That's it, had enough

[Steffen]

Bad weather is maintenance time. Stripping down, re-lubricating and adjusting the mount time. Upgrading that firmware time. Cleaning those lenses/eyepieces/corrector plates time. Tending to the batteries time. Changing the IIS password time (because, you know - hackers ). Booking IISAC time.

Cheers
Steffen.

[AndrewJ]

That's not lawn,

I agree.
Thats either been photoshopped or its not Perth at this time of year.
Theres no way there would be any green showing

Andrew

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Here in Perth we get to look up , not down at the lovely sand

Originally Posted by astroron

Oh what a beautiful Lawn you have there.
Cheers

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

????? , .?
Brian.

Originally Posted by SimmoW

That gathering of scopes looks almost 'dirty'!

I'm only new to the hobby, but have already got paranoid about the weather. Even today, nice blue sky in Melb, but seeing is real bad due to Gippsland bushfires. Smelly too. But at least I haven't lost our house I suppose...

Then again I'm still waiting for my scope to arrive, so not exactly a disaster. Once delivered, blame me for the 4 weeks of overcast skies.....

[ianB (Ian)]

I agree with you Lewis, non stop cloud and very misty the other evening, I tried to have a look tonight at Jupiter but the optics seemed to fog up quickly, I suspect there was a lot of misty air higher up.
And yes it was a beautiful sunset the other night, wished I saw it earlier I would have take a photo.
Tell me please lewis ( im new to all this ) are the seeing conditions a lot better here on the S.S Coast in Winter?

Ian

[Stardrifter_WA]

Originally Posted by astroron

Oh what a beautiful Lawn you have there.
Cheers

Yeah, did have a nice lawn once Ron. I am now doing my bit for water conservation!!! Water is getting scare in Perth, as our dams are quite low.

Anyway, I got sick of being a slave to a lawn, so let it die. Was going to put in Astro Turf, but the price was such that I nearly fainted. Stuff that, I went a bought a new scope and some eyepieces instead.

Don't know what to do with it really. More paving sounds good, but too much heat. Other solutions that I have come up with are too costly too.

Cheers Pete

[MrB (Simon)]

Originally Posted by brian nordstrom

Try Perth tis time of the year Lewis .
Its been cloudy on 'ONE' night since I arrived in November ,,, ahhh ,,,

Yep, almost perfect skies for months now, only wish I could find time to get out under it

Originally Posted by Stardrifter_WA

I am now doing my bit for water conservation!!! Water is getting scare in Perth, as our dams are quite low.

Sir Walter and the grey water from your washing machine

[LewisM]

Originally Posted by ianB

Tell me please lewis ( im new to all this ) are the seeing conditions a lot better here on the S.S Coast in Winter?

Ian

Yes, significantly. That's when the Southerners whinge and moan as they get the winter greys and we get the stunningly clear white-blue skies Even from suburbia in winter the swathe of the Milky Way overhead is breath-taking. Plus, during winter, we get a change in prevailing wind directions, changing from onshore (summer) to offshore (winter) (generally, sometimes change)

I have not had to buy a dew heater - yet - but I do have a LONG dew shield and a hair dryer should I need it

[ianB (Ian)]

That sounds great, come on Winter!

Also glad to know that a dew shield "should" suffice without the need for a heater.

[Stardrifter_WA]

Originally Posted by MrB

Yep, almost perfect skies for months now, only wish I could find time to get out under it


Sir Walter and the grey water from your washing machine

I had Palmetto, which cost a packet, and I can tell you, I wouldn't ever use anything like it again. It actually got a disease, which is partly why I just let it die. The cost of the chemical to treat it was horrendous. I just don't want to be a slave to a lawn any more.

I am probably going to be renting this house out in about a year, so I am not really that fussed. It won't make an iota of difference to the rental price, and I will have no issue renting it long term. If I decide to stay, I am thinking I will just fill it with limestone, hard packed, so I never have to worry about weeds either.

Cheers Pete

[Terry B]

It's raining today.
We need the rain much more than I need to see the night sky. The last rain was Christmas eve so it is very welcome.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

I feel your pain Lewis, although we did get one rare night a couple of nights ago where it was clear. Problem was the 75% moon. But I shooted in Ha to get around that.

I remember one year, the year of the spectacular comet McNaught 2009? where we never saw the sky for 9 months. The best of the comet escaped me and well there is a limit to my patience and that really broke me. I gave up anything to do with astronomy until mid 2012 for the transit of Venus. Then I got the bug again.

In the meantime, IR cloud photography is pretty cool! I'm having fun with it with my new toy - modded DSLR.

[johnnyjetski (John)]

Ian,........ I wouldnt go so far as wishing for winter yet, lots to see in a summer sky. Agree with you Lewis, such a bad run lately with cloud and small showers appearing out of know-where at anytime.

John

[Stardrifter_WA]

The West is where to be,
For the skies they be clear,
Though the moon be too full to see
So, I think I'll just go have another beer.

Not that I am rubbing it in! We really have had a wonderful run of clear skies, and reasonably cool temperatures too.

[ianB (Ian)]

Im just keen for some clear sky John, im new to this and since getting my telescope its been cloud cover all the way or, like today very hazy.
I had a quick look at jupiter the other night but it was misty in every ep that i tried, must be due to water vapor high up? Either that or my scope is rubbish.
I saw two faint bands with my 25mm ep at x60 but thats it, at x120 x166 the view was no better and fuzzy, I hope the winter sky will allow better crisp views?
I have a celestron 6 SE f10

[brisen (Brian)]

Hi Ian

I went from seeing stars 5 and 6 in the trapezium and the best views of Jupiter I have had, you could see the lower bands quite clearly, on Tuesday night to seeing a fuzzy ball with no stripes and definitely no chance of seeing the fainter elements of the trapezium on Wednesday night.

There was a very thin layer of high level cirrus and a haze on Wednesday night. I have a C11 Edge HD and two different views on consecutive nights in the same light polluted spot on the driveway beside the streetlight that I would love to short circuit. It is likely to be the seeing and transparency which caused the fuzziness in your view as opposed to your optics.

Brian

[johnnyjetski (John)]

Brian....I did manage to get a few images of Jupiter on Tues, but as you said, you had to pick between the cloud.
Looks like another wipeout tonight too. Hang in there Ian, definately not your optics

John

[ianB (Ian)]

Thanks Brian And John, glad to hear that, I was a little worried for a moment thinking thats as good as it will get.
No good trying to view tonight, I guess in this hobby patience is required. :-)

Thank you both.

[cybereye (Mario)]

Originally Posted by swannies1983

IIS wouldn't be the same without the annual Queenslander whingefest at this time of year .

Add "New South Welshman living in Queensland" to that list!

It's been so cloudy I've been living over on Flickr where pictures of clouds are admired and revered! I actually bothered to set up the scope two Sundays ago - some false hope due to blue skies - but by the time I'd aligned, etc and found my target the clouds rolled in and it started to rain! I noted from my hand-controller that this was the first time I'd set up the scope since November last year.

Not Happy Jan!!!

OK bring on Autumn and Winter so I can start posting images on IIS again...

Mario

[andrew_d_cool (Andrew)]

Hi Guys,

Just a reminder that the Dark Blue on SkippySky Cloud maps does _not_
necessarily mean clear, cloudless skies! The colours are in deciles, i.e. the Dark Blue represents a forecast range of 0%..10% cloud cover.

So while you're less likely to have cloud, you'd also be surprised just
how thick 10% cloud cover can appear!

As I've said many times since 2008, think in terms of trends in the data,
not absolutes.

Regards,

Andrew Cool
www.skippysky.com.au