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strongmanmike2002 | all galleries >> Observatory and Equipment >> "Eagleview" - The Highest Observatory in Australia > Excellent seeing conditions
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Excellent seeing conditions

A heavenly view from 1.5km up and above 1/4 of the Earth's atmosphere

Humans can breath without assistance up to about 6km above the earths surface, so to put this in perspective, Eagleview is therefore above about one quarter of this
layer, or one quarter of Earths breathable atmosphere! Ok, so what does this mean for astronomical observations?..well, basically, having to peer up through less
atmosphere above and particularly less of the densest lower air layers, means the views from Eagleview are somewhat sharper, steadier and clearer than those from
lower altitudes and this is quantitatively measurable. Prevailing conditions see 1.4" - 2.0" seeing on a regular basis, with the best conditions producing FWHM measurements
as low as 1.2" placing it on par with Siding Spring, the location of Australia's premier professional Observatory and allows high resolution image captures like this
with just a 12" Fast Newtonian:

https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/173855182/original and this https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/173190480/original

Here is a paper that explores improvement in seeing with altitude:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3dc03306-5a36-3ba2-9e13-3077701589ae?seq=2

See more images taken from Eagleview Observatory here:

https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/images_from_eagleview_observatory


other sizes: small medium large original auto
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