Clear night in Brisbane

[adman]

Well - the first (potentially) clear night in Brisbane since god knows when, and (of course) I have other plans....I have U2 tickets for tonight at suncorp stadium, so there will be no getting the scope out tonight.

This is driving me insane

[Suzy]

Hi Adam, same thing happened to me a couple of months back when I went to a concert and it was a clear night after ages, so I sympathise. ;) Enjoy your U2 concert (lucky you), the stars will always be there, Bono & Co won't. Have a great night, and give us some details of how the concert went! :D Have a great time. :)

[adman]

Thanks suzy - I will give the low down!

Adam

[jjjnettie]

I'm set up ready to go. Still some cloud about, but I'm willing to shoot short subs through sucker holes.
Enjoy your concert!

[astroron]

Adam, enjoy your concert:) at least you will get some Star studded entertainment:P
Not much chance here of observing as the cloud base is only about 100mts :cloudy:
Cheers

[Suzy]

:lol: Good for you Nettie. I'll be getting my banana lounge and binos out for a session between those sucker holes too.

[Liz]

Oooh, U2 concert will be awesome Adam, enjoy!!!!!
Clear up here too, but too hot, tired and very muggy ... to set up my scopes, slacker. ;)

[[1ponders]]

Nothing here but the undersides of clouds. Have fun Adam, I don't think you will be missing too much out here

[troypiggo]

I saw some blue stuff in the sky this afternoon and had to ask someone walking past what it was. Apparently it's called "not clouds".

[BLiTZWiNG]

I've been watching the sky all day... was so clear when I left work... now... now a great big dirty cloud has filled my entire eastern view!!!

[RickS]

Still a bit of clear sky up there. Time to drag out the mount and new scope. Sorry if that brings the clouds back, folks...

[keni]

Rick I'll have to share the blame too.
I just went downstairs got the tripod and mount out then lugged the scope out and shock, horror it's cloudy again.
The irony is it's a borrowed scope. Imagine how bad my luck will be when I buy one.
At least it's not raining......yet.

Ken.

[BLiTZWiNG]

OMG the sky has totally cleared here!!

Seeing isn't too great, there's a fair bit of twinkle about, but its clear at least.

[BLiTZWiNG]

OMG I need that RDF so bad right now :(

[RickS]

Well, I got the finder aligned, did a quick star test and then got some brief glimpses of Jupiter. Better than nothing, but only just. At least it looks like my new C11 isn't a dud...

[BLiTZWiNG]

I had a heck of a lot of trouble finding Jupiter (I could see it with my eyes but I have no finder scope (should be solved tomorrow!)). Once I found it though it was nice, saw the brown band and 3 moons.

I also spotted my first galaxies around the LMC region. I suspect it was the LMC, but I can't be certain. It was kinda on splotches. The second one I saw was a bit like a cross of stars, but cloudy, and not too far from the other one. I really don't exactly know if those are what I saw.

[jenchris]

Tarantula nebula was the LMC one you saw

[adman]

what a beautiful morning! does that mean it was clear most of the night? Great to hear a few of you got out there. Did it eventually clear up your way Paul and Ron?

By the way the U2 concert was pretty amazing. The stage they had was pretty much as tall as the roof of suncorp. They had a circular screen above the stage that they could raise and lower - but it also expanded downwards and outwards so it came right down and hovered just above the band like a huge cylinder- the screen was made up of hundreds of individual segments on some sort of expanding frame. Very cool. They played lots of oldies and a bit (but not too much :thumbsup:) newer stuff.

Right now I am going to enjoy the sunshine. The kids are on school holidays, so no racing around making lunches etc, and to top it all off - I don't work this morning!

Happy Days!

[adman]

its early days yet, but I think I am going to like this new "not clouds' thing...

[[1ponders]]

I didn't get out there Adam as it was very hit and miss while I was up. The transparency did improve considerably later in the night, but there were still too many fluffy grey things floating around up there to bother

Fingers crossed for some more soon

[BLiTZWiNG]

Jenny I think you might be right there, thanks!

[jjjnettie]

I had a ball last night.
I was shooting through sucker hole half the night, then it cleared completely.
What a joy to see the Milky Way stretching across the sky.
If my pics turn out ok, i'll be posting them later today.

[supernova1965]

Hi all

I actually saw some stars last night not enough holes to get the scope out as the clouds were moving quick I barely had time for these 30sec exposure's that I took to convince myself in the morning that yes I did see stars last night:P:rofl:

[adman]

cool pictures warren - looks more like an aurora than clouds!

