Seeing tonight. Advice please.....

[kirkster501]

Hello, whats your opinion of seeing tonight please 20:00 to 22:00? Opinions please ?

I do not seem to get a pinpoint star focus tonight on Rigel, Sirius or Betelgeuse. However, either side of focus I get the concentric donuts so collimation seems OK. However, a miniscule fraction either side of focus I seem to be getting like two stars almost touching that merge together at precise focus. This was in my Pan and Nagler. However, as said, the star seems to be a tiny boiling blob as opposed to a pinpoint speck of light. Strange - simply bad seeing?. However, first time I observed with my glasses on tonight as opposed to contact lenses.

Earlier today I mistakenly removed the secondary on my CPC but i put it back again precisely as it was before 10 seconds later (see my thread CPC secondary warning). I did not touch the mirror or collimation screws. You reckon i upset something (even though I very much doubt I did)?

Rgds, Steve

[Karen]

Seeing was about average from my location. A bit of bubbling on the airy disc. Stars were quite pinpoint in focus though.

It could be your collimation is out or spectacle lenses causing some reflected glare or distortion. I even get that with contact lenses sometimes.

[Wildwood]

I had a mare of a night. I went out with the intention of imaging mars. After a couple of hours of gusts I knocked that on the head and decided to enjoy some good old visual work. Cue the rain.....

[MjrTom]

I am just about to head out into the garden for my Mars fix.

Will let you know if seeing is any better.

[John]

It's not too bad here tonight. You should see Rigel's 9th mag companion star quite easily if the scope is working OK.

I've been able to split Eta Orionis (1.7 arc seconds) and see E & F Trapezium with my ED120 refractor which is a sign that the seeing is not too bad.

Maybe the scope is not fully cooled yet - I've heard that the larger SCT's can take as much as 3 hours to fully cool on a cold night.

[Parus major]

Naked eye I'm seeing two stars of three in Orion's belt. South East looks a bit nicer.

[MjrTom]

You can only see two of the belt stars?

I thought my skies were bad at NELM 4.5

[Parus major]

Edinburgh's about fifteen miles that way, though. This was about an hour ago as well.

[MjrTom]

Ah ok fair enough.

Well I got 15 minutes at the eyepiece before the clouds rolled in and dumped a load of rain on me, just about got the kit in before a soaking

Mars was showing some nice detail with the 4 inch @ 200x magnification.

Seeing was all over the place but got fleeting moment of clarity.

[earth titan]

Agree the seeing wasn't brilliant.

Mars good for brief seconds and saturn, low in the sky, looked as though water was running off it. Still, musn't grumble..

[Beulah]

Seeing was extremely variable last night. It was literally changing from minute to minute.

[kirkster501]

Guys, thanks everyone for your help.

Turned out to be seeing and/or scope not fully cooled (despite living on the garage). This afternoon, to get to the bottom of it (since I was a bit worried by it) I set up a full three hours early to acclimatise the scope. Got some great focus tonight before cloud over.

Cheers, Steve

[Jarndyce]

Seeing is good here.

But the dew monster and his mates are out in force.

[kirkster501]

Seeing is good here.

But the dew monster and his mates are out in force.

I might be a lucky one. Never had a problem with dew yet in Nottingham outskirts. Then again, my sessions are rarely more than two to two and a half hours.