Poor seeing conditons tonight ?

[John]

I don't know if anyone has a scope out in my neck of the woods tonight but I'm finding the seeing conditions really unsteady despite the clear skies.

Last night the views of Mars were quite crisp, not the best ever, but not bad at all. Tonight with the same equipment it's hard to define much detail and get any sharpness. Defocussed star images show a lot of boiling despite the scope being well cooled now.

I'll try again later but perhaps it's just one of "those" nights. Maybe the jetstream is over this area again ?

[Moonshane]

not out myself tonight. how annoying! I thought that Jetstream was being pushed north by the high pressure according to the forecast today. could it be warm rooftops/paving etc?

[John]

....could it be warm rooftops/paving etc?

Possibly something like that Shane. Well, thats how it goes sometimes. 

[oldpink]

at least your out, cloudy here tonight, though may get a break later

[Owmuchonomy]

Very clear here but like Moonshane can't set up tonight. Visual on 4 planets though. I've lost the link now but on here somewhere is the link to the colour coded wind speed by altitude plot. That will tell us what the seeing prediction is. I'm hoping Friday is clear because I've got a free night then.

[paul mc c]

I had the same conditions last night,i waited until 2.30 checking every 10 minutes hoping for an improvement but no luck,very frustrsting,just before getting into bed i had a look out the window and still crystal clear,and couldnt help thinking maybe the seeing was good now,but i was only wishfull thinking,so called it a night.

[oldpink]

Metcheck astronomy forecast gives you wind speed at 15,000 feet as well as surface wind

http://www.metcheck.com/HOBBIES/index.asp

but like most its accuracy is debatable 

[Stu]

John it's the same here. Really frustrating because I don't get many nights observing at the moment and when I do the seeing always seems to be poor :-(.

Mars was very blurry and boiling away. I could see the polar cap and done surface shading but was very tricky.

Given the moon, I tried a few doubles, but they weren't particularly rewarding either. Split a few, but the diffraction patterns were very messy. Izar looked ok though.

Lastly, just having my first decent look at Saturn this year. It will only take x150 currently. Some shading on the surface, plus Cassini visible a fair degree in good seeing spells. Got Rhea, Dione, Tethys and Titan too.

At least I got something out of the session, but quite frustrating. Might pop out again, just having a cup of tea :-)

Stu

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[John]

Sorry that you were suffering too Stu but I have to say that being out under the stars, even if the seeing conditions are so-so beats most of the other alternative ways to spend an evening

I managed to get some half decent views of Saturn as well, pretty much as you describe, so that made it a 4 planet evening having seen Mercury, Jupiter and Mars earlier on. 

Funnily enough the best views of this evening came from the globular clusters M13 and M92 in Hercules using the Hyperion zoom in the 8mm and 12mm settings. Rather lovely resolution despite the less-than-black background sky

How can seeing several hundred thousand stars packed into a tight ball 25,000 light years away not put a smile on your face ? 

[oldpink]

I keep looking out in hope more than expectation
but I'm the eternal optimist, meanwhile I'm having a few beers to drown my sorrows 

[Stu]

Sorry that you were suffering too Stu but I have to say that being out under the stars, even if the seeing conditions are so-so beats most of the other alternative ways to spend an evening

I managed to get some half decent views of Saturn as well, pretty much as you describe, so that made it a 4 planet evening having seen Mercury, Jupiter and Mars earlier on.

Funnily enough the best views of this evening came from the globular clusters M13 and M92 in Hercules using the Hyperion zoom in the 8mm and 12mm settings. Rather lovely resolution despite the less-than-black background sky

How can seeing several hundred thousand stars packed into a tight ball 25,000 light years away not put a smile on your face ?

You are right, I mustn't complain!

Saturn improved a little before I packed in, just a little sharper than before and was able to up the mag a touch.

Was having fun with the SkyFi I have connected to the Atlux mount now. It does make finding things under rubbish skies so much easier! I don't have to bother polar aligning the mount accurately either. I just put it in a standard position and then three star align. It was tracking Saturn dead centre at x150 and above for ages.

Cup of tea then bed!

Stu

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[cotterless45]

Absolutely stunning seeing here. Saturn was just crisp up to x266. Even with the bright Moon , I managed a load of doubles in Hercules.

Packed in at 1, just as Aquila cleared the roof tops,Nick.

[Stu]

Nice one Nick, glad someone had some good skies at least :-)

Stu

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[Owmuchonomy]

Very clear here but like Moonshane can't set up tonight. Visual on 4 planets though. I've lost the link now but on here somewhere is the link to the colour coded wind speed by altitude plot. That will tell us what the seeing prediction is. I'm hoping Friday is clear because I've got a free night then.

  

Metcheck astronomy forecast gives you wind speed at 15,000 feet as well as surface wind

http://www.metcheck.com/HOBBIES/index.asp

but like most its accuracy is debatable

Here is the site I remember. It looks complicated but actually it did fit with the conditions when I tried it out. You can see the dramatic difference in high altitude wind speeds over the next 4 days. It looks right now that there is a north south divide for very high altitude wind speed. If you click on the 300mb option anyway.

http://weather.unisys.com/gfs/gfs.php?inv=0&plot=300&region=eu&t=9p

[Mike73]

Seeing conditions for me was a bit weird for my quick hour last night.

At dusk Jupiter (in the west) was stunning even at x266!! Not once last winter did I ever get near those magnifications on Jupiter, I'm still a bit in shock because it was that good!

Mars (to the south) looked its usual wobbly self so I guess my problem is local seeing conditions and not just the jetstream.

