(meteorobs) Hazy sky

[Paul Martsching]

Wednesday evening / Thursday morning the worst haze / general limiting magnitude that I have ever seen without fog, or clouds.  At the zenith LM ~ 5.0.  In the southern sky Antares was the only star for many degrees above the horizon.  In the NE, which is usually the best direction, stars dimmer than +2 couldn't be seen 20 degrees above the horizon.   I did see one +3 SDA cross Cygnus (overhead) as I was checking out how bad the sky really was about midnight.  On the drive out and back no fog what so ever.  It was nearly as bad last night, so I didn't go out.  The weather men keep talking about the low dew points (in the 50's) and the dry and comfortable air, but the sky is milky in day time and the haze is obvious.  At night the temperature drops and the haze gets much worse.  Maybe a cold front will come thru and get rid of some of the haze.  Hoping for clear and less hazy sky soon.

Paul Martsching in Iowa