Yep. I'm out now and it's looking reasonable. Little bit of turbulence in the air but I can see the GRS. Starting to move away now but if you're quick you'll catch it. Still worth seeing the double transit later on if you miss it. I'm sticking around for that.
Rug up though. Getting chilly. Just hit 10 degrees (I know - balmy by some standards around the country but cool for us Sydneysiders ).
Just called my mates, and they are out there and said to them that I just looked at the satellite map and can see cloud build up. They just finished polar aligning.
Oh well.
clouds have chased me inside, but seeing was very good, the SEB outbreak was viewable on the screen in all colours.... something i have never seen before
I was too tired and needed to spend some time with my wife.. I've been working nights and days all week. The cold weather makes it even harder to motivate yourself.
The seeing was terrible on the Central Coast last night, Mike. You didn't miss anything. I couldn't even get a still view of Joop at 115x. I packed up in disgust after about an hour's patiently waiting for things to improve between 8.15pm and 9.15pm, having had the scope out to cool since 4 in the afternoon, and with clouds rolling in. Interestingly, as the clouds rolled in, the temp suddenly jumped from 4.9 to 6 degrees!
I was too tired and needed to spend some time with my wife.. I've been working nights and days all week. The cold weather makes it even harder to motivate yourself.
Rest is good.
Family is delightful.
Balance is beneficial.
Jupiter will wait.
The seeing here last night was also pretty ordinary, Rod.....Weird, though. When I went outside for an eyeball view, there wasn't a lot of star twinkle.
I had much the same experience....I am sure the meteorologically minded will have an explanation for us.
On Friday night, the seeing was much better, but there was an incredible amount of skyglow (and I am talking about after the moon had set), which compromised the views as well (although not nearly as badly as last night).
As I accumulate more and more hours observing, I am becoming much more aware that when conditions are really good, you make the most of it....such conditions are very rare indeed. I made a deposit in the sleep bank last night in the hope I might be able to draw on it at a later date, some time soon.