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Originally Posted by Spanrz
Hahaha. I thought it was just me.
You know, so many times it's been crystal clear when "I" wanted to do some viewing of any kind, and it can cloud over in a matter of minutes.
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Yup, and 100% of the time, it's AFTER you've dragged your hot water heater, maps, notebooks, eyepieces and chairs out into the yard. The speed and frequency of the Melbourne phenomenon is directly proportional to the weight/size/bulkiness of your gear, e.g. the heavier your scope, the more likely you'll fall victim to the Melbourne Phenomenon.
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I have learnt the ways of Melbourne's cloud system.
If you see a thick cloud front coming, if it hasn't passed in 2-3 hours, it's in for the night.
Speckled cloud seems to be hit or miss. Usually it is fast moving. You'll get intermittent viewing. But it will be a 50/50 decision, if a cloud front comes in, or it becomes crystal clear. Usually you'll know in 2 hours.
Most times I have dealt with the speckled cloud (that is fast moving) usually clears in 1-2 hours.
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sometimes after a deck of clag moves in, it appears to clear down toward the horizon from the direction it came from, so I wait, and wait, and wait,
only to be met with increasingly thicker horror. Only then I realise, that the effect is caused by light pollution around my area illuminating the crud while further afield there is no population.....hence no LP......therefore clouds that are invisible.
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On some nights, I have seen in the order of : crystal clear-speckled-crystal clear-speckled-massive cloudfront-speckled-cloudfront-speckled-crystal clear all in about 4 hours.
Somenights I have given up and gone to bed. But in the event of just getting into bed, the curiosity gets the better of me and I have to peek outside. You guessed it, clear (mostly). Always the way.
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and as soon as your head hits the pillow, you can bet your right arm it'll clear up. It has happened to me more than once.
