I thought I'd introduce myself first, My name's Ash and this is my first post on IIS. I recently bought a Celestron NexStar 6SE and I'm absolutely loving it. I've been playing around with Stellarium trying to make a plan for a good nights viewing but of course living near Melbourne the weather plans a huge factor in whether I'll be able to see anything.
I've looked on SkippySky and mainly just at the 'Total Cloud' section. I was wondering if this is the best indicator of how the sky will turn out. I noticed all the other tabs; low clouds, high clouds, transparency, seeing etc. Can someone please explain to me what they all mean and what is the best section to look at.
Also how accurate is the information and predictions? Is it even worth looking at 4-5 days in advance or just today and tomorrow? Does 'Dew Risk' mean in general or is it directly related to telescope dew risk? Are there any other sites that are helpful for predictions?
skippy sky is pretty good -72hrs & under will be your best chance of success
i tend to follow total cloud -transp/seeing is more for imaging (unless you want to push high magnification, though if its real windy i think you know its not going to be a great night
Yes - Total Cloud is probably the best tool, but dont ignore wind and rain
Transparency can also useful depending on what you are hoping to achieve.
Skippy Sky uses collected data (mostly from satellites I think) and then algorithms to extrapolate the weather into the future
Andrew has added in some of his own data processing as well to generate "Seeing"
So what the projections are telling you is purely statistical projections based on algorithms of what has happened and the statistical likelihood that based on the current activity the weather will be something like what it did in the past !
Its a really useful tool - and if its saying that in 4-6 hours time you'll be in the Dark Blue Cloud cover (aka 10) then its likely to be reasonably accurate and so go out and spend the time and effort setting up.
So I like to use it as a short term accurate predictor and a long term general indicator - ie is it worth checking back to see if its really going to be good or bad today or tomorrow.
If its red for a week - then its probably a good time to consider the TV guide ! and not bother making any effort to setup gear.
Using Skippy Sky in conjunction with local real time cloud radar - to check for movement across your particular patch of sky and aeronautical charts for upper temperature gradients (as an indicator for seeing) is worthwhile.
However - if you have your gear setup in an observatory - you can always get out and take advantage of those 1 hour patches of clear sky that nobody predicted !
Personally i always check the Jetstream tag, if it is high i dont bother going outside as the images of the planets will be bad, but iirc DSO's may be o.k
