Perth Guys

[TrevorW]

Anyone reckon it's worth setting up tonight
temp over 30 today whispy clouds rolling in from the east and how gusty will that easterly get

signs of summer are finally here

and BOM say (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.shtml)
Perth Forecast

Issued at 4:30 pm WST on Tuesday 22 November 2011 Forecast for Tuesday evening Clear. Light to moderate SE/NE winds, tending moderate S/SW'ly through western suburbs at first this evening.

never happy unless it's perfect

[vanwonky]

Yes, to trust BOM or not? Would like to at least get the DOB out for a poke around. Last night seemed particularly bad. Was there a bushfire somewhere?

[TrevorW]

Don't know about last night had a early start today so needed my beauty sleep, the clouds came in here, I got as far as setting the mount up and that looks to be about the extent of it no point putting scope etc out hoping they may clear

[vanwonky]

Agreed! A night in.. dammit :rolleyes:

[marki]

Not a good night for the camera either Trevor, will flog the peltier.

Mark

[bmitchell82]

I was excited most of the day being up on Lvl 7 looking south was pristiene.... i got out of work at about 5 wtf grrrrrr. got home looked at skippy which can be as reliable as BOM and the clouds are coming right up to the coast somewhere between 9 and midnight... as is we only get 6-7hrs of astronomically dark air time :(

I had a bit of a big weekend with astro and all so another night in to recoup is welcome! Tomorrow night possibly may not be so good on the sleep stores :D

[TrevorW]

Ended up fairly clear here about 9 but a lot of sky glow and as predicted that easterly started to blow, so I didn't bother but left my mount out wrapped in alfoil for today and then see if tonight may be better

[mswhin63]

I have stepped outside numerous times over the last week before bed and noticed the sky quality is quite poor. Flickering even at almost zenith.

[Visionoz]

Lotsa' easterlies blowin' my way here in the foothills of Kalamunda!

Cheers
Bill

[Mliss]

We haven't been too bad down here. Although there was a fire somewhere on Monday night.... couldn't even see to the other side of the estuary.

I'm hoping for a peek tonight and with this heat i won't be sleeping anyway :shrug: i haven't confirmed it but i'm sure i was watching Mars around 1ish this morning. There was low lying haze, possibly from the fires and it was too low to get my scope too it from the balcony.

Has anyone tried Saturn in the mornings yet? It's coming up just before the sun around 4ish i think.

Malcom i've noticed that here too. It's clear, but there seems to be atmospheric disturbances. I had trouble resolving even basic things 3 nights ago. :lol: I thought it was my eye sight!

[Osirisra]

Had planned to head out to a dark site for a bit of imaging last night as the wind was meant to drop down a bit. The wind did drop and even the temp dropped to 20c about 9pm but as with others the seeing was shocking, refractiony twinkles all around zenith, bleh!

Forecast is not looking good either, cloud and horrid wind.

[Grahame]

Hi All,

I was imaging last night for a few hours, was excellent untill just after midnight when the easterly came in and steadily degraded from there... Hoping for another shot at it tonight but we'll see how the heat factor is at sunset :)

Grahame.

[Mliss]

wow so the heat really does affect the night sky. this is my first summer with a scope and ( i did NOT expect of all things the spiders!) i'm already thinking i should have braved the winter skies a little more.

good luck tonight Graeme... with the heat tomorrow i hope you'll at least get a window of good views!!

[bartman]

Yeah only visually though....nice sight this morning. Combo with Spica and the moon.






Sure does!:P
Spiders are my big hate of summer, and like you, I should brave the cold too:D ( which coincidentally is my big hate of winter)
:thumbsup:
Bartman

[Mliss]

:lol: i'm a total sook with the cold too!

:rofl: i think i need to take away your 'quote' button Bart :P:D

[bmitchell82]

Oh harden up boys and girls :D

As a astrophotographer we are the first on the field and the last off generally as people are just waking we are stumbling into our beds! I for one brave the winter cold and have seen on my telescope beads of dew frozen! aka its zero or less....... Brilliant seeing mind and so still.

Now i don't mind the summer that i have a cooling capacity of delta -40 deg :D so even on the hottest of nights ill be well under zero degrees!

I too am hoping for a cloudless night tonight and in a few weeks time ill sort out a baby oag and FF for the new Megrez 90 so wind or no wind ill always have options!:thumbsup:

[TrevorW]

Were I am the easterly can gust 40-50 knots on some summer nights so I don't even bother

[bmitchell82]

Ive imaged with the ED80 and finder on the EQ6 in 40km/h persistant upto 60km/h gusts :) not so bad. but thats Tammin for you! Not Bertha friendly conditions!

[bartman]

Hehehehehe:D


:cold:yep we sure would...in the cold that is.....
Apart from not liking the cold ( and yes, its the best time/condition for AP), I hate getting rugged up like a Michelin Man. Cumbersome and noisy!
:lol:
Bartman

[bmitchell82]

The only thing i don't like about astro in the freezing conditions is when your fingers stop working properly.... and you feel like your running in thick glue :(

[TrevorW]

Out there now, it was still 30 at 8:00pm

[bmitchell82]

same started taking happy snaps just after 8. the seeing has finally settled down so my guiding isn't going mental anymore! :) back down to what it normally is. So four hours on this target then off to lay the rest of the night on HH.

[Poita]

When do you sleep?

[ReaPerMan]

Some of us work nights.

I've just worked 4 nights, done astro for 2 and now have 2 more work nights, come off thursday morning and hoping for an Astro weekend away this weekend! :lol:

If you love Astronomy you have to be a creature of the night!!

