Any-one got any clear skies (UK) Sunday 6th?

[carastro]

A few cracks between the clouds but not enough to attempt any astro.

Carole 

[smr]

Clear skies earlier with just one or two clouds, now clouded over again. 

I thought how nice it would be to get some imaging done over Christmas, hoping there would be a couple of clear nights at least.  There hasn't been one. It's been basically overcast for two - three weeks! 

Typically I bet the skies will clear as the full moon comes back.

[don4l]

54 minutes ago, carastro said:

A few cracks between the clouds but not enough to attempt any astro.

Carole 

 

If the cracks look like they are getting bigger, then get prepared.

It's just cleared up here in the last 45 minutes.  You might have it in an hour or so.  The transparency looked dreadful at first, but it's fine now. 

I bet that as soon as I click the submit button, the clouds will roll back in!

 

Don

-- 

EDIT  Well that didn't last long!

 

[kippford]

Beautiful clear skies here all night. Far too windy though.

The wind has started to die down now , just as I am off to bed.

[mcrowle]

The cloud thinned unexpectedly earlier this evening, but drizzle started at the same time!  The cloud is thicker now, and it's still drizzling.

I didn't try anything tonight, and now the forecast for the next two nights is mixed. I'll try some imaging/observing if I can, as it's all good practise (especially as I still guide manually).

Regards, Mike.

[geoflewis]

Well I can see stars, but also still lots of cloud, plus it's really windy with strong gusts that would make imaging impossible. I might open the obs and take a look at M42 with the C14, as its been nearly a month since I had the opportunity to do any astro....

[JamesF]

It is genuinely dark here tonight.  Which is not to say that the sky is clear at all.  In fact when the sky is clear there's always some light.  Tonight the cloud is so thick that all light sources are blocked out, even the light domes of the larger towns to the north east.  Quite literally I could not see my hand in front of my face.

James

[carastro]

Thanks Guys, I was just about to go to bed at 11.30 and for the hell of it looked out of the window, and lo and behold, the forecasters got it wrong again, it was clear.  ?

So been out there for a while now.  As you say it is windy even with the clam shell POD, and took me a while to find my target, which then disappeared behind the trees after half an hour.  Now on 2nd target, but this is more of a tester of my kit than anything serious since the LP is really bad here.  

Carole 

 

[geoflewis]

2 hours ago, geoflewis said:

Well I can see stars, but also still lots of cloud, plus it's really windy with strong gusts that would make imaging impossible. I might open the obs and take a look at M42 with the C14, as its been nearly a month since I had the opportunity to do any astro....

Well that was much better session than I'd expected, as the sky really cleared out and the wind wasn't too bad sheltered in the obs; in fact I probably could have done some imaging, though both my current intended targets of M45 and the Witches Head were already heading west towards local LP and trees and I hadn't prepared for any alternatives.

Still I always enjoy a bit of visual and M42 in a fully dark sky never disappoints. I took a few sky quality readings with my iPhone DSM app, which gave readings in the low to mid 21 SQM (best of 21.64, worst 21.21, so Bortle 3 to 4 I think). I used the C14 with my 2" ES68/40, an eyepiece that I'm really loving with the C14, not least because it gets just about all of M42 in the FOV. M42 looked gorgeous, so much structure revealed in the nebulousity and the 4 main trapezium stars pinpoint sharp. I don't know my way around well enough to know where to look for e and f, so can't say whether I saw those or not - I really must use a star chart and try for those one night. As well as M42 I hopped around a bunch of Messier galaxies in Ursa Major and Leo, ticking off both Leo triplets and some other NGCs. M81 and M82 both looked great and the main spiral of M51 and it's companion clearly seen with direct vision. Back to M42 to complete the session having unsuccessfully tried the Flame and HH, without any filters.

Off to bed now, satisfied that I finally did some astronomy after about a month of nothing....

Cheers, Geof

[carastro]

Quote

readings in the low to mid 21 SQM (best of 21.64, worst 21.21, so Bortle 3 to 4 I think).

Lucky thing, it's around 17.45 here - Bortle 8.  ??

[carastro]

@geoflewis

You like the fact that my skies are rubbish??

[geoflewis]

2 minutes ago, carastro said:

Lucky thing, it's around 17.45 here - Bortle 8.  ??

Yep, it's nights like this that justify the relocation to Norfolk neatly 3 years ago - unfortunately they are a lot rarer than I expected. My childhood memories of Norfolk skies 55-60 years ago are night after night of crystal clear, star studded skies...

Good to see you got some imaging done, I was wondering whether that's what should have been doing, but I had fun anyway ?.

[geoflewis]

5 minutes ago, carastro said:

@geoflewis

You like the fact that my skies are rubbish??

Oops, not my intention at all. I liked that you liked my good skies tonight - sorry, didn't mean to rub it in ?

[carastro]

Lol

[coatesg]

We'll, I collimated, focused (and a quick test of the newly installed mirrored edge mask on Arcturus), but that was it. Lots of gaps followed by chunks of cloud, and v poor transparency, so I gave up... Looks OK for tonight on CO though...  ?

[smr]

Starting to lose faith in the clear outside app. Apparantly 9 and 6 percent cloud cover for 8pm and 9pm respectively, yet it's thick blankets of cloud and more like 90 percent. 

[Hallingskies]

18 minutes ago, smr said:

Starting to lose faith in the clear outside app. Apparantly 9 and 6 percent cloud cover for 8pm and 9pm respectively, yet it's thick blankets of cloud and more like 90 percent. 

Clear Outside is only as good as the feed forecasts.  And all the forecasts have been absolute pants of late, just like the weather they are failing to predict...