Sticky Clouds

Sticky Clouds
These clouds can't make up their minds to become sky clouds or land clouds. At the present time, they seem to have chosen both states.

Today is Thursday, May 26th, 2022 - just one day before the Occultation of Venus  by the Moon. I hoped we might have sky clearing but no chance of that according to the weather man. Tomorrow looks like 90% chance of rain. Maybe we'll have some good luck with sucker holes in the clouds if the rain stops momentarily. Currently it's raining but we had the sun shine through a sucker hole for about 2 minutes. I've noticed a large amount of haze obscuring and dimming the views through these holes.

https://otisastro.blogspot.com/2022/05/whats-behind-clouds-moon-venus.html

https://otisastro.blogspot.com/2022/04/sucker-holes-in-clouds.html

Urban Heat Island

Urban Heat Island

Changes Sky Seeing Conditions

Urban Heat Island Defined
An urban heat island occurs in cities when the natural landscape is replaced by pavement, buildings, and other surfaces that absorb and retain heat. As a result, the materials create a hotter environment than rural areas. Temperatures can range from one to three degrees hotter during the day, and from three to seven degrees hotter at night! This “heat island effect” leads to increased energy costs, air pollution levels, and heat-related illnesses.

Los Angeles USA

Due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, Los Angeles air temperatures can be up to 19°F hotter in urban areas compared to surrounding communities. This is because urban areas typically have more roofs and paved surfaces that absorb and radiate solar energy as heat instead of reflect light, coupled with a lack of trees and green spaces to cool the city down. Los Angeles currently experiences the highest UHI effect in California, which can be linked to the urban composition of the city.

Taipei Taiwan

In Taipei, urban island heat is the product many sources inclusive of air pollution, smog, smoke, particulate matter content in the air, humidity level, black paved streets, concrete sidewalks, air conditioners running day and night, homes with metal roofs, concrete and bricks instead of trees and grass, skyscrapers built with concrete, granite, marble, and tiles, rock, hot lights, cars and trucks, trains, buses, subway systems, construction equipment, direct sunlight without shade, bridges, lack of airflow, etc. and the retention of heat by other means.

Quick Fix to Improve Sky Seeing Conditions

by Minimizing the Urban Heat Island

* Make use of green plants and grass for landscape

* Observe before the sun rises when things cool down

* Erect fabric reflective silvered or white shades & awnings

* Maximize the daytime albedo

* Keep astro equipment indoors during the hottest times

* Hose down paved surfaces with water for cooling evaporation

* Remove mass objects that store thermal energy such as rocks

* Observe times of less humidity

* Monitor periods of less air pollution

* Be aware of atmospheric thermal conditions

* Observe periods before and after a storm front

* Utilize conditions after a rainstorm

* Make effective use of a light breeze or wind

Taipei Sunset

Taipei Sunset in Taiwan this Evening

While waiting for the clouds to clear for telescopic astronomical imaging of deep sky objects, this dramatic and unusual sky vista appeared. Shot with a handheld iPhone X camera set on automatic exposure, Sunday September 13th, 2020, showing true sunset colors. Looking like paintings, the photos capture the incredible variety of cloud systems at one time. No rain or storm today but there was a beautiful rainbow yesterday, shown below.

Messier & Caldwell Planetary Nebula

Messier & Caldwell Planetary Nebula

Ultra Clear Sky

Tonight:
Ultra Clear Sky

A typhoon has passed nearby and pushed in ultra clean ocean air into the city, eradicating air pollution and smog. 

The air transparency is so clear, individual trees are seen on the distant mountains. This does not happen very often and is a sign that tonight will have exceptionally clear skies for telescope observing. The fast moving clouds are quickly passing overhead and the evening will start to clear. The night will be excellent to continue conducting tests with the Unistellar eVscope. The setting waxing crescent Moon in Virgo is only illuminated 25% and will not interfere with deep sky observations. The Celestron Sky Portal sky chart shows the Moon position at 6:25 pm.

Planet positioning for Evscope

Planet Positioning for eVscope
Deep Sky Week Soon Arriving

For this period in time, between the am and pm sky, it's possible to image all the planets. This includes Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Mars in the am sky and Neptune, Saturn and Jupiter in the pm sky. The eVscope is perfect for this planet marathon in one night using its GOTO feature. Given the current levels of intermittent haze, Pluto may be a more challenging object to capture. The planets Jupiter and Saturn are rapidly moving away from the available sky on the balcony so we hope the eVscope arrives in time to do imaging of these favorable conditions. According to contrary belief, the Unistellar scope will capture rings of Saturn, phase of Venus, color of Uranus and Neptune, and multiple belts encircling Jupiter. There is also a whole gamut of moons to capture as well. As the Moon is becoming a dimmer and dimmer thin crescent moving into New Moon phase, this coming week will be ideal for deep sky imaging.

The Sky Metamorphosis

The Night Sky Metamorphosis Friday August 14, 2020

THE SKY JUST BECAME BETTER
Isn't the sky supposed to become worse when you order a new telescope? I've monitored the sky every night and at 4:30 am the following was visible in a very clear sky: Venus, Moon, 16 stars, Orion Nebula and the sky was just beginning to brighten. An hour earlier, Mars was additionally visible. This means the Bortle 10 skies have improved, changing temporarily to Bortle 8 and represents the least light pollution (as bad as it is) seen in a very long time from this balcony location. This is a good weather pattern, with rain storms in the daytime and the sky clearing at night - just what the doctor ordered. If it keeps up, this will be the time to gather up a lot of very good deep sky imaging with the new telescope to test its ability to shoot through light pollution as claimed.