Recent seeing - just checking

[Bart]

Either the seeing has been poor recently or my eyesight, which has been questioned recently, is particularly bad. Out last night and shouldn't have bothered. The worst seeing I have ever experienced. A couple of recent nights haven't been great either. I'm beginning to worry......

anybody near Cork that can say the current seeing is bad, or am I losing my vision a lot quicker than I think. Recently acquired +1 reading glasses so wasn't overly worried about my eyes at 47. 

Yours worriedly

[PeterCPC]

I was out last night and the seeing was the worst I have ever experienced. Not that close to you but I think that its pretty general.

Peter

[scarp15]

I wouldn't worry, it is most likely bad seeing, was out fairly impulsively for a short period last night with my small refractor which cut through OK, I dont think the dob would have been up to it necessarily.

[Moonshane]

I agree. Been rubbish here too recently In Stockport

[John]

It has been pretty poor recently. A few decent moments now and then but you have to be patient for them.

Even mikeDnight is struggling to get more than some paltry details on Mars with his 3.9" frac:

 

 

[iPeace]

This side of the North Sea, late last night (early this morning) the breaks in the clouds left Jupiter, Luna, Mars and Saturn visible at the same time - great sight - but the view through a scope at higher power was like trying to observe through colourless jelly over a barbecue. Mars: orange blob. Cool, but still just an orange blob. Saturn: blob with blobby rings. Also very cool to get to see at all, but still... Also forty-something, my eyesight is very gradually dwindling as well, but these views are no cause for any extra concern.

[mikeDnight]

11 hours ago, Bart said:

Either the seeing has been poor recently or my eyesight, which has been questioned recently, is particularly bad. Out last night and shouldn't have bothered. The worst seeing I have ever experienced. A couple of recent nights haven't been great either. I'm beginning to worry......

anybody near Cork that can say the current seeing is bad, or am I losing my vision a lot quicker than I think. Recently acquired +1 reading glasses so wasn't overly worried about my eyes at 47. 

Yours worriedly

Don't worry you're not going blind, the seeing has been pants across the British isles for some time it seems. If you rack your scope out of focus you'll see rapid currents of air rushing over the planet's disk. No scope can cope with this and be expected to work at its optimum. On such nights you can only hope that moments of steady seeing will occur from time to time, and these may only last a few seconds at a time, so patience is essential. 

Mike ?

[cotterless45]

Blooming awful this morning, even with still air and frostio,

old Nick.

[niallk]

On 24/04/2016 at 06:04, Bart said:

Either the seeing has been poor recently or my eyesight, which has been questioned recently, is particularly bad. Out last night and shouldn't have bothered. The worst seeing I have ever experienced. A couple of recent nights haven't been great either. I'm beginning to worry......

anybody near Cork that can say the current seeing is bad, or am I losing my vision a lot quicker than I think. Recently acquired +1 reading glasses so wasn't overly worried about my eyes at 47. 

Yours worriedly

Hi Barry,

I was out on Saturday for a peek at the GRS because it was pretty central on Jupiter's disc at a reasonable time. I found the seeing much more wobbly than the last few times I was out.  I stayed solely on Jupiter for the bones of an hour, and only for the briefest moments did I start to see decent detail. I was twiddling at the focusser a lot given the variability of the seeing.  Detail was way down on previous recent sessions, but got a hint of turbulence trailing the GRS.

I have had a few recent sessions where seeing was pretty decent (by our local standard!), and I was picking up some lovely views of Jupiter - caught some white ovals and festoons. Again though, I was patiently waiting for those clearer moments, staying on Jupiter for a long time. Before that I wasn't out much this year - but things are beginning to get back to normal here at home, so hope to finally meet up some time soon However prior to the recent decent sessions on Jupiter, I was quite dismayed at the mushy views that had become the norm for a long time.

Also - I meant to say a huge thanks for the heads up on the ES20/100deg going 1/2 price from Bresser: I decided to take the plunge. It took me a few goes to get my eye placed right, but WOW - the fov!! I did see a little yellowing at the edge on the moon but I think it is to be expected, and not a problem with the unit I got. I haven't been able to get out on a moonless night with it, but can't wait to explore DSOs with it.  I did have some beautiful wide field views of Jupiter as a small detailed marble plus its moons all strung out in a line.

Thanks again for the heads up on that, and fingers crossed for more stable seeing while Jupiter is still well placed, but it's such a pity that Saturn is just so low while the rings are so open :/

I've found over the last few months that my eyes were blurry late at night - tired at the end of the day and finding that I can't focus on the telly, for example. I went to the optician a couple of weeks ago, and got my prescription updated - as I suspected from using my scope, I've developed a bit of astigmatism in my right eye which I use for observing. I'm not yet going after dioptrx, but a bit concerned about what changes in my eyes the coming years might bring...

All the best,

-Niall

Edited April 27, 2016 by niallk

[Bart]

No problem on the heads up Niall. I'll take a pint off one day in return? Glad you're liking it, nice eyepiece. 

The seeing has indeed been poor recently unfortunately. 

Hope to see you one of these days in the new club . Probably won't be many observing sessions with the summer approaching (at least we all hope so!) but there's talk of a bbq so at least a chance maybe for a few beers amongst the new gang, which can't be bad  

clear skies

Barry

 

[niallk]

2 hours ago, Bart said:

No problem on the heads up Niall. I'll take a pint off one day in return? Glad you're liking it, nice eyepiece. 

The seeing has indeed been poor recently unfortunately. 

Hope to see you one of these days in the new club . Probably won't be many observing sessions with the summer approaching (at least we all hope so!) but there's talk of a bbq so at least a chance maybe for a few beers amongst the new gang, which can't be bad  

clear skies

Barry

 

BBQ/few pints with the new club sounds great: I haven't been able to make any meetings, but hoping that going forward now I'll start being able to.

The ES20 is a monster! It's my first 2" EP, and first 100deg afov. It's enormous beside my Pan24 and two T6 Naglers.  I haven't bought and EP in years, so its an impressive addition.  Once I flipped up the eyecup I could get my eye 'in there' to be the right place and wow could see all the way to the field stop. I like!!! Dammit now I need a 2" O-III for the Veil Also when I swapped over to my 13T6, the paltry 82deg felt restrictive.  Oh no, this could turn out quite expensive in the long run...

I reckon that going by weight alone, I owe you at least 2 pints for the ES20  'Seeing' could get even more blurry round these here parts! 

Edited April 27, 2016 by niallk

[Special K]

Looks like the Jetstream is right overhead, so best to keep an eye on this type of resource:

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=jetstream;sess=

[Stu]

Yep, seeing has been pretty pants of late ?

[Bart]

52 minutes ago, niallk said:

 

I reckon that going by weight alone, I owe you at least 2 pints for the ES20  'Seeing' could get even more blurry round these here parts! 

Ha. Yeah, looking forward to seeing both Jupiters with the 8 moons?