Still Waiting for better weather

[ianB (Ian)]

I have been waiting for around three weeks or more for the weather to get better ( Sunshine Coast ) so that I can start viewing again, the last few days have had some great clear sky but the jetstream has been so high, very frustrating, last night and tonight its at an estimated 120 knots!

Any suggestions as to what I can view when transparancy is good but the winds very high?


ian

[raymo]

At least you can view something; I've been socked in for many
weeks. You could try some higher power exploration on the moon.
raymo

[Astro_Bot]

I'm beginning to think that the a fast jetstream and clear nights are related (i.e. more likely to be clear when jetstream is fast).

[noeyedeer (Matt)]

open clusters seem to be good when the jetstream is in effect. dso stuff seems to be more forgiving then closer objects.
matt

[Octane (Humayun)]

Last night was amazing. Imaging at 530mm was no problem.

I called it quits at 10 PM when I had to do a meridian flip.

H

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

in melbourne it has been like the movie 'the matrix' but not actually in the matrix, the future world where humanity blocked out the sun with clouds... deadset been a couple of months. to be fair around full moon there seems to be a clear night or two ...

[ianB (Ian)]

Octane, you are also here on the Sunny coast, so you had great views the other night when the JS was fast, what were you able to view with your telescope ?

[Octane (Humayun)]

I don't view, I image.

H

[gregbradley]

FSQ is fairly immune to seeing conditions though. One of its great assets.

Bad seeing is something to behold at 2-3 metres focal length. On a bad night (like a lot of nights in the last week) seeing can make it seem the scope just suddenly went badly out of focus, you take another focus shot and it seems fairly in focus then badly out of focus again.

A series of exposures usually look like they are badly out of focus.

Its become clear to me why they put big scopes on mountains! Luckily there are also nights when everything is quite sharp. Just not often lately.

Greg.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Yep, at 3.5" per pixel, it's quite immune.

H

[RickS (Rick)]

I just take what I can get. I'm imaging narrowband at 2760mm from Brisbane

[ianB (Ian)]

Sorry my misunderstanding.

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by ianB

I have been waiting for around three weeks or more for the weather to get better ( Sunshine Coast ) so that I can start viewing again, the last few days have had some great clear sky but the jetstream has been so high, very frustrating, last night and tonight its at an estimated 120 knots!

Any suggestions as to what I can view when transparancy is good but the winds very high?


ian

When the seeing is poor and the transparency is good,forget looking at Stars/Planets and give them the flick and go for Galaxies and Nebulae.
I have observed most nights for the last week or more, and I find that this to be so.
As an observer of nearly 30 years I find that you will only get about a dozen perfect nights a year if that, so be prepared for less than perfect nights and take what you can get.
You are on the coast, only 20 kms from the sea, you should not expect anything perfect.
Sorry to dampen your expectations, but if you want good "observing" conditions
You must move from your location.
Cheers

[ianB (Ian)]

Thanks Ron for that suggestion, yes patience is indeed a necessary requisite for this hobby.
When the Moon gets high again and stays around long enough ill take a more detailed look at it.

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by ianB

Thanks Ron for that suggestion, yes patience is indeed a necessary requisite for this hobby.
When the Moon gets high again and stays around long enough ill take a more detailed look at it.

Ian, I was suggesting objects to look at when seeing is iffy, what has the Moon to do with what you were talking about
Cheers

[ianB (Ian)]

Just came out wrong, my mention of the moon was just a personal side point that i added, i did not mean it to come across as something you suggested.:-)

[Astro_Bot]

I was just putting the scope outside to cool as the sky was looking particularly clear earlier today and the forecast was good (still some jetstream, but better than last night). Sky looked good on one side of the house, but glancing over the other way, what do I see but smoke. Yup, a hazard reduction burn near Logan (confirmed via the QFES website) blowing smoke westward to the coast and spreading a fair bit north and south, too, at altitude - about half the visible sky affected so far and it's getting worse - spreading far and wide.

I don't doubt that hazard reduction burns are necessary sometimes, but do they have to pick one of the clearest days/nights of the year to do it? Days this clear near a city are rare!

[Octane (Humayun)]

Another awesome night last night. Boy, we are being spoilt!

I hope tonight is the same. Looking forward to trying CCD Commander out.

H

[kkara4 (Krishan)]

I have been getting the scope out every night this week as well, got some great shots of the Milky Way on the wide angle too, from the suburbs!

at prime focus the moon was pretty nice (50x). 200x was a different story entirely lol. turbulence was horrendous at about 7.30pm.

Could well have been my scope only being cooled for 1.5 hours though, because 30 mins later things improved, and Saturn was looking quite nice at 400x. Still very turbulent though.

I tried using the pickering scale at 400x on a bright star, and i estimated it at near 0 lol. it is my first time trying it though and I am a massive noob with all of this.

Astro-bot the smoke wasnt noticeable at 7.30pm or so but the LP was pretty bad and brighter than normal looking towards the CBD, so maybe that was the smoke affecting things.

[pfitzgerald (Paul)]

The last three nights on the Gold Coast have been clear as - and me up here without a telescope! Flying back to Melbourne tonight and the forecast is solid cloud for the rest of the week. I believe that last night was a clear one in Melbourne - the first for weeks.

Paul