Ugh...this weather

So, it was looking pretty clear this past night and I set up as usual.   I took a 45 min break so the Lymax cooler could do its thing on the SCT.   When I stepped back outside it was 90% cloudy.  Jupiter was still visible but it was the old game of bright/dark as clouds moved through the view.   I waited a couple of hours -- checking every 20 to 30 minutes -- and caught a 10 min break in the clouds around 2 am.   I did some more waiting and I was ready to pack up at 4:30, but noticed Jupiter was visible through the clouds.  Checked the view on Sharpcap and I witnessed the elusive excellent seeing!   The problem was that clouds were racing across the planet so I had to play the awful game of raising and lowering the gain in Sharpcap so the histogram could stay around 70%.   It was painful to see all these great details in the equatorial bands be obscured by over and underexposure -- plus there was a thermal effect that caused an unusual amount of waviness.   But the underlying image was incredibly detailed.  I think I got maybe 12 minutes of Jupiter footage before the clouds thickened and erased my dreams of an excellent image.

Mostly Cloudy Forecast

 

Hm...  I guess I could have been imaging.  When the consensus is wrong (everyone predicting mostly cloudy to cloudy including a good chance for rain), I get particularly annoyed.

Wasting my time under cloudy skies ?

 

The only reason I'm trying to get data on Jupiter in these lousy conditions is because the seeing is above average.   Last night I battled and got some good Jupiter data.  But I never really had more than a 15 min window before it clouded up.  Tonight, I'm trying again.   If you're really trying to get good data on the planets during monsoon, I think you have to just go out and setup when Astrospheric and the Clear Sky Chart both forecast excellent seeing.

Back from the Dead?

Currently imaging Jupiter with the C11, TV 2x Barlow, ZWO ADC, QHY 462C.   The seeing was sorta mediocre at 1 am.   It's better.  On my current run starting at 2:45-ish am, I removed the optical window on the camera, then placed the QHY UV/IR filter at the threaded end of the TV barlow.   Since there will be a little less glass, I wonder if the image will be sharper?

[Updated:  It may be coincidence, but it appeared there was slightly more surface detail on the video footage taken WITHOUT the optical window.  I'm using the supplied QHY UV/IR blocking filter, but I'm going to try the Chroma luminance tonight.   I think I'm on to something here...]