The END for DSO?

[Uranium235]

How could you think of packing up when M16 is just around the corner

It just means better planning is needed to get the most out of the 3 hours of darkness we get during June.

[acey]

my local club says after this month the sun doesn't sink far enough below the horizon for alot of dso hunting...yikes!

Your sig says Cheadle which is latitude 53.4 degrees. You will have no full (i.e. astronomical) darkness from May 14 until 30 July. But you should still get enough darkness to see something: you will have no full nights of (nautical) twilight.

I'm just 2 degrees north of you and from 11th June to 1 July it's all-night twilight. Head into Scotland and the all-night twilight period lasts longer.

It all depends on latitude and determination. I'm pretty determined but at my latitude I lay off deep-sky observing altogether from late May until late July.

You can check out your "twilight zones" here (select "show all columns"):

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunrise.html

[estwing]

my Cheadle (original) is s/e of stoke,i thought my lat was 52.99:icon_scratch:

[SFlowers]

I didn't realise just how little darkness we get in the summer

[Pug]

Still plenty of lovely things to look at!

[Daniel-K]

it doesnt really bother me much im happy looking at the globs in summer and the bright dso's like the ring and the dumbbell andromeada there still is alot to look at in the summer

[acey]

my Cheadle (original) is s/e of stoke,i thought my lat was 52.99:icon_scratch:

Apologies, I just did a quick Google and took the latitude that came up. Put your location in the link I gave and you'll get your correct darkness hours.

[Islander]

How could you think of packing up when M16 is just around the corner

It just means better planning is needed to get the most out of the 3 hours of darkness we get during June.

Three hours? I wish! At this latitude (59 degrees) we experience about a month of twilight (simmer dim) - it has its own beauty though and the winter months compensate

[Quatermass]

I love the summer months nice a warm in the evening and I go fishing at night for a change take my binoculars and admire the stars while fishing. I have a nice list now of stuff to image there is always something up there to look at or discover.

[x6gas]

...and up north a chance of seeing the Northern Lights. A lot of solar activity at the moment so should be a good show in a few days...

[Keiran]

There are some great objects around in the summer, you just have to wait for them... I think there is only a short period that its not dark enough to observe, but thats only a matter of a few weeks. Whats the likelyness the weather will be any good durring this period anyway

[todd8137]

Am looking forward to he summer stars and evenings,not excited about all the bbq's that will be go in on

[Polar Bear]

I actually have the opposite experience. Due to bad light pollution at home I only experience decent dark skies during summer camping trips and this is also the only time of the year I get to see the Milky Way.

The combination of minimal astronomical darkness and bad light pollution is a killer. That is why I sell my large visual scopes around this time of year and buy a small refractor like an ST80 for Solar / holiday use and just use my bins at home most nights.

Paul

[Islander]

...and up north a chance of seeing the Northern Lights. A lot of solar activity at the moment so should be a good show in a few days...

Unfortunately it's unlikely to be visible with the twilight glow in the north

[LukeSkywatcher]

From here on in til end of Oct i really dont do any observing except for summer meteor showers. It does not get dark here (Dublin,Ireland) proper til 11pm during the summer.

The sun starts to rise at 3-4am.

Ive never been a summer observer apart from the meteor showers.