How many nights do you get to stargaze?

[Disco]

Another cloudy night and no stargazing...

With all the cloudy nights, "quality time" with the missus, work, kids, and the faint call of the pub calling out to you on the breeze, how many nights do you actually get to stargaze?

I roughly get time use my bins once every two weeks.

As i've only got a pair of cheapy 15x70 bins and am spending no petrol money to get to a dark sight I still seem to be getting a good return on my investment atm...

Disco

[Space Oddity6]

Not nearly enough by any means. I'd say with the weather that changes at the drop of a hat and work, I get to go out maybe twice a month if I'm lucky.

That said, those sessions are usually pretty awesome, embarking on whistlestop tours of the sky complimented by a few beers and some cheeky cigarettes.

[RikM]

If you count a quick 10 min with the bins, then I get out quite a bit, 3-4 times a week probably. Spending an hour or two with the Dob, once a week average. Setting up the imaging kit and putting a good run in 4-5 hours or even an all nighter, once a month, twice if I am lucky.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I was out tonight for the first time since about April.

[sbooder]

My average went up a little at the end of last month with that two week amazing weather from Africa blowing up, I managed to get out for 8 nights in a row but I think my usual average for a year is about once a month, not a lot. I am hoping being in France will up that for me.

[Doc]

In between working nights, I don't get much at all, maybe two nights a month

[ecosse]

If its clear then pretty much any night I can go out

[Rols]

I'm always out looking, my scope being their too is another question.

[Charon]

Weather here has been odd since my new scope arrived and I have used it three times since mid August.

[southernman]

Haven't been out for a week!! I'm now sitting as twilight ends with a clear sky waiting for the dob to cool.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

It is very up and down. If I look at my log March until May were quite busy, June, July and August much less so (except for some glorious nights in southern France on holidays), September and October have not been bad at all. I have been tracking the brightness SN2011fe a frequently, and have added quite a few DSO to my list. And then it can turn cloudy for months.

[Celeste]

Not enough! lol...I managed about an hr last night having a play with the new to us 127 mak...looked at Jupiter mostly, sent it to M45 but it's too big for the mak. Back to Jupiter lol. Then the clouds came so packed up.

[onesmallstep]

Hi

Two or three times per MONTH with the Dob, approx two or three times per WEEK with the bins.

[Nathan_Pembs]

About 3-4 times a month I'd say, but not for hours and hours though.

Managed to grab half an hour last night, but the sky was too hazy and eventually clouded over.

[ollypenrice]

Something's possible on about three hundred nights per year but I tend to regard moon time as bed time! I'm probably out there about 200 nights a year but it's a job as well as a personal mania in my case...

Olly

[Luke]

5-6 times per month for me, the gaps feel long between sessions, but I guess 50-ish nights per year isn't so bad!

[Mike Hawtin]

From March until October pretty much any night I feel like it (clear from dusk until dawn too). For the rest of the year I reckon easily every other night is good enough. So yes, even though light pollution is quite pronounced here, I really am spoilt for observing opportunities!

Mike

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Something's possible on about three hundred nights per year but I tend to regard moon time as bed time! I'm probably out there about 200 nights a year but it's a job as well as a personal mania in my case...

Olly

This makes it sound SOOOO tempting to move to France.

Not any time soon, however.

[Syzygy2011]

When I bought my first boat in 1997, I always went out and caught fish... sold the boat in 2007 (to finance my Astronomy hobby) because the fish were not there anymore?

Stargazed 4 times since May???

Might sell the scope and take up underwater cake decorating? Water is always there..

[MjrTom]

Every time the skies are clear and the moon is not up.

Although with the weather its been averaging 4 or 5 sessions a month

[James]

This year for me there's been 33 clear nights of which I've been unable to use 17 (house move, illness, child care, work etc). Of the remaining 16 nights 9 have been within a few days of full moon and just 7 have been without the moon present. All in all not the best of years...

I should also point out that if it's clear there really has to be a good reason for not going out - when it's clear I usually disregard everything and spend the night out much to the annoyance of my family and my work colleagues who have to deal with a grumpy me the next day...

James

[rocketandroll]

I get out pretty much every time a clear night is forecast... trouble is, I need an hour to set up, and live 20 mins from my imaging site... so it all needs to be planned well in advance, no 'popping out quickly' for me :-(

With that in mind, on average twice a month I'd say.... though at the moment... it seems like MUCH less frequently, and with at least another two weeks of 100% cloud cover predicted for us here, it's not improving.

I'm just hoping Dec/Jan/Feb are good to make up for it!

Ben

[deebster]

As a newbie to going out stargazing (rather than just looking up when outside) I'm quite surprised how seldom many of you get out.

Which is kind of reassuring in a way as I thought I couldn't begin to call myself a stargazer unless I was out much more than I currently am.

Still, setting up your scope must take a while (never had one, still on bins), so I suppose you need not just clear skies but a decent enough length of time out to make it worthwhile?

[fly in the sky]

every chance i get i"m out,which is never!! had my scope 3months and been out maybe 10 times,so on average,i"m doin well

[Si W]

Not as many as i would like, not my own doing, just the weather here in Manchester, it's pants