Adam

[BLiTZWiNG]

Oh haha I just realised that NGC 2070 is the Tarantula nebula. That's the one I thought I was looking at on starry night, but it called it NGC 2070.

[andrew2008]

I missed the clear night last night to see U2. The tickets were a birthday present for my wife and I wasn't a big fan so would have missed it if not for that. Am I disappointed? Not in the slightest. That was the biggest rock show Brisbane is likely to see for many years to come and I urge anyone having half thoughts of going to Sydney shows to get there. I'd trade several clear nights a year to see a show so spectacular.

[BLiTZWiNG]

I'm wondering if the other one I saw was LH 95.

[BLiTZWiNG]

Oh puhlease. AC/DC was far better.

[Liz]

Nice piccies Warren, like the effect - glad you saw some stars at least, you guys have copped it down there - lot more than us. :rain:

Glad the concert was great Adam!!:rockband:

Glad all cleared jjj - always a bonus.

[jenchris]

Tarantula is a good indicator for me, I can see it really well when the seeing is about 7 - almost to the point of it having colour in it.
So I like to look at it
It was the second thing I looked at when I gave my scope first light last year.
Tuc47 was first which is why I photoe'd it first last night -

[BLiTZWiNG]

Hey Jenny that's awesome!

I was noticing that some stars had different colours last night which was nice, but I definitely couldn't see any colour in Tarantula. I'm gonna have to go looking for this Tuc47 too.

If you've noticed that the sky has gone cloudy about now, it's because my RDF arrived :cloudy: :scared3:

I'd love to do AP but I only have a Sony Cybershot (5 yr old, 5mp camera). Somehow I dont think that will cut it.

[jenchris]

I took some smashing shots of the moon and jupiter with a projection setup - this was an Aldi traveller camera - $100

[supernova1965]

Great shots now all you need to do is explain what you mean by projection setup:shrug::thumbsup:

[BLiTZWiNG]

That's quite kewl.

Well regardless, I need attachments and a GOTO of some kind... my current form of manual GOTO wont cut it I dont think.

[jenchris]

These weren't timed exposures - they were literally taken through the eyepiece as a snap (which is a projection picture) - all I did was make up a little piece of wood with a hole in it that fitted over the lenses to hold them lined up and an elastic band to hold it in place - cost - ten minutes of my time to make with a hole saw in a drill.
Set the camera to infinity and snap away, adjusting whatever you can adjust to give you a better shot. The exposures were about 1/30 sec
to 2 seconds (for Saturn which I haven't posted because they're not that good) Increasing the zoom will eliminate vignetting and also diffuse light which may result in over exposure - so if it is too bright and there are no other adjustments, increase the zoom onthe camera !! or fit a filter

[supernova1965]

Right that's called Afocal held up to the lens. Could you post a pic of your little piece of wood and elastic band rig so I can duplicate it. Sounds ingenius well done.:thumbsup:

[BLiTZWiNG]

Wow ok, that from a single snap!

That I would not have imagined! I might get creative now...

[jenchris]

I've since discarded the piece of wood for a simple piece of vacuum cleaner hose and changed the camera to a samsung - but it's the same principle

[BLiTZWiNG]

Gotta love that ingenuity right there.

[supernova1965]

Very nicely done I will work on one straight away does the camera and eyepiece fit snuggly or do they require some sort of securing to the vacuum hose.:question:

[jenchris]

It's a click fit over the EP and there's a fibre washer inside the tube to align the camera lens which I drilled out to exit pupil size - it's held onto the scope by talented use of elastic bands and can be removed as a unit (this means you can focus using another lens and place this one straight on the system) - however if the camera has a self off timer, it has a tendency to collapse the lens and drop off the OTA so make sure you tether it!

[[1ponders]]

Well fortune smiled on us on the coast tonight. While not great we still managed some reasonable time under the stars. What a great change. :D

[jjjnettie]

It was clear most of the night on the Sunny Coast. No scope with me, but I got to give some eager youngsters a binocular tour.
They couldn't believe they were actually seeing Jupiter's moons!

[jenchris]

Gonna be a wet one tonight
SAS Christmas Party tomorrow night- I hope it clears a bit by then!

[Esseth]

Yeah we are getting a wee bit of rain today...

[adman]

yep - a wee bit...we had 60mm in under an hour. Seems to be finished now though.

