|
Fog! and Jupiter rambling!
Frustrating morning!
I was out early this morning with a plan to open my Jupiter account for the year..
I'd learn the previous morning that Jupiter was so far south it was behind a tree from where my platform/scope were normally positioned, so last night I moved the platform and scope to another part of the backyard where I'd get to see Jupiter up to about 25-30° before dawn.
Got out there at 4:25am, there was Jupiter, right where I needed it to be. It was only 10° or so at that time, and the eyepiece view was terrible.. could barely make out the 2 main equatorial belts. So I browsed the forums for a while until Jupiter was higher.
At about 4:50am I look through the eyepiece again, and the air has steadied very nicely, with Jupiter now at an altitude where I could start imaging it, and could see much more detail on the planet. Io was also about to cross the disc, though I couldn't make out the shadow in the short time I viewed it.
I thought, great! Rushed inside to get the DMK, start plugging the external harddrive and camera in, fire up ICCapture. I look through the eyepiece again to centre Jupiter before sticking the camera in, and what!?!?, gee the planet is very dim now! Is that cloud passed in front?
I stand up to take a look.. fog! A very thick fog rolled in, and 2 minutes later I couldn't even see Jupiter naked eye, let alone through the telescope.
So that put an end to my Jupiter session for today.
So a question about fog.. what causes it? and is it predictable (based on clear skies, overnight temperature, etc) when the fog will come?
It was very frustrating!
|
