have any brisbane-ites looked outside this morning?

[joshman (Josh)]

clear skies!!!! woohoo!!! and i'm headed to my own local dark site west of brisbane today.... hopefully this'll make up for the horrible christmas sessions!

clear skies everyone!

[joshman (Josh)]

well, it was clear

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

I had the same thought this morning. Where in the west were you heading?

[matt]

Looks like we might be in for mixed conditions tonight.

I'm going to set up, anyway.

Just got my new filter wheel so it'll be good to capture some Mars and Saturn RGB after shooting in monochrome for weeks.

Am taking the C9.25 under the house to 'cool' as we speak

[AJames]

I'd assume at least your mirrors will be squeaky clean with all that distilled water falling the sky, though! Even luckier that you are now close to new moon! Good luck with your observing!

[joshman (Josh)]

i was headed out to my parents place in gatton, about an hours west of brisbane. the skies can be reasonable dark out there, especially if you're up till the wee hours of the morning, not as good as rons place, but good enough for me at the moment. i'm there now actually, and well, it doesn't look good. i didn't end up bringing any of my equipment, as i'm sure to be too busy, and well, it's cloudy as here at the moment.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

It was fine for about 10min here. Bucketing down now

[joshman (Josh)]

DOH! it surely does suck to be us on this early moon-set weekend. and i was wanting to get out and get the hang of drift alignment! then have my turn at imaging something. dang it!

[vash (Ashley)]

I'll have to see what it's like it it's a little cloudy I might try mars, if it's clear I'll go for something a little deeper.

[leon]

Gee i feel for you guys, we are blue and clear again, thats about 10 out of 12 nights this year alone.

leon

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I got home from work just now and the sky is the clearest it's been for weeks!
Must set up the scopes now, cool them down in time for Mars.
I'm excited!

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

I fell for it - set everything up - sky is now completely covered in cloud. Hope it clears up later.

[Dennis]

I almost succumbed to the temptation to set up. All day I have been toiling at digging post holes and pouring concrete for our new fence posts. The weather looked very promising but as I tidied up the back garden, a few clouds came scudding in so I decided not to set up.

Just looked outside now and its 100% cloud cover – yet again.

Oh well, maybe 2009 may be a more suitable year for astronomy; late 2007 and early 2008 have been a wash out so far.

Cheers

Dennis

[matt]

I have defiantly set up and am waiting for Mars to reach 30 degrees before I head out with my new filter wheel and capture some RGB!!

[vash (Ashley)]

It's fairly clear hear at the moment, little cloud in the south coming up, but still holding hope it's only a small amount, got it all set up, just ready to start the dift alignment

[vash (Ashley)]

Ok then, looks like I'm going to find something else to do, about 30 seconds after the last post more/ larger cloud rolled in from the south, rather than follow the rest it stationed itself over my area, but I'm surprised at how fast I can set up and break down my gear. less than 10 min and I'm all done.

anyone towards the north of me, It's heading your way. Just a heads up

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

What's your secret Vash? 10 mins is a very fast setup for the 10" EQ6 combination....you need more gear!!

[vash (Ashley)]

well, I only have to move everything about 5 meters and everything has it's own little home.

Plus I have youth on my side

oh and the threat of rain helps

oh whoops, I mean it takes me less than 10 to break it down

I also didn't get the laptop/ autoguiding gear out, which improved on the time

[h0ughy (David)]

well I came home today - beautiful and clear - now cloudy tonight - some left over storm cells from over the range. pity you guys in QLd and NT