JANUARY 7TH - THE WORST SEEING EVER?

[paulastro]

I was out from 5.15 pm to 7.15 pm to observe the Moon with Aristarchus well placed near the terminator, and also to grab a picture of the Moon to keep my run going if possible - 11 days from December 28th to today.   I sort of managed it, after a fashion.

It was so windy I put my SW 80ED on the Ercole mount in the observatory, it was far to rough to observe using the AZ5 in the open.  The seeing was truly awful, I can well believe that the Gulf Stream was overhead, going by at 200 mph according to a weather forecast I heard yesterday.  So bad I usually wouldn't have bothered continuing, but I wanted to continue my sequence of pics another night if I could.  The cloud was rushing by at an astonishing rate and most of the time it was like this:

It was like trying to observe under water, and muddy water at that.  I must admit though I do like a challenge, and  the best frame I managed was taken at 6.29 pm with the Olympus E-M5 Mk11, 1/500 sec at 400 asa.  If you think it's bad - you should have seen the nearly 300 other frames I took and discarded - yes, seriously!  The crop is only to show how well Aristarchus was placed, I strongly suggest you don't try to make it any bigger lol.

 

 

 

 

 

I spent about 40 minutes at the end on visual observing with my binoviewer and Orthos.  The Aristarchus complex was superbly placed and I enjoyed the session very much despite the conditions.  If the seeing had cooperated of course the views could have been so much better, still - much better than anything else I could have been doing 🌔.

 

[Altocumulus]

I like the first one - has an eerie quality to it....

[geeklee]

Good write up again @paulastro.  I had visions of the AZ5 being tightly held in the wind when I started the thread.  I had a brief couple of chances to look up (just with the eye!) yesterday evening and the clouds really were moving fast (noticeably when looking at the moon anyway)

Good luck with run of photos 😀

[paulastro]

Lee, many thanks for your comments.  I sort of continued the run tonight to make it  twelve in a row.  In fact I wasn't going to post todays effort  (it really is that bad!)  but just for you I'll post it below - in the hope that many lunar imagers may miss it as it's in the wrong place 🤣.  It was taken at 5.02 pm this afternoon - with the usual equipment including the AZ5.  The problem wasn't wind, but the fact the Moon was always through a cloud layer when it peeped out, prior to the rain moving in which it now has.  In fact it's so bad I'm not sure I should really count it as continuing my run - but I'm going to anyway!  If you look closely around the top left you can actually see one or two craters honest!!

[geeklee]

11 hours ago, paulastro said:

Lee, many thanks for your comments.  I sort of continued the run tonight to make it  twelve in a row.  In fact I wasn't going to post todays effort  (it really is that bad!)  but just for you I'll post it below - in the hope that many lunar imagers may miss it as it's in the wrong place 🤣.  It was taken at 5.02 pm this afternoon - with the usual equipment including the AZ5.  The problem wasn't wind, but the fact the Moon was always through a cloud layer when it peeped out, prior to the rain moving in which it now has.  In fact it's so bad I'm not sure I should really count it as continuing my run - but I'm going to anyway!  If you look closely around the top left you can actually see one or two craters honest!!

😁😁 Amazingly that top/bottom left edge has some decent definition!  Probably not one you'll use to show off anything though 🤣

[paulastro]

I certainly won't be entering it in any of the SGL photo competitions Luke, unless there's a booby prize of course 🌝

[Mr Spock]

The jetstream is in the the wrong place right now. Those upper atmosphere high speed winds are going to turn everything to mush.

Here's the weekend forecast... 

[paulastro]

That looks like two pelicans standing bill to bill 😃.

[geeklee]

3 minutes ago, paulastro said:

That looks like two pelicans standing bill to bill 😃.

I can't un-see that now 😁

[The Admiral]

On 08/01/2020 at 00:46, paulastro said:

The seeing was truly awful, I can well believe that the Gulf Stream was overhead, going by at 200 mph according to a weather forecast I heard yesterday.

Yes, and this is from that day!

More like a woodpecker flying across the Atlantic here!

Ian

Edited January 9, 2020 by The Admiral

[Pete Presland]

Pretty good end result,  considering the conditions.

[paulastro]

19 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

Pretty good end result,  considering the conditions.

Thanks Pete, you are very kind.

[Pete Presland]

On 10/01/2020 at 16:39, paulastro said:

Thanks Pete, you are very kind.

The forecast doesn't look any better for the coming week. Not managed a single proper session yet, with the weather and family commitments.

[paulastro]

No not looking good.  No chance  of observing today so my run will end.  Not complaining though.  I'm delighted it lasted until full Moon 😀.