Clouds!

[craigfoot]

Getting fed up of cloud now. . such a difficult hobby to plan, the need to stay up late and by unsociable on evenings and not a clear night for ages!!!!

Oh and when there does happen to be a clear night I seem to have other plans!

[RichM63]

LOL, this is entirely 'normal' in my experience.

You could of course move over to Solar Imaging and sit back with a large G&T whilst the rig does the work. Then again even this might be a problem in Hull.

[wxsatuser]

Plenty   and makes me want to

[Stargazer33]

This weekend looks a total washout down here again! According to my files, the last time I did any imaging was 24th September!!!

[Sirius Starwatcher]

A blanket ban on purchasing telescopes for the next seven days may help. That's about the best advice I can give.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I brought my scopes out of their summer hibernation at the end of Sept and have not used them since. The best i can seem to do since then is a couple of hours on a couple of nights casual observing with my 20x90 bins.

[Gadget]

It is very frustrating I have bought a few astro items recently that I am itching to give a good workout but I really only have a fri/sat night probably like most that work through the week and weekends where I am have been a washout last few weeks now  this week/end does not look any better

Kev     

[ccfcbob]

Sorry all, I'll take the blame this time. Bought skywatcher 250px 2 weeks ago & its been sitting in the corner of our lounge for a week.

Haven't even had chance to find out if it works yet! Not going to happen next few days either if forcast is anything to go by.

[Baffa]

2.5+ months without a single night (or day) without clouds, it's really starting to get frustrating for real this time.

[craigfoot]

Is this the norm or are we having a particularly bad year for star gazing?

[PeterCPC]

I seem to remember that last Autumn was just the same. You begin to wonder if it's worth carrying on.

Peter

[craigfoot]

I seem to remember that last Autumn was just the same. You begin to wonder if it's worth carrying on.

Peter

Oh please don't say that just as I'm getting started

[Blazar]

I pretty much go out now with whatever I am given just in the vague hope a clear spell turns up. Managed a couple of hours the other week 13/11 and did some lunar and planetary imaging (around 39GB's worth....filled up the startup disk on my Mac!). I must admit I am itching to go out again though. There are only so many times you can try and process AVI's again to eek out additional clarity!

Does not always turn out great, but at least I feel as though I am putting in the hours ;-)

[RichieP]

I think it has definitely gotten worse over the past few years. When I started out 11 years ago I used to get far more sessions than I do now.

Rich

[Astro Imp]

Apart from a couple of half hour sessions the last time I had a good evening was 9th November and looking to the future doesn't fill one with optimism. 

[Paul M]

Well, in 40 odd years of stargazing, I can honestly say it has always been so in my experience.

Other than the odd good run here and there, this is how it is!

I spend more time doing my other hobby, scuba diving, and I only dive abroad!

[Charic]

The satisfaction I get when its cloudy or just whenever  it looks miserable outside is to de-collimate my Skyliner just for the fun of it?  I remove the whole mirror cell and puffer away any dust , and physically rotate the secondary then re-collimate,   awaiting the next Star test.

I've got so used to this, now,  due to the weather, it only  takes only a few minutes to remove and replace  the Primary cell. I remove the whole mirror cell and puffer any dust away, and physically rotate the secondary. I think the Primary has been out on the table twice this Month!

Its  a joy to know that it only takes a few minutes to complete, and to be honest, when the star test arrives, I've not needed to re-adjust.

Theres not really much about a Skyliner f/6 that can go wrong, and the more I mess with it, the more confident I feel about its setup and the result it provides me. So  now  I'm confident with my telescope, and the  telescope serves me well?

[craigfoot]

Not sure I'm confident enough to start taking my scope to bits just yet

[Stridor]

I have just had 12 days holiday from work; I would have thought there would have been one night I could have got out, but no....persistent cloud cover. Anyway, I see Monday looks hopeful though......................ok, thats done it; it will now be thick cloud and mizzle!!

[Beulah]

Popped out tonight to a dark place just t'up road and managed to bag M45 and take a reading with the SQM before the clouds came!

Sky was crystal clear before!

Waste of diesel, but it's good to be back out there again after a seven month hiatus.