but mag 8-9 stars are still very easy :).
10pm and a cloak of dark cloud now clothes our formally naked orion (naked except his belt, sword and shield that is). i scan the skies for anything worthy of a quick squiz and notice for now that our old friend the moon is hanging lazily low in the north just out of reach of the clouds. maybe a quick image is in order :). So armed with my Lpi i hunt down this spherical rock to find that it is too low in the sky and my roof is blotting it out entirely.
15 minutes later there is no sky. A thick blanket now stretches from horizon to horizon. the dooner of hate now blots the stars of... enough of this florally talk :P
I start pulling stuff down and get it all inside... just as i get my last item undercover the heavens open their flood gates and it pours down! good timing huh!:thumbsup:
*names withheld as they are to be in my next seeing double... should i ever get to observe again.
twas a quiet afternoon with a clearing sky showing blue stuff that i had not seen for quite some time... my fingers were crossed...
7pm rolls around and the sky is showin about 60% blue. with my hopes soaring well above the disapearing clouds i gather up my courage and start setting up my gear. with the aide of my newly purchased compass i even polar aligned better than usual. meanwhile the whispy clouds that remain whiz past like a dragonfly over a pond.
8:45pm. an ever darkening sky show promise of a reasonable observing session. My current state would allow seeing of 1/10 and i'd still be happy. I set out to check my alignment via a drift... its only out by a degree or 2 so i fix it.
9pm comes and finally i can do some observing... the phone rings... its my mate who lives in an appartment overlooking hyde park (sydney), all is well with him he tells me as i hear the rain pouring down like in a bad dream in the background :help:. "oh yeah, its just started" he states "clouds everywhere and no end in sight!" :sadeyes:. Still, I cant see any clou..... hang on! WHATS THAT ON THE HORIZON? :scared:
9:30PM. A quick goodbye and i am at my lappy firing it up. cartes pops up on the screen and i start searching for some good doubles. I look at the screen, I look up at orion, I look back down at the screen again.... I am gunna have to be quick.
dodging the edge of a thick cloud bank now I knock off a couple of easy ones and a hard one(*names withheld) including the trap. the seeing is actually pretty good, i'd probably rate it 7/10 or maybe even eight. The moon however is blotting out the dim stuff but mag 8-9 stars are still very easy :).
10pm and a cloak of dark cloud now clothes our formally naked orion (naked except his belt, sword and shield that is). i scan the skies for anything worthy of a quick squiz and notice for now that our old friend the moon is hanging lazily low in the north just out of reach of the clouds. maybe a quick image is in order :). So armed with my Lpi i hunt down this spherical rock to find that it is too low in the sky and my roof is blotting it out entirely.
15 minutes later there is no sky. A thick blanket now stretches from horizon to horizon. the dooner of hate now blots the stars of... enough of this florally talk :P
I start pulling stuff down and get it all inside... just as i get my last item undercover the heavens open their flood gates and it pours down! good timing huh!:thumbsup:
*names withheld as they are to be in my next seeing double... should i ever get to observe again.