Sky transparency — night of 30–31 August 2026

Cloud arrived at 22:48 — detected by the all-sky camera, independent of N.I.N.A. Before it the sky ran at index 100 (IQR 89–105); after it 29 (IQR 3–55). 31 of 33 light frames landed before the cloud. Guiding ran at 0.76″ RMS before the cloud and 1.13″ after; the worst minute was 2.09″ at 19:44.

Index before 22:48
100 · IQR 89–105
Index after 22:48
29 · IQR 3–55
Cloud onset (all-sky)
22:48 · independent
Errors after onset
0 of 0 · solve + PHD2
Guide RMS
0.76″ · RA 0.46 · Dec 0.61

Normalised transparency index, by filter

100 = that target and filter's own clear‑sky median (this night's own pre-cloud median). Shaded columns are autofocus runs; the first target is named at the top left and dashed vertical rules mark each target change; ticks along the base are errors.

H α O III S II ▲ Plate solve failed ◆ PHD2 error
05010015020019:0020:0021:0022:0023:00% of clear-sky medianclear-sky baselineIC 4628→ IC 4628→ IC 4628→ IC 4628HOS

All‑sky background brightness

Mean luminance of the upper sky per all‑sky still — independent of anything N.I.N.A. recorded. The camera auto‑exposes, so this is an instrumental number, not photometry.

Roof shut 22:58–23:26. The all-sky camera is inside the observatory, so those 81 stills measured the roof, not the sky, and are left out of this chart and the cloud detection.

02040608019:0020:0021:0022:0023:00Mean sky luminance (0–255)all-sky

PHD2 guiding

RMS tracking error per minute from the PHD2 guide log, taken about zero rather than about each minute's mean, so slow drift counts as error. 1781 guide frames over 3.1 h of guiding in 9 sessions; the gaps are slews, dither settles and autofocus runs, when PHD2 was not guiding. PHD2 discarded 97 further frames — usually a lost star. The worst minute (2.09″ at 19:44) is clamped at the top of the plot.

RA RMS Dec RMS ◆ PHD2 error
0.00.30.60.91.219:0020:0021:0022:0023:00RMS guide error (arcsec)night RMS 0.76″RADec

All‑sky frames at the key moments

Times come from the still filenames, so they line up with the charts exactly.

All-sky at 19:13
19:13 · start of night
All-sky at 22:48
22:48 · cloud onset
All-sky at 22:49
22:49 · peak brightness 75.1
All-sky at 23:26
23:26 · end of night

Clear‑sky reference medians

The divisors behind the index — median detected stars per light sub before 22:48.

TargetFilterMedian starsFramesSource
IC 4628H35612tonight, clear frames
IC 4628O73511tonight, clear frames
IC 4628S9758tonight, clear frames

Event timeline

All observatory events with their attributed causes.

