Melbournites

[DavidU (Dave)]

The sky has gone a strange blue colour
Maybe an astronomy night tonite????

[pgc hunter]

Originally Posted by DavidU

The sky has gone a strange blue colour
Maybe an astronomy night tonite????

I had the 8" out this morning doing a bit of lunar observing. The view at 600x was so crisp that I had to double check that I didn't have a longer FL eyepiece in the focuser. Heck, I even had her at 720x for a bit, that is how good the seeing was. Kicking myself for not downloading Uranus and Neptune finder charts...

We had fog almost all day, and already the dew is thick and there is alot of haze so I'm guessing it will fog over again soon The 12" is out and cooling, hoping to atleast see Saturn before it fogs over again. Humidity is pretty much maxed out all over Melbourne http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/observations/melbourne.shtml

[DavidU (Dave)]

My 12" dob is cooling as well. Here's hoping !

[pgc hunter]

bah, pulled the plug scope already dripping wet and its not even 7pm, mirrors fogged over, poor seeing and haze. Nothing to like about tonight. Waste of effort

[DavidU (Dave)]

Pea soup fog

[pgc hunter]

Originally Posted by DavidU

Pea soup fog

All I got in return for tonight's efforts was a scope that looked like it had been left out in the rain by 6:30pm, a dewed primary, poor seeing and thick haze. Even the Telrad heater was struggling to remove the dew. I actually thought the thing was broken until I touched it... it was distinctly warm...

Easily the worst dew I've seen in my life. In one hour, the dew was so heavy that it resembled that at 6am after an all-nighter on our coldest nights. I would've put up with it had the seeing been excellent, but it was very ordinary at best.

Even my windows are fogged over!

And to think 12 hours prior I was having one of the best sessions of my life. Absolutely unbelievable seeing conditions.

[danielsun]

Hey guys, I started imaging at 8;30 and has been no fog and crystal clear here. Had the dew heaters on and just taking some Darks now.
Been the clearest night I have seen in a long time.

Cheers Daniel.

[MattT]

Here in deepest darkest Surrey Hills it was the same. Such a promising day,such a promising evening... out of the shed onto the lawn at 6:30pm goes the scope . 30 seconds later I returned with the eyepiece case, the scope had dew on it. 30 mins on the finder dewed up 2 hours later so did everything else me included... must cut the grass more often, and put dew heaters on before it gets dark, actually put the dew straps on the scope.
Cheers Matt