Sydney skies tonight

[multiweb]

Thinking of getting out tonight and image the planets. Bit of wind gusts this arvo still, hope it dies at dark. Seeing looks ok(ish) for tonight but it's clear. Sunday onwards looks cloudy. Who's having a go tonight too? :question:

[LewisM]

If what's over here blows over there - which it usually does - I wouldn't bother.

[Saturn488]

Good luck up there.

Cloudy here in Melbourne...

[Startrek]

Looks like a good night for imaging and observing in the South Coast NSW
Some broken cloud around now but it’s all suppose to clear by 8.30 to 9.00pm
Going to finish off a few hours on NGC 6744 Pavo Galaxy
Last night I was imaging NGC 6744 very windy early on but stopped around 10pm.See was average but my guiding was incredible, guide star SNR very stable with nice narrow peak on the guide star profile , RA 0.65 DEC 0.50
Looks can be deceiving
A give away for me on any night to determine how stable things are up there is focusing , once I start taking 20sec test exposures zoomed in on a mag 2.50 to 3.50 Star for focusing and I get my diffraction spikes tac sharp and loooong ... I know it’s going to be really good
I don’t use fancy software to focus , just my remote control JMI focuser and my eyes ....usually focused in around 5 minutes
Enjoy tonight what ever you do , wherever you are !!

[glend]

Yes tonight is looking like a good one, the wind has dropped to nothing up here, and the humidity is just 24%. I have the scopes in the observatory ready to go. Hoping to get my highest magnification on Mars.

[xelasnave]

Last night I had Mars on screen and it looked like something wiggly you would see under the microscope although I started on the spider when it was still in the trees and after half an hour when it cleared it did seem more settled...my attitude these days is if it is clear and blowing a gale just go for it.if half cloud go visual..deep sky is more forgiving than planets.
Good luck to all ..get out there it is Saturday night afterall.
Alex

[peter_4059]

I'm all set to go.

[Hans Tucker]

Northerners ... stop bragging.

Stupid Melbourne weather.

[multiweb]

Pretty decent night so far. The wind died around 20:00. Seeing is touch and go but seems to improve a bit. Mars is getting up. Filled one 250GB drive already with Jupiter and Saturn.

[Sunfish]

250g is a lot of images but maybe not a lot of video.

Very nice night last night and even better tonight. Dry and warm and clear.

I have the scope scripting some images and it seems like it could run all night if the software does not crash. Running all night is a novelty for me. Better check I have the limits set.

[glend]

Ray was there a fire down around Wollongong way tonight? Just saw a story on the news feeds.

[multiweb]

I thought I smelt smoke too. Could have been the M7 though.

[multiweb]

I typically do around 1.5TB per session, 5 to 6h.
You've made your own imaging planning software?

[multiweb]

That's all I got. I'll check the other streams but I suspect that's one of the sharpest. Bloody jetstream :(

[Saturnine]

Had a lovely night out with some fellow club members at our Southern Highlands dark site, best night for ages, got dewy later on though but was dry for most of the evening. Looking north from home in the arvo , there was a fire up in the Royal NP it seemed, lots of smoke , maybe it was a controlled burn ahead of summer.
Did some Jupiter and Mars video imaging but not as much as Marc and others, maybe 50Gb once the raw files are debayered, seeing wasn't as good as wished for, again. The Ganymede transit was the main aim, coupled with the Red Spot and have some processing to do later today.
Also did some deep sky that I'm keen to find out how it will turn out when stacked etc. Did I mention how nice it was to be out under mainly dark panoramic skies again, most of our dark of the moon weekends for the past several months have been clouded out, rained out out or too windy to do anything with. The drawback of club outings being limited to mostly saturday nights.

Cheers

[Sunfish]

Nothing so sophisticated. Just running a script in Nebulosity but it failed when I went inside to watch a movie with the family.

I think Ecos scripting, although cumbersome, is more reliable and less prone to crash.

[multiweb]

It always does :lol:

[Sunfish]

I discovered that the later script also set gain and offset to 0 and did not change the filter from Ha to Oiiii. Interesting experiment though for a couple of hours of Ha. Ha and Double Ha.

[multiweb]

Tuesday night should be good for some more testing.

[Sunfish]

Ah yes. CFN looks good. Thanks Marc. I had given up on this week.

[multiweb]

Since it lost ACCESS best to get your cloud coverage from fish ranger or oz forecast is another good one.

[Sunfish]

Thanks Marc. I will try that. A few stars tonight but perhaps a bit too much cloud to try out my new filter. Must be clearer away from the coast.

[multiweb]

nope. the clouds are here too. no luck.

[Saturnine]

Well, the clouds around here mostly cleared away after midnight so set up the gear to get some videos of Mars if the seeing was good enough.
Didn't have to wait long for the newt to cool as the inside and outside temps were only a few degrees difference. Once balanced and polar aligned and tracking on Mars, upped the magnification to 250X and had the best visual ever of the planet. Actually seeing fine detail in the Hellas Basin and surrounds, not a rock solid view but enough steady glimpses to delight the eyes, even taking into account my aging vision.
Managed to gather videos' over an hour or so but the seeing seem to go off, partly because Mars was disappearing over the neighbours roof by then. Am processing the videos' at the moment and if anything worthwhile ensues, will post for critique or whatever.
Certainly glad I stayed up instead of giving up hope of getting some telescope time on Mars.

[glend]

Looking good for tonight up my way.

[Sunfish]

Midnight tonight looks good.

[multiweb]

Not perfect here but if does look good with decent seeing for the first half of the night. Overcast right now but will try to set up later on if we don't get late showers.

