August is proving to be an awful month for observational astronomy. While it seems clear, its been warm and very humid so transparency has been particularly bad. With the Moon up again, the light scatter, renders most things except Open Clusters, either invisible, or so poor that it’s not even worth recording.Becoming really discouraged and I find myself wishing Winter was back. There maybe fewer clear nights, but at least it is less humid. Not…
Observing Session: 16, August
Tonight was one of those Keyhole Astronomy sessions, where you observe through the gaps in between slowly moving banks of cloud. While this wasn’t a problem, the 77% illuminated Moon was! I’m still struggling to complete the remaining items in Sagittarius (M69 and M70) as these are all pretty much on the horizon when I’m able to observe them. There was a little low murk above the horizon, but this seemed magnified by the effects…
Observing Session: 26, July
Moon is up and rising in the East 77% Illumination. Conditions are quite awful. High and not so thin cloud is abundant but, there are patches through which I can observe – I think it’s called ‘Keyhole Astronomy’. Still trying to observe last few Sagittarius objects but the cloud patches weren’t playing ball for anything below 30 degrees above the horizon and other Messier objects still to be ticked off at higher declinations, were…
Observing Session: 17, July
Things this evening were looking a little dodgy, but if I can see the Milky Way through the high thin murk, then I figured it was probably just worth opening up. The Moon is 70% illuminated, but slowly setting. Session Data Date: 17/07/2013Time: 22:11 – 00:23 UTTemp: 14.7c, Air Pressure: 1019Mb, Humidity: 99%, Dew point: 14.5c, Wind Speed: 4.0 MPH . Seeing: I Perfectly Stable, Transparency: Mostly Clear. M24 Can’t really make this out from the…
Observing Session: 11, July
While July is mostly warm and makes for some balmy nights in which to observe, the big downside is that it doesn’t get dark until around 11:30pm. We’ve had a huge high pressure area over us for the last 10 days, but despite a lot of clear nights, I’ve been too pooped to stay up till that late hour and do a couple of hours at the scope. However, last Thursday, I was sufficiently…
Observing Session: 8, June
Despite all the wonderful weather of the last week, most nights have not been good for astronomy. The cloud rolling in after the Sun goes down, being the usual culprit. Tonight was different. Perfect conditions. No wind, excellent transparency and very stable seeing.At this time of year, bagging those objects in Sagittarius is at the very top of of my list. The only problem is that it’s rising behind four trees. Apart from a…