Rare Stable Conditions in Sydney this week

[Startrek (Martin)]

I’ve been out imaging this week in Sydney ( 4 nights ) which is a rarity in Summer and the conditions have been excellent. Seeing and transparency has been quite good and I can even see considerably more stars than just the usual southern cross and pointers only under my B8 location.
PHD2 guiding on each night has been really tight around 0.35 to 0.45 arc sec total ( payload 8” f5 Carbon newt and Mono rig , approx 14kg ) which from memory is a record for my location and my 6 year old SW EQ6-R pro mount ( what a workhorse !!! ) Ra and Dec behaving beautifully for endless hours each night with no excursions or abnormal bumps.
Humidity and outside temps at night have been typically high for February ( 85% Humidity and Air temp 24C to 26C ) but very little dew ? Strange as the NE winds back off around 8pm to almost nothing.
I’m not complaining it’s been fantastic
Tonight looks good as well , but cloud and rain is about to hit tomorrow and into next week ……,

Anyone else out imaging this week in ol Sydney town

Cheers
Martin

[sharkbite]

Hi Martin - yep i managed a few hours last night, and hopefully a few more tonight!

[glend (Glen)]

Yes indeed Martin, at my area, Lake Macquarie, it has been outstanding for last night, and I am set up again for tonight, which looks even better. Visual only tonight. The pesky Moon not withstanding. The Seeing was great last night, very stable. I am half hoping that Betelgeuse pick tonight to go Nova.
For tonight I am using the Skywatcher ED150DX at f8, with my Askar 135 attached to my Nikon mounted on top.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by sharkbite

Hi Martin - yep i managed a few hours last night, and hopefully a few more tonight!

Great, cooling my camera right now !
Suppose to be some scattered cloud patches around 10.30pm which should move away within half an hour or so

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by glend

Yes indeed Martin, at my area, Lake Macquarie, it has been outstanding for last night, and I am set up again for tonight, which looks even better. Visual only tonight. The pesky Moon not withstanding. The Seeing was great last night, very stable. I am half hoping that Betelgeuse pick tonight to go Nova.
For tonight I am using the Skywatcher ED150DX at f8, with my Askar 135 attached to my Nikon mounted on top.

Glen,
Great to hear your still toiling away in your Obs when nights are clear
Nice set up too !!
Martin

[Leo.G (Leo)]

West of the Blue Mountains isn't too bad at the moment, there was some cloud further west as the sun went down. Last night was a good night for it (not that I did) but I thought about it.

[glend (Glen)]

A good night up my way, at Lake Macquarie. Just wrapped up a session and closed the observatory. Very stable sky, nothing moving around at all. I waited for Moon Set, and did a visual tour of the Southern sky from M83 around to the Tarantula Nebula. Checked out a few Doubles on the way. As I finished up at 1:30am, I took a SQM reading to document the night. SQM reported 20.30 overhead. Not bad. Best reading ever here was 20.80 a few years ago. And winter seems to produce better darkness results for some reason, I suspect there is more Light scatter due to humidity on warm summer nights. I have recorded SQM readings above 21 at Bretti Reserve during my dark sky camping trips with the Central Coast guys, but those days are over for me due to health concerns.

All in all a good night, and it reminds me of why I do it. I hope everyone else out tonight had an enjoyable time. Now for a glass of wine.

[varshnei]

Been so lucky to get a run of a couple nights in a row!

Managed to get 6-7 hrs of imaging 2 nights in a row from the B4/5 backyard on the central coast and seeing has been great! I don't think my guiding ever went past 0.5 and generally hovered around 0.35

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Huge storms west of the Blue Mountains today and a lot of cloud cover tonight.
I really should have taken my Astro Trac and camera out last night but my target would have been a little washed out with the half moon or thereabouts. Plus I have something on and really didn't have the time but still upset I didn't do it because we've had so few opportunities of late. locally.