Pearls of Wisdom - Page 2

sn1987a (Barry) · #21 01-03-2014, 03:27 PM

48) Dew can be a real ....
49) a couple of bacon and egg toasted from the servo on the way home after a night out really hits the spot

RichardJ (Richard) · #22 02-03-2014, 08:15 AM

50) The thickness of the cloud cover is directly proportional to the rarity or importance of the astronomical event.

RichardJ

Pinwheel (Doug) · #23 02-03-2014, 09:21 AM

51) You buy a property with dark sky's only to have the farmer next door sell to a Grain Bunker company that works it at night.

nebulosity. (Jo) · #24 02-03-2014, 02:06 PM

52) Disassembling your only telescope for repairs or upgrades will ensure clear skies with great transparency and seeing.

Jo

Pinwheel (Doug) · #25 02-03-2014, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nebulosity.

52) Disassembling your only telescope for repairs or upgrades will ensure clear skies with great transparency and seeing. Jo

Do this at your peril, that's when you miss the discovery of a life time losing that OBE & a Astronomical Award.

OzStarGazer · #26 02-03-2014, 02:57 PM

53) If you meticulously get your telescope ready for an event clouds will sneak in; if you have to be somewhere else at the time of the event (for example at a work meeting) there will be clear skies all around.

Jon (Jonathan) · #27 02-03-2014, 05:18 PM

54) Size matters

noeyedeer (Matt) · #28 02-03-2014, 11:57 PM

55) Hitler hated dew on his scope

Wavytone · #29 03-03-2014, 01:44 PM

56) whenever there is anything interesting to see Sydney WILL be overcast for the entire duration.

(this has been correct for the past 35 years).

Wavytone · #30 03-03-2014, 01:49 PM

56) the probability of clear night sky is highest at full moon, and lowest at new moon.

(NB the moon raises a tide in the atmosphere as it does in the sea. This has a distinct influence on the likelihood of cloud at night).

mithrandir (Andrew) · #31 03-03-2014, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wavytone

56) whenever there is anything interesting to see Sydney WILL be overcast for the entire duration.

(this has been correct for the past 35 years).

The only semi-exception I know of for this was the last Transit of Venus where I got enough rain and cloud breaks to image about 60% of it.

AstralTraveller (David) · #32 03-03-2014, 02:56 PM

57) Nobody, but nobody, complains about the weather as much as amateur astronomers. And with good reason.

bigjoe (JOSEPH) · #33 03-03-2014, 03:42 PM

58.
You leave your small mak on edge of bed, rushing for eps etc.
Prepare mount, wind comes up, dog jumps on bed.
GRAVITY does the rest.

59 You rush to put heavy ep in small diagonal, very slippery and slides around
in scope. Ep ends upside down slowly falls out.
Luckily, I caught it just in time.

60.when things like this happen suicide is still an option!

OzStarGazer · #34 03-03-2014, 03:51 PM

61. Watch out when you collimate your scope. Don't drop the screwdriver on the primary mirror and don't look at yourself in the primary mirror.

PSALM19.1 (Shaun) · #35 03-03-2014, 06:33 PM

62. I've worked out it's better not to post the question, "what is better, a refractor or a dob?" on IIS

Suzy · #36 03-03-2014, 06:40 PM

Funny thread!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wavytone

56) the probability of clear night sky is highest at full moon, and lowest at new moon.

(NB the moon raises a tide in the atmosphere as it does in the sea. This has a distinct influence on the likelihood of cloud at night).

And I thought it was just co-incidence! I kept noticing that and I would tell the hubby jokingly it's always clear during full moon and not at new moon and he thinks I'm crazy when I say somethings going on here! Now I can tell him.

And now I know it's not a crazy co-incidence.

Wavytone · #37 03-03-2014, 08:15 PM

Hehe Suzy I was being serious - see last para pp 104-105 of this book - http://books.google.com.au/books?id=...0phase&f=false

I'm sure you'd find a similar correlation if you could be bothered keeping statistics.

mental4astro (Alexander) · #38 04-03-2014, 05:24 AM

63 ) For the general public "Astronomy" and "astrology" are the same thing & the terms are equally interchangeable,

64 ) When confronted with a Mak or SCT for the first time, the general public think that they are a con when you tell them it's a telescope. Of these, most are open minded enough to go with it & learn, some go with it just to 'humor the fool', & a few will be aggressive, convinced that you're having them on...

mental4astro (Alexander) · #39 04-03-2014, 05:40 AM

<gasp!> how can we forget the one immutable truth in astronomy!

The duration of cloud cover is geometrically proportional to the size of the aperture of the NEW scope one's bought!!!

graham.hobart (Graham stevens) · #40 04-03-2014, 10:42 AM

66) Huntsman and other big creepie crawlies just love all weather scope covers. It's like camping holiday for them!