G'Day,
"Skippy sky's seeing predictions is based on the presence of the jetstream, and doesn't take into account any lower level atmospheric activity."
Sorry mate, but that's just cr*p.
Skippysky does, and always has, taken into account winds at the standard ground level of 10metres. Just like it says in the online Help file,
and just like it does in the code.
In fact the last adjustment to the algorithm applied more weight to the 10m winds, based on a paper describing the greater influence of boundary layer winds on Seeing.
Now if people actually paid for the product, and thus enabled a whopping great download quota and mega fast connection, then data for every layer in the GFS model could be downloaded, and the Seeing forecast could be expected to improve. As it stands, for free you get the two most important of the 26 available layers in the model.
But I guess it's just easier to whinge at a freebie than do something about it that involves reaching into your hip pocket? Or, Heaven Forbid, read the Help file.
Kind Regards,
Andrew Cool
Author, SkippySky
Quote:
Originally Posted by pgc hunter
Best time to observe in Melbourne?!
Summer. We actually see sunshine and clear skies, and better seeing than in winter. April thru to Sept is essentially permanently overcast and ice cold wintry hell with an endless precession of cold fronts. You may get the odd clear night here and there, usually seperated by weeks and often falling on a full moon plagued by crap seeing. Transparency however tends to be best during the cold half of the year. Those occasional cold clear nights in winter without the moon are tops for galaxy and nebula observation.
Skippy sky is good with cloud forecasts, but do yourself a favour and ignore their seeing predictions. Skippy sky's seeing predictions is based on the presence of the jetstream, and doesn't take into account any lower level atmospheric activity.
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