Worst seeing I have ever had tonight?

[F15Rules]

I was so anticipating a good session tonight. Cold and clear forecast here in the Lincs Wolds, and looked very promising..that was at 7 20pm.

It's now almost 9pm and I'm about to admit defeat. Although the sky is clear and looks fairly transparent to the naked eye and in the finder, it's just a defocused mess in the scope, even at 40x.

I tried the moon, like a jelly at the edges, Albireo, poor, Deneb and Delta Cygni all poor. 

I waited for Orion to get up a bit but no joy there either. In my FS128 I could barely resolve the 4 Trapezium stars, and then only as vague blobs, not the scintillating points I'm used to seeing.

I was so worried there was something wrong with the scope that I got the Vixen 4" F10 achromat out, and it was just the same.

So I have to just write off tonight sadly, but hopefully it's just turmoil in the sky and atmosphere rather than any scope faults.

It's sad, as our forecast for next week is end to end cloud..

Has anyone else who's out tonight seen lousy seeing? I really don't recall anything this poor, at any time! 

Dave

 

 

[Saganite]

Hi Dave ,

You are not alone. I had high hopes for tonight and my f14 114mm refractor, but I wasted little time, it was just bad.

[johninderby]

Break in the clouds and got the ScopeYech 80 f/15 out. Great seeing and the moon was razor sharp and steady. Clouds moved in again so came back inside then a few minutes later clear again. 

[Franklin]

Same here. Had the FS-78 out next to the A80M for a crown & flint v fluorite comparison. Venus, Jupiter and Luna, like looking through boiling water. Some terminator  detail in brief moments but not good at all. I think the recent cold weather has met some warmer air and it's all just a mess at the moment.😪

[Pixies]

 

[John]

It was mediocre here earlier. Still clearish though so I'll give it another try and see if things have improved. The transparency is not good so if the seeing is still poor as well that doesn't leave a lot of options

 

 

[Pixies]

Crystal-clear here. First proper frost, too. Scope just out cooling.

The forecast is for clouds from midnight, just when the moon sets. Auriga clusters for me tonight!

[F15Rules]

9 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Crystal-clear here. First proper frost, too. Scope just out cooling.

The forecast is for clouds from midnight, just when the moon sets. Auriga clusters for me tonight!

It looked pretty clear here too..the transparency wasn't the problem, it was the seeing that was awful..

I hope you find the seeing working for you later👍

Dave

[Pixies]

Just now, F15Rules said:

It looked pretty clear here too..the transparency wasn't the problem, it was the seeing that was awful..

I hope you find the seeing working for you later👍

Dave

It'll probably be not-great. That's why I thought clusters night be the best target, if fuzzies and tight stars are out.

[GordonD]

Seeing was pretty poor here too - your description of the trapezium is about right. Clear though, so spent some time on clusters in Auriga and Taurus at fairly low power.

The good point was I managed to spot C/2019 L3 ( ATLAS ) in Lynx - so a result!

Where do you find the jet stream map?

Edited December 10, 2021 by GordonD

[John]

Seeing still not good here. Theta Aurigae is split at 225x by the 100mm refractor but not in the usual clinical way. Defocussed star disks show plenty of disturbance even though the scope is entirely cooled.

Bands of cloud now also putting in an appearance. I'll give it a bit longer but it's certainly not going to be a classic night 

Obviously Derby is the place to be this evening

 

[Chris]

Transparency looks good in Suffolk tonight, I'm not far from the most easterly point of East Anglia so I guess I'm right on the edge of that horrid looking Jetstream. Taking some 3 minute subs on the California Nebula with the StellaMira 90 EDT and they look magic on the screen of the Fuji XT1 at least. We'll see how things are when they appear larger on the PC! 

[Pixies]

14 minutes ago, GordonD said:

Where do you find the jet stream map?

https://www.netweather.tv/charts-and-data/jetstream

[GordonD]

Great - Thank you!

[wookie1965]

🏊🏊🏊🏊🏊🏊🏊🏊🏊🏊

[Astro Noodles]

Very wobbly here tonight. High humidity too, so transparency won't be that good.

[JeremyS]

Seeing not brilliant here. But I did have rain from a clear sky, which is always very annoying. But not as annoying as snow from a clear sky I had once.

I did manage 2 hours 

Edited December 10, 2021 by JeremyS

[John]

24 minutes ago, GordonD said:

The good point was I managed to spot C/2019 L3 ( ATLAS ) in Lynx - so a result!

 

Thanks for the reminder - I've just managed to pick that comet up with my 100mm refractor. Quite hard work given the conditions tonight !

The Orion part of the sky looks a bit better than other areas so there is hope there, once it has risen a little higher.

 

[Kimboman]

Hi I went out early at 16.50 and had already set up my skywatcher 127the moon was really sharp in my 32mm and 25mm eyepieces.

Jupiter was ok but not good soon whispy clouds  came over but through the gaps the moon was still ok, but soon the seeing became poor so that was a brief but enjoyable session

[HollyHound]

Ah, this explains a lot… I was out testing my FS-60Q (well an extended FS-60CB) and taking the opportunity to spend some time on the moon and Jupiter.

Both were indeed quite “wobbly”… good to get out and do an hour observing, not the best, and seems I wasn’t alone 😬

Edited December 10, 2021 by HollyHound

[John]

I've given up and bought the scope in now.

There were some stars still showing but the seeing was poor so even the easy doubles are not going to look as good as they can and DSO's will be either invisible or pale shadows of how they can and should look because of the limited transparency and fast moving cloud bands.

There will be other nights !

 

[Dark Vader]

Spent a couple of hours introducing a friend to some targets in the 200P. Jupiter just showing 2 belts in pretty poor seeing, M45 nice and clear but more of it visible in the RACI. M31 and M110 faint smudges. Finished with the moon, took a few shots handheld on the mobile...processed in Snapseed.

[Stu]

Interesting that Derby seems the only place in the country with great seeing!

I put the Tak FC76DC out when I saw that it was clear, somewhat unexpectedly. I checked out Venus first of all, and whilst it showed a nice crescent, it was pretty wobbly as was Saturn. Jupiter looked a little better but still not great.

The Moon was probably the best target of the night, wobbly still but at moderate power it was pleasant enough.

The trapezium did split into its four components although was a shadow of its normal glory. Finally I did split the Double Double but again, it was pretty mushy and indistinct.

On a positive note, the scope and mount worked very well together, a very simple one handed lift to put it out, whilst carrying my eyepiece case too. It got me out observing tonight when nothing else would have done.

[johninderby]

Strange that but the moon was very stable with not any wobble at all during the brief spell between clouds. 🤔

[SuburbanMak]

Seeing in Winchester was poor earlier along with not-great transparency. Both Improved later for a time, steadying somewhat and taking up to 100x - much beyond that was just compounding the wobble. Binned my list of target Messiers early & had an enjoyable evening nevertheless, mostly bimbling around Orion.  


 

Edited December 11, 2021 by SuburbanMak