dome refuseddome shutter ordered to open but the mount is unparkedunexplained
All 136 frames
TimeClassTargetFilterExpStarsHFRIndex
19:13:24autofocusIC 4628L5s3695.59—
19:13:44autofocusIC 4628L5s9422.23—
19:13:59autofocusIC 4628L5s7092.96—
19:14:13autofocusIC 4628L5s5783.48—
19:14:28autofocusIC 4628L5s5134.03—
19:14:49autofocusIC 4628L5s4005.45—
19:15:09autofocusIC 4628L5s9132.19—
19:15:29autofocusIC 4628L5s6772.73—
19:15:48autofocusIC 4628L5s6083.04—
19:16:04autofocusIC 4628L5s3724.53—
19:16:23autofocusIC 4628L5s2995.69—
19:16:44autofocusIC 4628L5s10502.00—
19:23:31lightIC 4628H300s3663.41103%
19:24:09autofocusIC 4628L5s8962.08—
19:24:29autofocusIC 4628L5s3114.83—
19:24:49autofocusIC 4628L5s4023.74—
19:25:09autofocusIC 4628L5s6002.61—
19:25:29autofocusIC 4628L5s7792.22—
19:25:49autofocusIC 4628L5s9142.11—
19:26:09autofocusIC 4628L5s8152.54—
19:26:29autofocusIC 4628L5s6053.21—
19:26:44autofocusIC 4628L5s4264.15—
19:26:59autofocusIC 4628L5s3724.78—
19:27:19autofocusIC 4628L5s9532.01—
19:33:10lightIC 4628H300s2554.0072%
19:38:26lightIC 4628H300s2354.3166%
19:43:51lightIC 4628H300s2144.5960%
19:44:54autofocusIC 4628L5s6332.59—
19:45:13autofocusIC 4628L5s2216.98—
19:45:29autofocusIC 4628L5s2455.46—
19:45:49autofocusIC 4628L5s3144.51—
19:46:09autofocusIC 4628L5s4063.58—
19:46:29autofocusIC 4628L5s6662.55—
19:46:49autofocusIC 4628L5s8622.07—
19:47:09autofocusIC 4628L5s8442.33—
19:47:28autofocusIC 4628L5s6662.92—
19:47:49autofocusIC 4628L5s4963.90—
19:48:04autofocusIC 4628L5s4034.81—
19:48:24autofocusIC 4628L5s7912.26—
19:54:11lightIC 4628O300s8223.88112%
19:59:27lightIC 4628O300s7254.2299%
20:00:19autofocusIC 4628L5s8572.07—
20:00:39autofocusIC 4628L5s2865.66—
20:00:54autofocusIC 4628L5s3853.91—
20:01:09autofocusIC 4628L5s4703.08—
20:01:24autofocusIC 4628L5s6472.51—
20:01:44autofocusIC 4628L5s8222.08—
20:02:04autofocusIC 4628L5s8142.32—
20:02:24autofocusIC 4628L5s6872.85—
20:02:44autofocusIC 4628L5s5643.29—
20:02:59autofocusIC 4628L5s4104.57—
20:03:19autofocusIC 4628L5s7732.18—
20:09:05lightIC 4628O300s7324.07100%
20:14:21lightIC 4628O300s6764.2092%
20:15:14autofocusIC 4628L5s7152.30—
20:15:34autofocusIC 4628L5s2576.16—
20:15:49autofocusIC 4628L5s2915.39—
20:16:09autofocusIC 4628L5s3613.83—
20:16:28autofocusIC 4628L5s4523.17—
20:16:49autofocusIC 4628L5s6882.31—
20:17:08autofocusIC 4628L5s8452.11—
20:17:29autofocusIC 4628L5s7602.41—
20:17:49autofocusIC 4628L5s6162.91—
20:18:04autofocusIC 4628L5s4563.98—
20:18:19autofocusIC 4628L5s3554.76—
20:18:39autofocusIC 4628L5s8182.09—
20:24:26lightIC 4628S300s10033.60103%
20:29:43lightIC 4628S300s8603.9488%
20:30:29autofocusIC 4628L5s6872.28—
20:30:49autofocusIC 4628L5s2735.49—
20:31:09autofocusIC 4628L5s3624.10—
20:31:24autofocusIC 4628L5s4343.32—
20:31:39autofocusIC 4628L5s6222.50—
20:31:59autofocusIC 4628L5s7592.15—
20:32:19autofocusIC 4628L5s7722.37—
20:32:39autofocusIC 4628L5s6462.82—
20:32:54autofocusIC 4628L5s4933.56—
20:33:09autofocusIC 4628L5s4024.53—
20:33:29autofocusIC 4628L5s7502.17—
20:39:15lightIC 4628S300s8893.8791%
20:44:56lightIC 4628S300s8683.9589%
20:50:05lightIC 4628H300s2644.0374%
20:55:51lightIC 4628H300s2943.7983%
20:56:29autofocusIC 4628L5s7262.11—
20:56:49autofocusIC 4628L5s2316.46—
20:57:09autofocusIC 4628L5s3024.92—
20:57:24autofocusIC 4628L5s3704.07—
20:57:44autofocusIC 4628L5s4992.85—
20:58:04autofocusIC 4628L5s7682.01—
20:58:24autofocusIC 4628L5s8671.83—
20:58:44autofocusIC 4628L5s7382.31—
20:59:04autofocusIC 4628L5s5862.94—
20:59:24autofocusIC 4628L5s4204.05—
20:59:39autofocusIC 4628L5s3134.98—
20:59:59autofocusIC 4628L5s8341.89—
21:05:50lightIC 4628H300s4073.11114%
21:11:10lightIC 4628H300s4183.06117%
21:16:42lightIC 4628O300s7523.69102%
21:27:19lightIC 4628O300s8263.45112%
21:32:34lightIC 4628O300s8553.39116%
21:33:04autofocusIC 4628L5s7991.83—
21:33:18autofocusIC 4628L5s2685.70—
21:33:33autofocusIC 4628L5s3514.31—
21:33:48autofocusIC 4628L5s4553.11—
21:34:03autofocusIC 4628L5s6022.35—
21:34:23autofocusIC 4628L5s7981.84—
21:34:44autofocusIC 4628L5s7062.13—
21:35:04autofocusIC 4628L5s5902.63—
21:35:18autofocusIC 4628L5s4763.50—
21:35:34autofocusIC 4628L5s3564.66—
21:35:53autofocusIC 4628L5s7421.95—
21:41:40lightIC 4628O300s8573.32117%
21:47:17lightIC 4628S300s10263.29105%
21:52:32lightIC 4628S300s10163.34104%
21:57:48lightIC 4628S300s9753.44100%
22:03:05lightIC 4628S300s8713.7389%
22:08:15lightIC 4628H300s3513.5199%
22:08:54autofocusIC 4628L5s6282.07—
22:09:14autofocusIC 4628L5s2306.20—
22:09:29autofocusIC 4628L5s3054.60—
22:09:43autofocusIC 4628L5s3853.42—
22:09:58autofocusIC 4628L5s5302.46—
22:10:18autofocusIC 4628L5s6981.88—
22:10:39autofocusIC 4628L5s7201.92—
22:10:58autofocusIC 4628L5s5652.48—
22:11:19autofocusIC 4628L5s4593.37—
22:11:34autofocusIC 4628L5s3704.31—
22:11:53autofocusIC 4628L5s6871.86—
22:17:45lightIC 4628H300s3753.29105%
22:23:14lightIC 4628H300s3753.33105%
22:28:53lightIC 4628H300s3563.45100%
22:34:05lightIC 4628O300s6913.6294%
22:39:42lightIC 4628O300s7123.4497%
22:45:07lightIC 4628O300s7353.42100%
22:50:26lightIC 4628O300s4033.7355%
22:56:23lightIC 4628S300s323.683%

Star counts come from Hocus Focus detection on each saved sub, tagged with the filter in place at exposure start and the target then being imaged. Frames inside completed autofocus runs are excluded. Still capture times come from the AllSky filenames. All times are local.