How can I measure seeing quality?

[emadmoussa]

Long time of astronomy, but I really never bothered looking into this subject thoroughly. I simply decide the seeing conditions based on what and I can and can't see in the night sky.

Is there some kind of calculator or specialized forecast to determine this factor before hand?

[Scooot]

I don't know about a special calculator, but I use the sky harbinger app, see below, tells you a bit about it.

http://www.sibimon.net/node/7

[Steve Ward]

About as useful as relying on the weather forecast ...

As the quality can change by the minute , especially this time of year , I'd rely on the eyeball to tell you what it's like . . .

Just log-off and get out there , precious few nights to spend half of it worrying about these things if you're in a LP'd urban setting , if you move to a seriously dark location away from the usual UK problems then it maybe of more significance.

If you wait for the nights that are set clear , moonless , perfect transparency and excellent seeing you will spend all your time on here and not outside "doing it" . . .

[Scooot]

About as useful as relying on the weather forecast ...

As the quality can change by the minute , especially this time of year , I'd rely on the eyeball to tell you what it's like . . .

Just log-off and get out there , precious few nights to spend half of it worrying about these things if you're in a LP'd urban setting , if you move to a seriously dark location away from the usual UK problems then it maybe of more significance.

If you wait for the nights that are set clear , moonless , perfect transparency and excellent seeing you will spend all your time on here and not outside "doing it" . . .

lol I tend to agree, I only use it in advance to get an idea of what it might be like the next day, more for cloud cover than seeing.

once I've decided to go out I do like to use sat24 though because it shows you the likely cloud movements over the next hour or so.

[Steve Ward]

Hi Richard ,

Sat24 is most peoples saviour I think , or should be ....

We all KNOW there's cloud coming from somewhere , sometime soon , it's great to be able to see it approaching in pretty much real time . . .

I'd have missed many a Solar disc shot without being able to see exactly where the gaps were and when they'd arrive ...

[Scooot]

For seeing I think the twinkling star test is as good as any you can't do anything about it though, it might just help explain why some things are good or not.

[cotterless45]

Most of our bad weather comes from the west. Worth while keeping an eye on the west.

Avoid buying anything large in a box , this summons clouds when you need

clear skies,

Nick.

[emadmoussa]

I don't know about a special calculator, but I use the sky harbinger app, see below, tells you a bit about it.

http://www.sibimon.net/node/7

Thanks Richard. this is exactly what I had in mind -- downloaded and ready to go out tonight.

[Steve Ward]

I always make sure I open those boxes well to the North or South of my house and let the fluffy stuff float off somewhere well away .... from me anyway ....

[emadmoussa]

Most of our bad weather comes from the west. Worth while keeping an eye on the west.

Avoid buying anything large in a box , this summons clouds when you need

clear skies,

Nick.

Ironically I received a little something a couple days ago and it's been almost clear. Knock wood!

[emadmoussa]

About as useful as relying on the weather forecast ...

As the quality can change by the minute , especially this time of year , I'd rely on the eyeball to tell you what it's like . . .

Just log-off and get out there , precious few nights to spend half of it worrying about these things if you're in a LP'd urban setting , if you move to a seriously dark location away from the usual UK problems then it maybe of more significance.

If you wait for the nights that are set clear , moonless , perfect transparency and excellent seeing you will spend all your time on here and not outside "doing it" . . .

Can I at least wait until it's dark :D

[Steve Ward]

No ... you've got some Baader film kicking about surely ....

[emadmoussa]

No ... you've got some Baader film kicking about surely ....

Believe it or not...I never done any solar astronomy...I've been thinking about it though

[Scooot]

Thanks Richard. this is exactly what I had in mind -- downloaded and ready to go out tonight.

Yes meant to be clear here too so I'd like to go out tonight but I'm already going out tonight..... If you know what I mean so don't think I'll trust myself with my scope when I get back.

[emadmoussa]

Yes meant to be clear here too so I'd like to go out tonight but I'm already going out tonight..... If you know what I mean so don't think I'll trust myself with my scope when I get back.

I think I'm going out light - EQ3 and 80ED. Last night I was almost caught in thundery rain.

[Steve Ward]

That's cos u woznt loggd onto Sat24 .. .. ..

[Paranoidsam]

Try getting an aviation weather forecast, it's much more detailed... features humidity, dew point, pressure, wind, thermal conditions etc...

[Paranoidsam]

Here's the latest aviation METAR weather report for your area...

Latest METAR information for EGHI - SOUTHAMPTON

EGHI 031850Z 19009KT 150V220 9999 FEW037 19/12 Q1018

In plain english is....

This is a METAR report for

EGHI - SOUTHAMPTON

.

The report was made

28

minutes ago, at

18:50

UTC.

The wind was blowing at a speed of

9

knots (

10.4

miles per hour,

4.6

metres per second) from the

South

(

190

°).

The visibility was

greater than 6.2

miles (

greater than 10

kilometres).

There were

a few clouds

at a height of

3700

feet (

1128

metres).

The temperature was

19

°C (

66

°F), a dew point of

12

°C (

54

°F) and a relative humidity of 63.8%.

The altimeter setting (airfield QNH) was

1,018

hPa (

30.06

inHg).

[glowjet]

A reference to seeing quality...

Pickering Scale

The Pick­er­ing Scale was cre­ated as a way to describe atmos­pheric dif­frac­tion by William Henry Pick­er­ing (see Wikipedia arti­cle). The scale was cre­ated using a 5inch refrac­tor as a ref­er­ence telescope.

While this scale is not uti­lized these days it still pro­vides a way to demon­strate the effects of the atmos­phere on see­ing con­di­tions in a tan­gi­ble way for peo­ple get­ting started in astron­omy. The scale is shown with a com­puter gen­er­ated approx­i­ma­tion of how the atmos­phere affects dif­frac­tion and over­all see­ing conditions.

Search: Sim­u­la­tion Image Descrip­tion Scale 1 — Very poor Scale 2 — Very poor Scale 3 — Very poor to poor Scale 4 — Poor Scale 5 — Fair Scale 6 — Fair to Good Scale 7 — Good Scale 8 — Good to Excellent Scale 9 — Excellent Scale 10 — Excel­lent / Perfect

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[jetstream]

A reference to seeing quality...

Pickering Scale

The Pick­er­ing Scale was cre­ated as a way to describe atmos­pheric dif­frac­tion by William Henry Pick­er­ing (see Wikipedia arti­cle). The scale was cre­ated using a 5inch refrac­tor as a ref­er­ence telescope.

While this scale is not uti­lized these days it still pro­vides a way to demon­strate the effects of the atmos­phere on see­ing con­di­tions in a tan­gi­ble way for peo­ple get­ting started in astron­omy. The scale is shown with a com­puter gen­er­ated approx­i­ma­tion of how the atmos­phere affects dif­frac­tion and over­all see­ing conditions.

Search: Sim­u­la­tion Image Descrip­tion Scale 1 — Very poor Scale 2 — Very poor Scale 3 — Very poor to poor Scale 4 — Poor Scale 5 — Fair Scale 6 — Fair to Good Scale 7 — Good Scale 8 — Good to Excellent Scale 9 — Excellent Scale 10 — Excel­lent / Perfect

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E.R.A.O

• ERAO Equipment
  

This has just visually shown me what was happening last night,with about 3 on the listed Pickering scale & this coincided with transparent skies,which may be unusual.