Here we are at 11:35 pm on Oct 1 (Thursday night):
Clear Sky Clock seems to say that between 1 and 3, then 7 am onward it's going to be excellent.
Astrospheric predicts above average from now to sunrise.
Someone at Meteoblue finally updated their seeing numbers. Which seem to suggest average seeing.
And the Goodtostargaze folks seem to generally corroborate Meteoblue.
I just spent about 45 minutes outside examining Mars and it's definitely mediocre to average. So at least right now, Clear Sky Clock and Astrospheric are just plain wrong. I think the winner here is Goodtostargaze.
I'll update things again around 2 am, but from what I saw a little while ago, it's not looking great.
(Update: So, I was out until 3:30 am and I saw some moments of improvement but generally, it was average. From 2:00 to 3:00 am, I had brief moments of (10 seconds to 2 minutes?) of excellent seeing interspersed with average seeing, but I had a hard time tracking focus. My red focus would sometimes "wander" far away from what it should be and I thought my focus was slipping, but then 5 minutes later, it would be exactly where it should be. Focus shift has been a problem - primarily because the Zhumell focuser (probably made by GSO) does slip when pointing near vertical. I've tightened allen bolts but sometimes, it just slips (meaning it won't move "up" though I'm turning the focus knobs). A 3 inch FT would not have this problem -- especially with the puny 3 lb load I have on it. I keep thinking an electric focus would help (it would), but I worry about creating a "chain of cheapness" which will equal more disappointment.)
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