Adam

[pgc hunter]

Atleast it's warm there....here we just have clouds and freezing cold, I had to use 2 bloody doonas last night to stay comfortable.

[supernova1965]

Sorry if anyone is having breakfast but I prefer colder weather because once you are naked trying to get cool there is nowhere left to go. But in the cold you can always dress like this.

[jjjnettie]

My thoughts exactly, when it gets really hot, you can't take yer skin off.
But I've got my cold weather gear that keeps me toasty warm at sub zero temps.

[troypiggo]

I'm with you there.

[BLiTZWiNG]

Totally agree. I was against moving to QLD for this reason, but it's been pretty good to me thus far.

[jenchris]

Wusses.
squirt yourself with water. or better yet alcohol ( this can be accomplished from the inside as well.)
The drying of the liquid allows cooling - the hotter it gets, the more liquid you drink QED

[Jeeps]

I hope you don't do any naked astronomy when the weather outside is really warm. Might scare the neighbours ;)

cheers

[supernova1965]

If it wasn't for the sandflies and mosquitoes I might just do that:eyepop::rofl:

[pgc hunter]

I like warm for comfort, and the increased pleasure of putting away ciders one after the other :D ... but have to contend with all the crappy biting insects and frustration sweat from constantly suffering mozzies and their annoying terrible buzzing noise they make and shooooing all the crappy biting insects doing their best at making your obs session hell :sadeyes:





naked astronomy = mosquito paradise, I wouldn't mind sitting out there only in jocks if it's hot enough, but then I would be sucked dry! Must be my booze-laced blood that the mozzies love getting high off lol

[jjjnettie]

A pedestal fan going at full bore helps keep the bugs at bay and keeps you coolish too.

[Suzy]

Brilliant tip Nettie! :bowdown:
I'm definitely going to be doing this. Thank you!!!

Just a question on this topic while where talking about it ...
When I went to a club meet once, the organiser said a big no no to lighting coils. I was doing it right through last summer. Does anyone know the reason why?

:xmas::xmas::xmas:

Merry Christmas Everyone

[pgc hunter]

for some reason I never thought of this.....and there even is a powerpooint right in my observing area.

Hopefully the fan blades can do double duty and massacre any mosquitos that are fortunate enough to get caught in it.

[[1ponders]]

Probably a couple of reasons Suzy. For one, many folks find the smoke really objectionable, not just cos of the smell and smoke but because what it in it. And two I don't imagine what is in the smoke would be good long term for optics, but probably no worse than normal cigarette smoke.

I had the misfortune to spend part of a night in a slide off roof observatory where the owner was burning a Tiger brand coil. It was horrendous.

[Suzy]

I see, thanks Paul. I mainly use the lamps with the repellent candle inside, about 5 metres away from the scope. I find the fumes with the candle style not annoying, but I do hope it doesn't harm any optics. This summer though, I will be following Nettie's suggestion with the fan - those lamp candles are very expensive and I was going through a whole candle a night last summer.

[jjjnettie]

You have my complete sympathy on that one.

I can understand burning one to rid the obs of mozzies before going inside, but put the damn thing out once your working in there.:mad2:

[jenchris]

I wonder what his lens coatings are looking like now....

[jjjnettie]

If you were doing visual work it would have been worse.
How can you see those faint fuzzies when your eyes are streaming tears from the smoke?

[troypiggo]

Looking clear outside for tonight?

[jenchris]

nope - wind has changed and it's coming in back off the sea

[troypiggo]

B$%^&$%^&*%$*&%(&%&^%$^#%!#)@)* !!!

[Suzy]

It's going to be clear tonight (even if between gaps). I just know it. I'm staying positive. :D;) If I'm right, you'll can all post me bowdown emoticons and say "oh hail weather Suzy. :lol::lol:
We just need it to be clear around 12.30am for the Geminids. Right now, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a storm soon though.

[that_guy]

Well, It's clear here in seoul ;) albeit it being -6 degrees :lol:

[adman]

enjoy it while it lasts....:sadeyes:

I'm starting to understand why these maps are labelled "Total Cloud Cover" !

[adman]

thats what I said too. Thankfully I looked outside one more time before lugging everything up the stairs!

Adam

[BLiTZWiNG]

It has cleared up here after raining (on the washing).

[troypiggo]

Didn't set up tonight, but just came in from some bino viewing and saw some massive Geminid fireballs, smoke trails and everything.

