Please laugh at me !!

[Stevie816]

Then It wasn't a complete waste of money  and time

7  hours to get there

Just Back from a week in the Kielder forest

``well it was  very dark but wet very wet.

Saw a fox a hare and a few deer

and a lot of television

Question, Are other animals optimistic ?

Still love Astronomy

Steve

PS found a nice cottage to stay in.

[Uplooker]

Hi Steve,

I, and I suspect others, will certainly not laugh at you. It is very sad and unfortunate that you made the effort to go to a dark site and the weather didn't play ball. I applaud your tenacity. Too many people pass on going to star parties because "the weather forecast looks a bit carp" - that is just silly. It is disappointing when the weather is Carp, but I thoroughly enjoy being away and meeting people with a similar interest. The circumstances may have been slightly different for you on this occasion, but we all know that the weather sooth sayers are not always correct with their dire predictions.

You might not have done any astronomy or looked through a scope, but did you enjoy yourself? You also "found a nice cottage to stay in", that is certainly a positive!

Ian

[StuartJPP]

When I was up in Kielder in October it rained most of the time, managed one semi-decent night when we popped up to Scotland for a couple of days.

In the pub in Kielder it was mentioned that the "success" rate for people having a break in the weather when going up to the observatory was 1 in 5, so a 20% chance of it being clear(ish). You need to visit another 4 times to get your chance

Unfortunately this is the state of astronomy in the UK. Other than astronomy there isn't much (for me) to do in Kielder in winter so we head off to friends in Scotland and use that as a base to explore further. However if it cleared up we would have to depart our friends until the weather turned bad again

[pete_l]

In the pub in Kielder it was mentioned that the "success" rate for people having a break in the weather when going up to the observatory was 1 in 5, so a 20% chance of it being clear(ish). You need to visit another 4 times to get your chance

Yes, this is the aspect that nobody seems to talk about. We all chase "dark sites" and espouse their virtues. But nobody seems to seek out clear sites even if they don't have the same level of darkness.

Give me a Mag 4 site with 100 clear nights a year over a Mag 6 one with 10, any time.

And when the Moon is past 50% phase, the NELM figures mean little, anyway.

[Beulah]

Sounds like you had a lovely stay,  regardless.

Yup, British astromomers have to be opportunists.....and own gear that is quick to set up, should the clouds part.

If you are on holiday, have contingency plans in case there are clouds..like proximity to a good pub... 

Sadly, the darkest areas are often the wettest - we get around 1850mm on average per annum round 'yer! (three times as much as the previous place I lived in....)

I know this doesn't beat areas in Scotland that get over 3m of rainfall...but it's even darker up there...