Oh well, that's astro...

[mental4astro]

Clear sky all afternoon.

Set up scope before dinner so ready as soon as dishes done, and still clear.

Come back out, swtich on scope, and blooming clouds start rolling in... <what's a suitable emoji for exasperation!!> :sad: :tasdevil: :scared: :sadeyes: :rolleyes: :bashcomp: :cloudy: :fight: :violin: :atom:

Managed just 10 glorious minutes with my Intes 715 and a 14mm SSW. GORGEOUS! Never seen Copernicus in such detail!

Just 10min after all that promise this arvo...

Oh well, that's astro... <sigh>

Alex.

[Karlzburg]

I’ve stayed on the lounge as the clouds are about this evening. Looking up smaller harder targets to put on the list to do.

[Wilso]

Yes it's a bit disheartening when you see them rolling in like a sunami, :eyepop: which has happened to me a few too many times. But we move on.
Btw how are you finding the SSW14 ? I've read on CN that there a bit finicky with eye placement as the N13T6 which I did have. Still haven't replaced this eyepiece as yet and have been looking for something with a tad more eye relief .

[leon]

Yep Alexander, your dead right that happens so often, the weather Gods just don't play by the rules.

Leon

[LewisM]

Nice and steady here...through VERY thin ice cloud.

Shame indeed.

[GUS.K]

I'm having a lot more luck with solar, the nights just turn to crap once the sun goes down.

[Nikolas]

Could be worse My eq6 circuit board just blew a circuit, Ordered a new one from sidereal but 245 bucks!

[xelasnave]

Managed 1.5 hours but cloud coming in now.
Alex

[Startrek]

Perfectly clear , still, moon lit night down the south coast NSW
Imaging M68 but a minor hiccup with my new EQ6-R Mount ( maybe an RA slippage ? )
Back on track again and hoping for 2 hours worth

[xelasnave]

I am surprised the images I am getting thru the cloud☺.
Alex

[AstralTraveller]

Beautiful night here. Clear, still with very good seeing. I spent 2hr or more over about 2.5hrs at the eyepiece - 10 minutes observing the ringtail possum and the rest on a tea break. The view was crisp up to 400x, and 466x was solid but I couldn't see any more detail than at 400x. I had a chance to try my new (to me) 9mm LV vs. 9mm UO ortho (311x). The LV clearly wins on ergonomics and seem a trifle easier to focus. I'm undecided on outright performance; is it my bias that saw a smidge more in the ortho? (after all that's their reputation). Overall the most pleasing view was at 224x with a Tak 12.5mm ortho. All in all, the sort of night that makes this hobby great. :thumbsup:

[Ukastronomer]

YOU want to try living in the UK, Wales :(

[mental4astro]

Well, things do change quickly in astro, eh!

With the cloud coming in, my son asked me to read with him for a while. I threw a towel over the scope and spent an hour with him. When I came back out, holy dooly! Clear again! Must have been the same lucky streak of clear sky as you had Martin and David :)

After my whinge, what a lovely sky. Seeing not quite as good as yours, David. I settled on 270X for my sketch of the Moon - 400X didn't show more as the seeing wasn't quite there for it.

Spent a lovely three hours with Luna. Though one thing does concern me about this Intes Mak - my gosh I can see so much finer detail with it than I've ever seen before on the ol' Moon!

Oh well, that's astro. Think the Sky Gods have pulled a fast one on you by throwing clouds your way, and they were only having a pull of my leg to see if they could get a rise out of me. But after their little joke, I was then treated to a gorgeous sky :)

Jeremy, to get a feel for Wales and the UK's weather, I just need to go to Melbourne...

Great, but sadistic, hobby... :lol:

Alex.

[Saturnine]

Have to agree with David, the seeing down here was very good earlier this evening, Copernicus, Plato etc at up to 416 X in the 250mm dob were about as good as I've seen them with my scopes. Tried to split Sirius but couldn't say for sure that I could see the Pup in the glare and the diffraction spikes. Split Adhara easily enough though. Have 3 satellite shadow transits on Jupiter this morning to observe and / or image if the seeing stays co-operative.

[xelasnave]

Well it was not too bad here even with the clouds appearing and disappearing although I was hopping all over shoting thru the openings. Anyways 2-00am saw it very foggy so I decided to go inside start some stacking so it will be finished by morning.
Alex

[Ukastronomer]

TWELVE weeks and counting

[Ukastronomer]

At 02:00 I turned over in be again ;)

[Camelopardalis]

As it says in Heathrow...”Welcome to the United Kingdom” :lol: :lol:

[xelasnave]

What has surprised me as I have mentioned is that you can still get an image even when you cant see the stars...at times☺...the dew shut down the widefield camera as I borrowed the dew hood for the finder scope (which I like to use both to find and observe) on the main rig...so need to make up some dew hoods for the camera lens....I had a nice little baffles one but I cant find it.
Maybe not today as I think widefield will be out given the Moon tonight even if clear.
Alex

[xelasnave]

I could not see the Lagoon and could not find it even thru the finder cause you could see only the really bright stars however when it appeared I lined up the scope like a pool que and turned to see it appear on the screen ☺ not centered ...so I need to practice my pool☺.
Alex

[pgc hunter]

I used to live in Melbourne...... 'nuff said! Could be worse, you could live in Warnambool or Portland!

Had my new Vixen R130sf grab n go set up out the last couple of nights on the moon, but seeing was pretty dodgy. Still, very nice crisp and contrasty views with the 7mm Delite. Even with the 2.5x Powermate added, it held up pretty well.