Victorian clouds are my fault

[niko]

Sorry to all that got clouded out last night - I bought a new eyepiece on Friday afternoon. Drove it and the scope 140kms to dark skies, unlocked the gate beneath glorious clear skies, set up scope, went inside to make a cuppa and by the time I came out it was clouded over and stayed that way all night!

niko

[leon]

I don't care niko, I'm off to tassie in the morning anyway.

Leon

[Ric]

Been blotted out all day up here Niko and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better.

Hope you get a better night tonight.

[leon]

Truth be known guys it is crystal clear here tonight, and is expected to be for a few days to come.

Leon

[GrahamL]

Friday afternoon

.. but try many months .. every new moon and its clouded out .. oct ..nov .. dec ..jan ..feb.. the odd good night but most are a big ask for a lot of us with a few other distractions in life ..

[pgc hunter]

Originally Posted by niko

Sorry to all that got clouded out last night - I bought a new eyepiece on Friday afternoon. Drove it and the scope 140kms to dark skies, unlocked the gate beneath glorious clear skies, set up scope, went inside to make a cuppa and by the time I came out it was clouded over and stayed that way all night!

niko

That's known as the Melbourne Phenomenon, while the speed and thickness at which the clouds move in is known as the Melbourne Factor. It is known to occur on nights with spectacular transparency/seeing, and/or when the victim has just finished lugging out 100kg of imaging gear.

[Kevnool (Kev)]

The Perfect night here tonight nobody in broken hill brought anything new......Cheers Kev.

[danielsun]

So your the one Niko!!!

[Spanrz (Brett)]

Originally Posted by pgc hunter

That's known as the Melbourne Phenomenon, while the speed and thickness at which the clouds move in is known as the Melbourne Factor.

Hahaha. I thought it was just me.
You know, so many times it's been crystal clear when "I" wanted to do some viewing of any kind, and it can cloud over in a matter of minutes.

Many times I wanted to view the Space Shuttle's penultimate "lap of honour" before they re-enter, that's usually OK, but everytime they do the DOB (de-orbit burn), it bloody clouds over.
I have seen a re-entry once before, but want to capture it on a photo/vid.
In the last 3 years, only one re-entry was not clouded.

I have learnt the ways of Melbourne's cloud system.
If you see a thick cloud front coming, if it hasn't passed in 2-3 hours, it's in for the night.
Speckled cloud seems to be hit or miss. Usually it is fast moving. You'll get intermittent viewing. But it will be a 50/50 decision, if a cloud front comes in, or it becomes crystal clear. Usually you'll know in 2 hours.
Most times I have dealt with the speckled cloud (that is fast moving) usually clears in 1-2 hours.

On some nights, I have seen in the order of : crystal clear-speckled-crystal clear-speckled-massive cloudfront-speckled-cloudfront-speckled-crystal clear all in about 4 hours.
Somenights I have given up and gone to bed. But in the event of just getting into bed, the curiosity gets the better of me and I have to peek outside. You guessed it, clear (mostly). Always the way.

[Tilt (Michael)]

hehe, very frustrating.

Michael

[pgc hunter]

Originally Posted by Spanrz

Hahaha. I thought it was just me.
You know, so many times it's been crystal clear when "I" wanted to do some viewing of any kind, and it can cloud over in a matter of minutes.

Yup, and 100% of the time, it's AFTER you've dragged your hot water heater, maps, notebooks, eyepieces and chairs out into the yard. The speed and frequency of the Melbourne phenomenon is directly proportional to the weight/size/bulkiness of your gear, e.g. the heavier your scope, the more likely you'll fall victim to the Melbourne Phenomenon.

I have learnt the ways of Melbourne's cloud system.
If you see a thick cloud front coming, if it hasn't passed in 2-3 hours, it's in for the night.
Speckled cloud seems to be hit or miss. Usually it is fast moving. You'll get intermittent viewing. But it will be a 50/50 decision, if a cloud front comes in, or it becomes crystal clear. Usually you'll know in 2 hours.
Most times I have dealt with the speckled cloud (that is fast moving) usually clears in 1-2 hours.

sometimes after a deck of clag moves in, it appears to clear down toward the horizon from the direction it came from, so I wait, and wait, and wait,
only to be met with increasingly thicker horror. Only then I realise, that the effect is caused by light pollution around my area illuminating the crud while further afield there is no population.....hence no LP......therefore clouds that are invisible.

On some nights, I have seen in the order of : crystal clear-speckled-crystal clear-speckled-massive cloudfront-speckled-cloudfront-speckled-crystal clear all in about 4 hours.
Somenights I have given up and gone to bed. But in the event of just getting into bed, the curiosity gets the better of me and I have to peek outside. You guessed it, clear (mostly). Always the way.

and as soon as your head hits the pillow, you can bet your right arm it'll clear up. It has happened to me more than once.