A few things were evident while I was flying my paraglider:
a) although there is a nice big fat high pressure system right over us, there is a very unstable boundary layer at 3,000 metres which is the cloud base - the aerological diagrams show a massive inversion layer and strong cross-winds at that level. Paragliding today we could get to the cloud base but it was very rough turbulence, and no higher.
b) after the storm the previous night, some snow remained on the ground even at 2pm from Leura to Mt Victoria, and quite a lot of water around on the ground. It was quite wet past Lithgow. Meaning the air over the mountains is saturated with moisture.
c) in the prevailing westerly airflow the blue mountains force the air up, so it cools, and clouds form. As the air passes over the eastern side (the Hawkesbury) it descends and warms up enough that the cloud disperses. This was going on all day, though in the late afternoon things were cooling down and the cloud now extends over Sydney.
BTW the satellite photos show it was/is clear west of about Orange, all day.
Sunday should be a nice clear day in the mountains.
Well I bit the bullet and decided to go up and arrived at after 8PM - it did manage to clear a bit but was frustrating with the stop/go of cloud however when we did have a clear view it wasn't too bad. I took some wide field shots of milky way & smc/lmc which I'll post up later on but pulled stumps at around 11pm. Eric stayed on for the long haul.
Nice Adam, looking forward to seeing the shots. Obviously used your Polarie?
No just fixed tripod because the weather was dubious. Was looking hopeful for a while so I then set up the Polarie, polar aligned, swung the camera around to...cloud, doh...waiting, waiting, nup, packed up and called it a night
Set up in about 80% cloud at 5:30pm, but with strong sunny breaks. However it was raining by 7pm. No more rain after that but complete cloud cover coming and going while Adam was there. Until midnight when all cleared to a beautiful sky. Seeing was good. Transparency excellent. I had a lovely few hours observing (M31 still looks boring) until the chill started to set in. I had anticipated 4-5 deg C, but had 0-1 deg C. Needed one more layer on my legs than I had brought. Packed up wet and on the road by about 4:30am.
Very happy. First Orion Nebula viewing of the season. Reconnected with Jupiter. Tracked down NGC 134 as recommended by Les in Oz S&T. I still like NGC 253 more, sorry. Mostly old favourite time - not dark enough for challenging targets. The three globulars in Tucana were spectacularly good last night.
First time I've driven past snow to go observing! Rain, dust, smoke, flood - yes, but not snow! Found a few small patches on the airfield, but didn't have to shovel it of the slab.
Drove home to the lovely sight of the Morning Star and a lovely crescent Moon, until Sydney cloud obscured them. My drive is 1 hr 50 min when there is no traffic.
Feelin' good - it's been a long time between photons.
No just fixed tripod because the weather was dubious. Was looking hopeful for a while so I then set up the Polarie, polar aligned, swung the camera around to...cloud, doh...waiting, waiting, nup, packed up and called it a night
Thats a shame mate, especially considering you set it up and polar aligned it all. But at least you got out there and got some shots, be it from a fixed tripod. Hopefully next time the clouds will be kinder!
Erick sounds like you had a good observing run. How many layers of clothes did you have? Never being out there myself I was thinking 3 layers would be enough?
They look great mate, I'd be very happy with those! Surprised at how clear it got, kind of makes me regret not going. The Katoomba light pollution is a worry. Only going to get worse I imagine
Jason, I had thermal "long johns" plus trakkie dacs on my legs. I could have used a pair of jeans pulled over that. I had five layers on top. I didn't have to go full gloves or fur-lined flying helmet. They are reserved for sub-zero.
The light pollution from Katoomba is there, but not impossible. It's 'glow dome' is actually small. Also Adam's pics show that there was a lot of moisture in the air at the time too. More moisture makes the glow brighter and larger. Sydney's glow dome is larger in size, but at the eleveation we are it is not really brighter than that of Katoomba.
When we do get those dry evenings, the glow dome is very much smaller. M33 becomes a naked eye object and you can also make out various objects within the LMC apart from the Tarantula Nebula, and the LMC is always located close to the Katoomba glow dome.
This failed night for me will now make 12months straight of no New Moon Observing, except for the three hours I pinched in April. And wouldn't you know it, Sunday night was an absolute screamer!!! The last full night's observing I managed was at last year's IIS Astro Camp - fantastic event it was too, and I'm eagerly awaiting next year's.
The combustion heater in the office is one of the most precious items at the Airfield too, . It is the most frequented place on those freezing nights,
I should clarify - observing from the airfield is HEAPS better than from where I live, there's no comparison Was just an observation and probably exasperated by the photo. What did peeve me off is that stupid beacon which shines right up into the sky from Scenic World
. It is the most frequented place on those freezing nights, 