[Suzy]

Aaah. Thanks Troy - now I know what my daughter saw. :thumbsup:
I came inside for a few mins to do a quick post here :mad2:, and I heard screaming and excitement outside (around 10.30-11.00ish). She explained to me it was huge and it had what looked like two heads to it with a really long trail. She said she will never ever forget what she saw. I've never seen a fireball (and neither has she), so I was puzzled. And I missed it! :mad2: Thanks for solving our mystery - she is going to be very excited when I tell her what it was. :D

[pgc hunter]

It's always like that Suzy, It always is, without fail, no matter what. It's like watching lightning, nothing for a minute then you turn away for 2 seconds and bang you missed the money shot :(

[jenchris]

It got clearer after midnight.
But the seeing was not good - no visible nebula on anything
Hardly even visible on Orion
Sky seemed black, but even my camera couldn't do much with Eta or Tarantula as far as nebula are concerned - I can normally see the nebula with just the scope - there was othing at all last night even after the moon set

[Tandum]

Looks great tonight. That hail storm this arvo seems to have cleared the air.
My pier is under a clamped down dome so I can't do a thing :(

[jenchris]

Meanwhile 35 k south of you and it's rubbish. lumpy clouds and whatever.
I hope it's clear tomorrow, I've got a field night at the Runaway Bay Library - meet the public and all that

[Brundah1]

Hello Jen and Robin,

Yep, CAV OK on the Northside ATM. We missed out on this arvo's storm but got hit by a smaller one later.

Accidenatlly :D went to sleep in front of TV last night:lol: but managed to wake up at 0100L :) and although Skippy said forget it, lo and behold a clear dark sky here. So spent over an hour observing about 20 of those bright little Genimids.

Then Skippy woke up and closed the curtains :mad2:

BTW nice work on the iglo Robin - gentle persuasion.

David

[Jeeps]

Well if you were south of brissie tonight, there were 20,000 homes without power. Nothing like a bit of less light pollution for better skies ;)

[troypiggo]

It cleared up nicely after the storm cell passed, though. About 9pm on was clear as.

Was funny. I'd checked Wunderground and Skippy Sky during the day and they both had predicted a clear night. Around 5pm a work colleague said he better get home, a massive hail/storm cell warning was out. I said he must be wrong or looked at the wrong day on BOM website. I checked and it was right, and obviously from the news etc. I thought "what the hell is Wunderground and SS going on about, they're not usually that wrong".

Then, sure enough, it was clear most of the night.

In your face, Peter. :)

[adman]

yep - first night for months that I got everything out - a whole lot of new gear got used for the first time.

The G11 guides so nicely - although a little more tweaking will help - the RA is a little seesaw-ish, maybe a balance thing. My little netbook on its homemade bracket worked well - used BackyardEOS for capture and focusing which was great. Very useful little program that one.

Had the Argo Navis fired up too - but there is still something I am doing wrong with the alignment. I had to change the encoder sense as I was doing my first star alignment in the east rather than the west - but it seemed to upset the directions later....will have to read the manual :P.

got about 1/2 hour total images on M42 - haven't really looked at them yet - but I was imaging on 1600 ISO so probably a bit noisy. The battery pack in the camera gave up as I was doing my darks - so only got 2 of those. Never mind - just nice to have everything set up and humming nicely

Adam

[Suzy]

When I looked up I saw all that green in the clouds and I really thought we were going to be in for it with hail, and it got really windy, ended up just barely even being spat on thank goodness. I wonder who got it. :question: A couple of hours later we got a lightning show and thunder right above our house that scared the jeebies out of me, and my cats ran for cover to hide. I was completely taken a back when I looked outside around 10pm and saw that it was clear! Out I went with my scope and there I stayed till 2.30. :D The longest time in months I've seen it stay clear for so long. I would have stayed up the whole night if I didn't have to get up in the morning, that's for sure. :rolleyes:

Making sense out of upside down constellations that I hadn't seen for so long (south), was something else, the dummy got spat a lot, :mad2: all the while telling myself what a ball I'm having :lol: - I'm sure that makes sense to all of you'll in a weird way. :question::lol:

[jenchris]

Yup it makes sense, I love the air after a good storm.
Looks like another one is on its way this arvo
Beenleigh got the hail and so did the car yards in Springwood.

[guyroch]

Thank you for the BackyardEOS plug Adam, I appreciate the reference :)

Guylain