First dark!

[D4N]

Ok so I know we normally call it first light but after a summer of just looking at the sun it didn't sound appropriate for my first night time observing of the year.

Lots of new gear that hadn't been tried out in the dark so I was expecting it to all go horribly wrong.

Managed a rough polar align and was happy to find M27 & M57 were looking good at 135x

I tried to look at M102 but was met with blue sky in the EP, roll on Winter!

[cotterless45]

It's coming !

Nick.

[swamp thing]

Roll off winter. Don't want the rain, snow and clouds thanks.

Let's have a great late sumner and autumn before the winters blanket of never ending cloud gets here.

Late summer is often the best time of year to observe. By contrast winter is useless providing almost no clear nights at all. Winter just provides endless cloud and rain. Look forward to that if you want, I won't be.

[D4N]

Depends where you live I guess, Winter for me is long cold clear nights with more stars than you can shake a laser pointer at

[algol]

Yeah gotta say winter is best for me too, roll our with scope at 6, couple of hours observing, back in with a brew in bed at about 11

[Scott]

Roll off winter. Don't want the rain, snow and clouds thanks.

Let's have a great late sumner and autumn before the winters blanket of never ending cloud gets here.

Late summer is often the best time of year to observe. By contrast winter is useless providing almost no clear nights at all. Winter just provides endless cloud and rain. Look forward to that if you want, I won't be.

I gotta agree with you here Steve (although I tend to be a bit more optomistic about winter, probably unfounded). I must say though, I've had far more imaging sessions these last two summers than winters. For me, summer can drag it's feet. It won't stop the nights getting darker

[dick_dangerous]

Roll off winter. Don't want the rain, snow and clouds thanks.

Let's have a great late sumner and autumn before the winters blanket of never ending cloud gets here.

Late summer is often the best time of year to observe. By contrast winter is useless providing almost no clear nights at all. Winter just provides endless cloud and rain. Look forward to that if you want, I won't be.

I could count the number of suitable nights this winter on the fingers of one... finger. So far there's been a fair amount of cloud around here this month (Except for when the moon was up), but I have high hopes for some clearer skies as August draws to a close.

DD

[cotterless45]

You 've got to take advantage of the gaps. I have 75 observing sessions recorded so far this year. The summer has been stunning and we're looking forward to a great autumn and winter.

I use Scope nights, BBC weather and sat24. The forecasts often wildly disagree, there's been clear nights when I couldn't see a star .Other nights have been brilliant when the forecasts say cloud.

My grab and go is a 10" Lightbridge. My GOTO set up takes about 10 minutes to get ready. This is helped by three holes drilled in paving. Once the tripod is in these, it's near to final polar alignment.

Here's hoping for

Clear skies !

Nick.

[Special K]

I've got mixed feelings: coming back from warmer climes I'm just not ready for the season to turn...........however, as much as I deny it in my mind, there is an autumnal feel in the air and I just love that time of year for stargazing. Jupiter will be back, longer nights, and despite words to the contrary, there are going to be OPPORTUNITIES! the weather can't suck all the time!

[greglloyd]

Winter is generally better for me too. The polar maritime air we usually get in winter is usually crystal clear. And I think the winter constellations like Orion, Taurus, and Gemini look more spectacular. Orion Nebula is a very clear naked eye object. The Andromeda Galaxy is obvious.

My best views of galaxies occur from Dec to Mar when the likes of the Whirlpool are at their very best.

Summer is disappointing most of the time here. Any clear nights usually have some sort of high level haziness. Objects in Sagittarius and Scorpio as so low to be worthless from here. The Omega Nebula being the exception. Everything else is too low to the horizon meaning obstacles block them from view. In summer, the highlights really are limited to M13, M92, M15, M27, Double Cluster, M11.

By contrast, winter has M42, M81 / 82, M51, M101, Coma Galaxies, M35, 36, 37, Eskimo Neb, M3, NGC4565, and many more. Bright stars blaze like jewels in the sky. You can get viewing in at decent hours during late evening. Be in bed for midnight if you wish. And of course, as mentioned before - crystal clear transparency. Also a bonus if there is a little snow on the ground. Some of the very best transparent nights come here with a little snow lying.

Yep, definitely a winter fan.

[D4N]

For me there is a day at the start of winter when the air freezes, all the humidity drops out of the sky leaving cold dry air. Then with any luck it stays cold enough to ensure the humidity doesn't come back.

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

[greglloyd]

D4N, I'm guessing you are in the US?

Humidity is never far from these European shores with a prevailing westerly wind direction and the Gulf Stream to contend with. But at least winter brings lower temperatures with a subsequent drop in humidity levels and crisp clean polar maritime behind winter cold fronts.

[D4N]

Nope Sweden, it just gets cold enough to freeze everything!

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

[greglloyd]

Nice!

[callisto]

Yeah gotta say winter is best for me too, roll our with scope at 6, couple of hours observing, back in with a brew in bed at about 11

What a life

[D4N]

I so hate the summer, had the first clear night since the 15th and got all my gear set up, aligned, got to look at my alignment stars and KA-BOOM!

Thunderstorm out of nowhere :'(

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