Getting Started

Who knows where this sort of activity may end - is it some sort of slippery slope? All experiments can have a random outcome - sometimes serendipitous, although mostly uninteresting and boring - not necessarily failure just boring. So here's hoping for some interesting serendipitous random outcomes!

Just looking through my observing log the last night I ran up the scope was the 2nd September 2008. Since then most evenings have not been worth it - mostly cloudy, or I attended a commitment such as a Committee Meeting for something - most likely astronomical related. Fortunately Christmas suspends most of these commitments and I get an opportunity to utilise a clear night.

The first topic off the rank is - the weather. I'm sure most people talk about the weather, for an astronomer it's about the clouds. Earlier this year at the Sydney City Skywatchers we listened to a great talk by Julie Evans of The Bureau of Meterolgy. She gave us lots of ideas of how to plan for the weather and told us about The Cloud Appreciation Society.

So far to-night looks like it might be clear - for a change - still about 5 hours to go to twilight. The Sydney MTSAT-1R VIS is showing some scattered cloud coming from the West. The South-East Australia shot shows about a 500Km gap. My guess is it will be line-ball, maybe clear in the early to late morning. It's been a hot humid day so the seeing will be shocking.