[Sunfish]

A small window in the clouds and no wind. Moon getting lower.

[glend]

Very good up here tonight. Mars is the best i have seen it this year. No wobbles, stars are solid no spikes approaching focus.or out. Even looking at Orion, still fairly low at midnight, it exhibited good pin point stars. No wind, no cloud. Guess that is the end of it, given the rain on the way.

[multiweb]

Just packed up now. Seeing got pretty good after 1:00am. Clouds rolled in around 19:00 then cleared completely by 22:00. Then it was clear till the end. A little dewy but not cold and a very good night. I shot Mars in color and IR until 2:00am. Plenty to process.

[multiweb]

Tuesday night looks clear like a solid night so far in the forecast. Seeing not ideal but not too shabby either.

[Sunfish]

Thanks for the alert . Finally have Ecos running on an Ubuntu SBC with VNC so I hope I can dither all night from the deck chair. Can only short out right?

[multiweb]

Still looking good for tonight. Fingers crossed. Last night was clear(ish) but surface wind was still a little high. I didn't bother. Seeing tonight is not crash hot but hey, after all this rain the mozzies need some fresh blood. :lol:

[Sunfish]

Go out and feed them. A bit cool for mozzies here but very clear and still.
I have the Rock 64 running and taking images in Ecos !
Amazed that it works. Guiding is good.

Helps if you remember to turn the mount on.

[Sunfish]

Here comes that big orange moon

[multiweb]

Well it's been excellent so far. Mozzies are behaving. It got too cold for them. Seeing really improved after 23:00. It was actually better than expected looking at the forecast. The sky was clear until 0:30 when high level haze picked up in places from the SW but not enough to be a real bother. Got heaps on Jupiter, Saturn, Mars both RGB and IR. Just transferring all the Mars stuff to my PC now then onto the moon.

[Sunfish]

You had a good night.
I had to pack up at 11 but I had a couple of hours added to the sculptor galaxy.
The moon did look good.

[multiweb]

Monday looks good. Clear and decent seeing. :cool:

[Startrek]

According to CFN ( GFS model ) tonight, Monday night and Tuesday night looks really good in Sydney
I’m set up with my 6”f6 newt for imaging the Helix over 2 or 3 nights before it gets to low in December

Enjoy a small window of clear , moonless nights after a month or so of ordinary weather for astronomy in Sydney

Enjoy if you can get out there !!

[Sunfish]

Monday and Tuesday definitely so far.

[multiweb]

True but the seeing is good tonight, although we might get passing low level clouds, ~10% is still ok. Tuesday looks clearer but the jetstream is a lot higher and I'm trying some planetary. Might do planets tonight and a little deepsky tomorrow.

[assbutt94]

I've set up in penrith, some clouds at the moment. Looking to get some HA or LRGB exposures of NGC300. It's a work night so hopefully they move along and it pays off, fingers crossed

[assbutt94]

Clouds have moved east. Suck it Sydney :rofl:

Edit: more clouds moving in from the mountains, thats what I get for teasing

[Startrek]

I’m imaging 21km from the City Centre of Sydney and it’s a beautiful clear night
Already captured 10 x 3 minute subs on the Helix , going for 50 tonight and 50 tomorrow night
Clouds moved east off the coast at 6.00pm

[assbutt94]

Best of luck, I've mostly missed the Helix Nebula this season. Ive missed most of this year really.

There is patchy light cloud moving over penrith currently, to the north and south, but it seems like a good night for planetary.
I want one half decent Helix Neb this year which I why im up on a work night. My employer supplies coffee in the lunch room so it's almost like they want me to do this :shrug:

[multiweb]

Clouds rolled in at 21:45 here. I had done everything I needed to do. Seeing was pretty good. Covered the scope now copying videos to the PC. Tomorrow and Wednesday are forecast to be clear so three nights in a row with a bit of luck. Rain Thursday arvo.

[AdamJL]

I went out last night (Sunday), setup and the clouds rolled in. Thought about tonight, but didn't, and now regret it!
I'll try again tomorrow. Hopefully get some time on the Tarantula

[The Mekon]

Seeing was just awful in the Southern Highlands last night, but transparency was OK. I am not into astrophotography, so which is more important for getting exposures?

[multiweb]

Good night last night again.:thumbsup:

[Sunfish]

I had forgotten a night out to see a band for the first time since.... !
So missed it but tonight is a possibility

[glend]

Tonight was excellent up my way. Just closed up the observatory, been out there since 2:15am exercising the long refractors. Stars were very well behaved, dead calm up there. :eyepop:

[xelasnave]

It was perfect here last night..even no dew.
Alex

[multiweb]

Wednesday forecast is still looking good with some decent seeing for a bit of moonage. Bloody hot today here.

[multiweb]

Last night forecast was a little optimistic. High level haze rolled out around 21:00 in western Sydney and the seeing although pretty good early evening deteriorated quickly although I'm not 100% if it was my scope equalising with the temperature rapidly dropping. I'd be interested to hear from anyone out to confirm if the seeing did get worse. :thumbsup:

[Saturnine]

Yes it did get worse, I was trying to image Mars around 11:00 / 12:00 and gave up because the seeing was crap and then lots of misty cloud kept moving over as well. No doubt sent down from Sydney.
As is usual this time of the year, the humidity is high so lots of moisture in the air promoting more sky glow.

[multiweb]

Thanks for the confirmation Jeff.



Sorry, this is all coming from the dog house in Newcastle. I'm just the messenger ;)

[h0ughy]

Marc Marc Marc all that displaced air is not from here :P

[multiweb]

QLD then? ;)