It was fantastic! George and I were imaging all night and often saw
finished images with stars at or below 2 arc-seconds! that is at
least twice as good as we usually get. It's like having a CCD that
suddenly has 4 times as many pixels!

Right now, the jet stream is still pretty much stalled overhead.
Tonight has a shot to be perhaps nearly as good or if we are living
right, just as good as last night. Plus, the moon will rise a little
later.

Our friends at ASSNE report splitting doubles last night that left
their jaws open.

Go grab your scopes!

-P

On Jul 10, 2009, at 12:04 PM, FIS85@... wrote:

> I finally made it out and got some viewing in. I have to say it was
> fantastic for a change. No turbulence and clarity was unbelievable.
> Thanks for the heads up!
>
> Forrest
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Howell <paul@...>
> To: southern_maine_astronomers@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wed, Jul 8, 2009 4:02 pm
> Subject: [southern_maine_astronomers] Unusual seeing
>
>
> Hi Everyone -
>
>
>
> Well we certainly have paid a price for the stubbornly (!) persistent
> low-pressure system that has made its way (at a walking pace) from
> Ontario to us over the past month. However, there is a silver lining.
>
>
>
>
> Atmospheric seeing (the wiggling of starlight that messes up detailed
> views of things) correlates very well with the jetstream.
> Typically, we
> in Maine are more or less directly beneath the jetstream and we have
> the seeing to prove it. Premier places like Arizona, southern Florida,
> and Hawaii typically are well away from the jetstream.
>
>
>
>
> Starting tomorrow night, we get a rare treat. The dissipating low
> pressure system will move off into the gulf of Maine (taking its
> clouds
> with it) and block the jetstream for a day or two. For that
> period, we
> stand to get Arizona, or even sea-level Hawaii-esque seeing. I have
> attached two jetstream forecasts, one for the start of tomorrow night
> (0h UT, 7/10) and one for Friday (0h UT, 7/11).
>
>
>
>
> If you have been itchin
> g to get that great view of Saturn in the early
> evening or Jupiter later on, this might be a good time. Of, if you are
> an imager, perhaps now would be a good time to try imaging that small
> planetary nebula at long FL!
>
>
>
>
> -Paul
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thursday evening:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Friday evening:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>