[Grahame]

so so true :D

alarm set to go off for 6am .... 5 hours and counting! :lol:

[TrevorW]

I fit it in with my night time job which really sucks:scared:

Regards Count D

:P

wind really started picking up around 10:30 I had a few teething problems alignment framing etc so only ended up with an hour or so of data, packed up at 11:30

[bmitchell82]

See this is the thing for some of us 5-6hrs sleep is like others 10hrs of sleep :) 4-5 hrs sleep is like a 6 hour snooze to others :) I went to sleep at 1am got up at 5am to pack my kit up! All up 4 hrs and then back to the number crunching and designing.

The sky was really soupy last night which was a shame as my normal FWHM for Luminance is about 3, last night it was mid 5's its a stark contrast to see the difference in details from 3 to 5 almost like somebody put a opaque piece of perspex infront of the tube!

[TrevorW]

I had about the same 4-5 FWHM at 10 minute exposures

I get up at 5:30 every day so by 11:30 it's been a long one for me already I need one of those nights where I could put a timer on then set and forget

[bmitchell82]

Yep im up at 6am usually for the hour and a half commute.

On saturday night sunday the sky was as still as could be thats where i snagged some really shnappy data while curled up on Grahames recliner grabbing some zzz's

[ReaPerMan]

Been up all night just got in bed and will be back up at 11 to go shopping for some gear for the away weekend. Candles should be burned at both ends AND the middle.. (they make such a pretty light!) :zzz:

[TrevorW]

Marki I think the peltier didn't like the heat I've got a bright band at the top of every frame, don't know if it was caused through that or a light leakage some where

[marki]

Sounds like you have cooked something Trevor, the 8's petier runs flatout all of the time as you don't have temp regulation.

Brenden although the 9's are capable of -50 from ambiant I would not recommend you try on nights where the temps are in the high 20,s to low 30's and I am saying this from experience. I always image at -20 C as I can achieve this most of the year round and I am lazy coz I only have one dark library taken at that temp. I have run my camera on numerous occassions at 100% cooling at much lower temps on cold winter nights (before I worked out there is little gain beyond -20 C) and had no problems. Last year I was imaging on a warm summer night (28 - 31 C) and had to run the cooling at 100% just to to get to -20 C. It worked fine all night but the next day it was cactus (no veiwable image just a big noise band across the top of the sub). I sent it back to Theo who could not find a quick fix and had to send it off to the far east for repair (thank goodness for 3 year factory backed warranties and Theo's excellent after sales service). When I got it back it was all fixed but the error report pointed to my my stupidity at trying to go too far. I had fried the power board in the depths of the camera and this could not be repaired here at the time. Lesson learn't, if I need more than 80% to get to -20 C on a warm night I stay inside and don't bother....there will be other nights.

Mark

[bmitchell82]

I generally don't run it past 50-60 % power as im fully aware if you run it on red line for long times you end up frying things :) Played with plenty of peltiers :)

-25 is better than -20 but i didn't notice much difference on -30 with my little baby but there will be some difference its the law of physics. If my peltier is running much past 80% this weekend ill more than likely drop it down till i gain that temp then shoot my darks. Not that the 8300 chip really needs them its just a niceity

Oh and a small tribe of us are heading to Tammin on ASWA's site this weekend to do some serious kinda astro work :) any takers

Brendan

[Poita]

I was just wondering. I average about 4 hours sleep a night, and was interested if everyone here was the same or if they stole sleep at other times in the day.

[Poita]

I just wish I was only sleepless on clear nights :D

[marki]

It's not the peltier that gives up the ghost it's the power board at the very rear of the camera but it has only happened on a hot night and I would still happily run high cooling % during winter if I thought it was worth it. I have noticed no real difference between -20 and -30 C but that may be due to my camera/chip combo or just my poor eyesight:P. -20C is achievable just about all year round so I will leave it there. Problem with frying the power board is that not only the peltier stops working, so does everything else.

Mark

[TrevorW]

Something may be amiss

I ran a 10 min dark and the bright band is still there

I rang Theo he suggested cleaning the CCD contacts which I did and still no change varying length darks still showing band

so its off to Theo's for a closer inspection as the camera is still under manufacturers warranty

[TrevorW]

Camera now working fine

12:10am anyone else in Perth out tonight

[midnight]

Yep, but down here 2hrs south near Bunbury. Beautiful night. Pity got to go to work later this morning.

I think we're in for good weather for the next few days & leading into a new moon too.

Darrin...

[TrevorW]

I'm off tommorow but have to be up by 6:30 might stay up till 2:30 then call it a night

[mswhin63]

Was up till 2:00am till wisps of cloud rolled in. Lovely night over the last couple.

[Visionoz]

Too bad that I have the easterlies blow'n thru all the whole last 7 nites! :(

Cheers
Bill

[seanliddelow]

Has anybody from Perth seen Comet Lovejoy yet? I was out at 4:50AM but I believe that was too late. I realize it may be to faint to see, but it might make a great photo. I plain to be up at 4:15 AM tomorrow morning with a camera.

Sean

[rogerg]

I have been thinking about taking some images of it. Work and Christmas have stopped me doing astronomy in the last few weeks (other than the eclipse). Will see if I get the time tonight to set the scope going for morning.

[TrevorW]

I don't know about last night my frames look noisey anyone else have issues with seeing

Cheers

[mswhin63]

Actually yes i had similar problems but I also had mount polar alignment issues and white-balance issues as well so i didn't get much done.

[TrevorW]

It's the night before xmas not a creature was stirring, except for the silly man, no not Santa, the guy next door with the telescope

Merry Xmas

(yeah I'm out capturing photons while the sun shines so to speak)