Very happy with the VX10L, although I havent used it that much and not in perfect seeing conditions there is an increase in contrast that I havent seen with any scope I have used yet.

I also used my Leica ASPH zoom with the Baader VIP barlow, I used that combo from start to finish and now I know that I will never go back to fixed focal length EP's (for mid to high power).

Both the scope and EP are new bits of equipment and at the moment its feels the same as when you get a new pair of shoes, they feel comfortable and lots better than your old shoes but they need to get a few miles underneath them to really make them yours.

[John]

Absolutely stunning seeing here. Saturn was just crisp up to x266. Even with the bright Moon , I managed a load of doubles in Hercules.

Packed in at 1, just as Aquila cleared the roof tops,Nick.

Shows how 150 miles or so can make a difference 

Saturn was OK-ish by the time it rose above the local rooftops but nowhere near as crisp as it was a few nights back.

Even usually straight forward doubles such as Delta Cygni, while split, were somewhat spiky rather than the tight points of light I normally get, at that was after it had risen quite high in the sky too.

I'm glad you had a good one though Nick 

@ Mike: you make a good point about getting to know your equipment well. Having used my 12" Orion Optics dob more than any other scope I've ever owned, over the past year, I feel very comfortable and familiar with it and my current eyepieces which have remained fairly static (for me) for the past 12 months too. Once you reach this point you know pretty much straight away when the seeing conditions are not their best as you have seen what the equipment really can do when things are good

Incidently, I did use Shane's trick of an off aperture mask for a while last night and got some much more sharply defined double star images, though rather dimmer and with the resolution of a 4" scope of course. It's a neat trick for getting some satisfying views if the conditions are not co-operating at full aperture

[AlexB67]

John I am not that far away from you and found much the same on Mars. Not good at all, some of the worst I recall for some time, could get the polar cap but details were just washed away on the whole. I had a snooze and got up again for Saturn for a bit, 1 - 2- am was rather nice by that time and actual better compared to the night before with longer periods of steadiness, the a,b,c rings cassini and encke minimum could be picked up very nicely as well as some subtle banding.  Not sure if it was due to a neighbouring house or rising heat from somewhere, but suddenly the view started to melt, so I stopped, but for a good while it was very nice at 240x in the 5mm BGO. 

Nice little session, two nights in a row

[andyb505]

Was similar in Hampshire last night. Had some great views of Jupiter for half an hour or so, but much less success with Mars. Seeing seemed to vary over the couple of hours I was out.

Andrew.

[PeterCPC]

Ditto here. It looked clear but Mars was very blurry. Ah well....no change there then!

Peter

[IanWatkins]

Metcheck astronomy forecast gives you wind speed at 15,000 feet as well as surface wind

Not really sure why they give the wind at 15,000ft, a much better idea would be double that, around 30-33k ft if you are looking for the polar jet stream.

And yes, a few tens of miles on the ground can make a big difference if viewing the same target. You can go from lovely steady conditions to a churning mess in an hour or so.

Bear in mind it isn't just the jet stream that causes turbulence, its the movement in the whole column you are looking through, but around 2000ft (boundary mixing layer, especially after a warm day) and the tropo/strat boundary (with or without a jet) are where the two big effects happen.

As Chris posted, have a look at the 300-250 Mb (hPa) GFS charts to get an idea of expected "churn". Or if you like something a little more interactive have a go with this, click "Earth" bottom left for options): http://earth.nullschool.net (can control what, where and when through the URL, so for example, midnight tonight, 250hPa wind over NW Europe: http://earth.nullschool.net/#2014/05/15/2100Z/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic=-6.29,49.53,1366

Cheers

Ian

[Mike73]

Just having a quick look at Mars with the 16" and its the complete opposite of last night, I've got a nice steady view at x366...Stunning!! and the best I've ever seen it!

[Stu]

Just having a quick look at Mars with the 16" and its the complete opposite of last night, I've got a nice steady view at x366...Stunning!! and the best I've ever seen it!

Isn't that just typical, too knackered tonight to head out. Have fun, and enjoy the views :-), glad you have managed to take advantage of the good seeing.

Cheers,

Stu

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[Mike73]

Isn't that just typical, too knackered tonight to head out. Have fun, and enjoy the views :-), glad you have managed to take advantage of the good seeing.

Cheers,

Stu

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Stu I've just packed up! 

I'm up at stupid o clock tomorrow and I'm really tired myself so I need some sleep.

Although I have to admit to complete jealousy when I miss good nights its always nice to catch up on here the next day and read others got it good.

[Stu]

Stu I've just packed up!

I'm up at stupid o clock tomorrow and I'm really tired myself so I need some sleep.

Although I have to admit to complete jealousy when I miss good nights its always nice to catch up on here the next day and read others got it good.

You lightweight Mike ;-)

Was observing until three last night, then fed the baby until 4.30 and up at 7.15 to go to work. Absolutely spent today! It's frustrating when you plan for a clear night and then the seeing turns out to be rubbish. Glad you got a few nice views anyway, and agreed, always good to read about people getting good sessions in.

Cheers,

Stu

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[AlexB67]

Just having a quick look at Mars with the 16" and its the complete opposite of last night, I've got a nice steady view at x366...Stunning!! and the best I've ever seen it!

It was lovely last night in the wee hours, saturn rings at 300x blow your brains out  . Did I see encke, the jury is still out or is it part of the minimum or the gap, there sure was the tiniest sliver of a very dark rim coming out in moments of best seeing.

This hobby just rocks, every night is a new night, but I can't get enough of it, that's for sure