Wildfire smoke

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Paul D
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Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2004 2:13 pm

Wildfire smoke

Unread post by Paul D »

Last night I had plans to go out and observe. Clear sky clock looked good and my scope was out cooling since afternoon. At about 9:00 I went out and the sky was clear but very murky, I couldn't see Saturn without using averted vision. I thought this was strange. Then I noticed that the whole sky had a hazy appearance to it and light was being reflected off of something up in the atmosphere. After packing it up and coming in looking at the weather it said it was clear. Then in the corner of my weather site it said wildfire smoke has reached the east coast. So I dug a bit deeper and this is what I found.

Imageaerosols-suomi-0914 by kyphoron, on Flickr

According to the information on the map and the fire website this will continue to get worse over the course of the next two weeks and possibly longer if the jet stream continues is current trend. Looks like poor observing for the next few weeks at least.
Paul...

16" f/5 Night Sky Truss (Midnight Mistress)
10" f/5 Home built Dob with Parks mirror.
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Celestron Skymaster Binos 25-125x80
Meade Travelview Binos 10x50

See that 16" in the sleek black dress? She is all mine. :)
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NGC7000
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Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:51 pm

Re: Wildfire smoke

Unread post by NGC7000 »

Duh. I went out and looked and experienced the same reaction. However, unlike you, I failed to put two and two together, even after the constant reporting on the news.Thanks for the, uh, clarification. :lol:

Great map, too!

Tom
Tom H
"Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence." - Louis Pasteur
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Pete
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Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2003 9:03 pm

Re: Wildfire smoke

Unread post by Pete »

Thanks for the heads-up Paul. I too was stymied by last night's lack of transparency. Never considered the distant fires.

Putting tonight's observing plans on hold.

This is the way the world ends?
Pete P.
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Paul D
Equipment Manager
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Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2004 2:13 pm

Re: Wildfire smoke

Unread post by Paul D »

This really shows how much smoke is up there. This is a current satellite map of New England. No clouds over RI, but at zenith there is a hazy blue sky. No clouds or fog.
ImageNEmap by kyphoron, on Flickr

This is a photo I took at the same time as the satellite image I posted. I can view the sun directly naked eye. Its filtered enough through the smoke to do so.
Image20200915_075436 by kyphoron, on Flickr
Paul...

16" f/5 Night Sky Truss (Midnight Mistress)
10" f/5 Home built Dob with Parks mirror.
Pre-Meade PST
Celestron Skymaster Binos 25-125x80
Meade Travelview Binos 10x50

See that 16" in the sleek black dress? She is all mine. :)
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