Seeing Last Night in Sydney

[Startrek]

Went out last night at around 9pm and the seeing in Sydney was tremendous.
The Sky under Bortle 8 was blackish not dark smokey grey and could see plenty of bright stars which were pin point and no scintillation.
Unfortunately cloud rolled in around 9.30pm and didn’t clear until the early hours
I ran PHD2 for 20mins just to test atmospheric stability and guiding was around 0.40 to 0.50 in the East up at only 35deg Alt on the EQ6-R ( payload 15kg ) , really tight and stable with short and few Ra corrections, Dec was rock solid and with minimal corrections
Tonight and tomorrow night are looking clear all night until morning
Hopefully similar seeing conditions
Did anyone else have a peek outside last night early on ??

[floyd_2]

I was keeping an eye out last night too, but unfortunately didn't get any cloud free skies from sun-down until I gave up around 10.30pm. Cloud Free Night was predicting clear skies but it just didn't happen for me. When I read your post I couldn't believe that you had clear skies until I read on and realised that they unfortunately didn't last :( Fingers crossed for tonight Martin! I have last night's plan ready to roll.

[Leo.G]

Lithgow seems to be under one giant permanent cloud. Though the sun was out this morning, long enough for the grass to grow another 3 inches and get some washing dry (hopefully).
Cloud has rolled in now and we're supposed to be getting a week of sold rain or so I've been told. I was expecting it this morning when I woke up to be honest.

[Dave882]

Martin yes I also set up around 9 with the hope of a clear night as predicted. I was aiming at m1 (low and into the city cbd lights) but still excellent guiding…for 20min until the cloud rolled in. Left everything out hoping it would clear but just wasn’t to be. Next 2 nights look promising

[Nikolas]

My last couple of sessions in Melbourne in Bortle 6 skies have been excellent with guiding of 0.3-0.5 on my EQ6 with the belt mod and my big APO I don't know what it is about the skies when they are clear at the moment but more of it please!

[The Mekon]

I was out in my backyard (Bowral) from 2030 to 2200. Transparency was OK but seeing was dreadful. I could only just make out the companion to Adhara, and the airy discs were blobs.

[floyd_2]

How did you guys go last night? It wasn't looking good just before sundown and then almost completely cleared up!!!

[The Mekon]

What a difference a day makes! Much better down here last night.

[Dave882]

Ended up being quite good here. It was awful right after sunset till about 10 with quite a bit of cloud and insane heat from our concrete jungle but settled down and extremely stable all night after that

[Startrek]

Started imaging around 9pm
Average seeing
Guiding around 0.50 to 0.60

Took last sub at 3am
Seeing improved substantially
Guiding around 0.38 to 0.45

Took my Ha and Oiii Flats and got to bed around 4am

Definitely got better into the early hours

Tonight’s clear as well , hopefully the dew stays away

[blindman]

Bortle 5, and I didn't have any clouds until 11pm, even maybe little bit after 11pm.

[blindman]

South Sydney location.

[Startrek]

Conditions last night were similar to the previous night
High cloud cleared around 9.30pm and seeing improved to the early hours
Finished imaging around 3am
2 consecutive clear, reasonably stable nights with no moon around is a rarity in Sydney but very welcome after months and months of cloudy nights

[floyd_2]

I conked out around 1.30am this morning. I had to be up again at 6am so it was all I could take lol. Conditions were great compared what we usually get. It was hard to believe that we could actually get 2 nights in a row!!! I hope that you managed to get some good data Martin.

[floyd_2]

I can't believe it - we might have some clear skies in Sydney this evening!

[Startrek]

Might can be changed to “Will definitely” and at this stage maybe Saturday night too

Heading down south to my Dome on Thursday ( Friday night , Saturday and Sunday nights all clear so far ( Galaxy imaging )

M.

[Startrek]

Depending on the effects of highish humidity, Sydney and South Coast have 3 consecutive clear nights tonight , Saturday and Sunday ( and more importantly No Moon )
Enjoy if your out imaging or observing
I’m at my South Coast Dome and will tackle my first Galaxy for this year NGC 5128 Centaurus A

Martin

[floyd_2]

That's a great target Martin. I'm looking forward to seeing your results. Just now the sky is looking more like rain than anything, but I have high hopes that it's going to clear up in the coming few hours! I doubt that I'll be sleeping much this weekend - too much astronomy to do :)

[Dave882]

Yep looking very nice for some broadband imaging the next few nights. Just hope this wind drops… all the best with your projects guys!

[floyd_2]

I think everyone is hard at work imaging in Sydney tonight. Did you feel the earthquake just now? I'm hoping that it didn't ruin my current sub!

[Leo.G]

Not sure on Sydney but Lithgow had the most amazing skies I've seen in a very long time. Sadly I was too busy photographing a fire in a coffee tin.
It would have been a great night to get the gear out.

[LindsayS]

Melbourne had great skies late last week, but now high altitude haze for the last couple of nights. Hoping for better tonight.

[Saturnine]

Hope most are having as much fun as me, 3 clear nights in a row around the new moon is something not experienced for several years here on the coast. Hopefully will get some reasonable images out of the time invested. Even managed to get mostly sub arc second guiding happening as well. Mostly image from home these days as the light pollution, Bortle 6, has all but killed the desire to do any visual observing, am struggling to see the 4th and 5th stars in Crux naked eye.

[Leo.G]

Friday was PERFECT here, Saturday night clear with strong winds (I thought playing with fire was getting dangerous), last night I decided it was scope night but a total lack of sleep for too long (around 1 hour per night currently) I was just too stuffed. I'm so glad I didn't bother, we went from an amazing clear day yesterday, closest to summer we've seen this year to total cloud cover maybe an hour or 2 after dark.

[Startrek]

Friday night down at my Dome on the South Coast was frustrating, intermittent local cloud stuffed up what was going to be a great night ( only managed 2 hours of usable data after cloud cleared at around 11pm and then shutting down at 3.30am to get a few hours sleep before sunrise
Saturday night was a cracker , clear all night but less stable than Friday night
Captured about 4 or 5 hours of usable data
Sunday night was clear but unfortunately had social commitments
Can’t complain , all in all a great weekend
Hopefully more of these as we move into cooler months and darker / longer nights

Cheers
Martin

[AstroViking]

Had a great night imaging last night here in Melbourne. My guiding was averaging between 0.5 and 0.6 (arc-seconds, RMS) and even got as low as 0.37 for a couple of minutes.

Just need more clear skies now...