Australia almost cloud free

[Startrek (Martin)]

Just checked CFN and noticed the entire map of Australian is almost cloud free this afternoon
Looks like some good conditions around the country tonight through to Wednesday
I’ll be imaging in Sydney tonight with all its light pollution ( thankfully no moon around ) Bortle 8 yuck !!
Anyone else keeping a eye on conditions ?

[jahnpahwa (JP)]

Yep, absolutely!! In my short time in this game, this past week has been the longest, slowest, wait-it-out session ever

I've got a mate coming over with some camera lenses to have a try on Rho Opiuchi (or the nebulosity around it and Antares, anyway), and will try to sort out guiding afterwards. I'm pretty amazed at how beauitful Rho is!

What are you going for tonight, Martin?

[Granada]

Melbourne not so much unfortunately https://www.bintel.com.au/astronomy-...?postcode=3000

[Startrek (Martin)]

Probably M8 Lagoon as I haven’t imaged this object since August last year
Hope to get 3 or 4 hours of short subs ( 90 sec ) on it as I don’t do narrowband yet.Waiting on my new ZWOASI2600MC to arrive late July, I ordered a ZWO duo band filter as well

[codemonkey (Lee)]

hah. Cloudy and pouring rain here at the moment.

[croweater (Richard)]

Raining here too at the bottom.
Cheers Richard

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Continuing cloudy, wet & miserable here in FNQ...

Map must have changed in the last few hours Martin.. ??

[Pepper (Steve)]

25mm here this morning and still quite cloudy.
CFN reckons the rest of the week is good.

[graham.hobart (Graham stevens)]

was clear for a few hours this arvo now drizzling and 100% cloud in Hobart

[Exfso (Peter)]

Not sure what map you are looking at, but in Adelaide, have not seen a single patch of blue sky for 2 days...

[Startrek (Martin)]

I was looking at the CFN map and obviously didn’t zoom in on the coastal fringes ( up to 150km from coast to inland )
95% of the country was cloud free mid afternoon
East coast of NSW is definitely cloud free at present

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Melbourne is definitely not cloud free and wont be until Wednesday maybe

[Astronut07 (Ben)]

Great night out tonight south of Sydney
Just trying out new equipment, to work out the bugs before heading out to darker skies

Cheers all

[Sunfish (Ray)]

Very clear and still out there tonight in Thirroul. The lagoon has just cleared my roof so I am imaging that as a test run for the first time trying to iron out a few kinks before i lose it again.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Ray
I’m imaging the Lagoon as well, last time I imaged this was August last year. Started at 8pm and hopefully going through until midnight or later ?
Seeing has improved in the last hour or so , guide star HFD started out at 4.80 to 5.08 and now it’s mid to low 4’s ( I’ve only moved up in altitude by about 9 degrees. And guiding error has improved from 1.30 to 1.40 down to 1.20 to 1.10 arc sec error
As usual my neighbours outside lights are on ( both sides ) just adds to my Bortle 8 suburban location
The joys of Astrophotography

[Sunfish (Ray)]

May be a little high cloud as my guider was struggling on a few stars. Seems to have settled down now. Very crisp out here

[Sunfish (Ray)]

PhD saying total error 0. 91. Not sure how good that is but when corrections are below 500 pix the images are ok.and 1000 is workable

[Sunfish (Ray)]

A jet just passed over. Can’t remember the last time a jet passed over at this time!

[Startrek (Martin)]

A total error of 1.00 arc sec or lower is very good wth a guide scope , 0.50 is exceptional
Tonight is average 1.10 to 1.20 total arc sec error

[Sunfish (Ray)]

Ah. Perhaps I misled you sorry. I use a big customised Celestron OAG at f5.9. , when I say guider I mean PHD2 and my zwo.asi 120mms.

Originally Posted by Startrek

A total error of 1.00 arc sec or lower is very good wth a guide scope , 0.50 is exceptional
Tonight is average 1.10 to 1.20 total arc sec error