Clear skies alert

[PorkyB]

I hardly dare mention this, but the weather forecast is showing mostly clear for tomorrow (Tuesday 19 June) night. If it does happen, it will be the first decent night in over three weeks, but the forecast has been pretty unreliable recently where cloud cover is concerned.

I will be in my car around midnight, driving back from Leicester so maybe I should put the scope in the boot, just in case. I can always stop in a layby on the way home for a couple of hours.

[Dazzyd]

Oooo nice one! Jsut had a look at the Met Office app and it's showing clear skies here from around 10pm tomorrow all the way till around 7am Wednesday. I think I'm going to plan on a couple of hours maybe and get a few targets planned. The clouds are starting to break here right now and I can see patches of blue sky but the forecast isn't looking great.

Really looking forward to a month or two from now when the nights are getting darker and the viewing window is increasing each night

Fingers crossed for tomorrow

[Paulus17]

Well its clearing up a treat here at the moment,so i am geting hopeful that i will have my first view through my new,well second hand scope,later.I can't wait.I'm getting excited.

[Dazzyd]

Me too Paul! It'll be first star light (tried terrestrial) for my new Vixen 30mm and 8mm EPs

[Paulus17]

I've gotta get some better EPs Daz as i only have the two stock ones that came with the scope,but i will have a look later,i hope and see how they are.

[Dazzyd]

I've got an extra 2 EPs to go with the 2 stock EPs that came with the scope (25mm and 10mm). Got the 30mm and 8mm Vixen NPLs, think it cost me £70 for the two from FLO.

Well it was beautifully clear 10 minutes ago and now the dark clouds are coming over

[Paulus17]

Cheers Daz i'll take a look at the Vixens.

Cloud is coming in here too,slowly but surely.

If it was dark now i'd have had a good couple of hours viewing time in.

[Dazzyd]

There's a clear patch coming your way but I'd say it's going to take another half an hour and I don't think it's going to be massively clear for long. Still not dark yet either, the sky is still blue not dark. Only another 3 days and it'll start getting darker a teeny tiny bit earlier each night

[PorkyB]

I can see a few stars out there. Paul - time to check that collimation.

If you have a good view to the South-West have a look for the space station at 23:36, it's only a low pass but should still be good. (2336, going West to South, max elev 20 degrees, visible for 3 minutes)

If the weather is good then I will stop at Coleshill on the way back from Leicester tomorrow. Hopefully the sky will stay clear longer than the last time, when it only lasted long enough to get the gear out before the clouds rolled in.

[Paulus17]

Well just come in after going out at 10ish and could see some stars through the scope,YIPPEEE,and as far as i could tell the collimation looks good.

Andy-we saw the ISS from the front bedroom and it looked great.Believe it or not i think i saw it earlier at around 10-20ish looking north east,it or summat passed straight through my FOV while i was just scanning round.

The sky has cleared up pretty well now.

[Andy_E]

Fingers crossed things are still looking good. lets hope we can enjoy the 30 mins of dark(ish) sky that mid-June has to offer!!

[PorkyB]

Just spent a very pleasant 45 minutes lying on a sunbed in my tiny garden looking up with my bins. My garden is overlooked by several large blocks of flats, so if anyone was looking out of their windows they probably think I've gone mad.

I can only see a tiny patch of sky, just Lyra, Cygnus and Vulpecula tonight. Even so, I saw two very pretty yellow & blue binocular doubles (omicron-1 & 30 Cygnus and alpha & 8 Vulpecula), the Coathanger (always a favourite) and a couple of satellites. I also managed to catch the ISS earlier, I was looking in the right direction this time. So all in all, not a bad night, especially considering that I couldn't go out anywhere and had to fit stargazing in around dad duties.

[Paulus17]

Seems you had a good hour or so then Andy??

It was perfik for the lounger,saves cricking the old neck,even though i have a stiff neck this morning

[Dazzyd]

OMG scope is out cooling, it's a beautiful clearn night. should be able to spend a nice hour looking at the heavens before bed

[PorkyB]

What a night - the weatherman lied again. Drove to Coleshill only to find total cloud cover. Waited a bit for it to clear but got chased by an animal in the dark - it could have been a dog or it could have been a man-eating sabre-toothed badger, who knows.

I decided to drive to my other favourite spot at Alvechurch to see if it's less cloudy there, but the motorway junction was closed for roadworks and I got lost in the diversion, so I went home.

There's a dozen streetlights in our little road, so observing at the front of the building is a no-go. From the back, with the tall buildings and bushy trees there is a very limited view of the sky, but it will have to do. Then I find someone has broken the lock to the cupboard that contains the switches for the external building lights. I can't turn off the lights in my own back garden. I can see the clouds rolling in.

Oh, and I split the double-double for the first time - four little white stars - RESULT

[Paulus17]

Thats good news Andy,at least the night wasn't completely wasted.

I gave up about 12.30.

We saw the ISS again,two nights running now,but Saturn was where i thought it was right behind the trees.

[miguel87]

Meteoblue is showing 3 hours of clear skies tonight 11-2. Should I be getting excited just yet?

[Dazzyd]

Let's hope it's correct, be great to get some viewing in

[PorkyB]

I've just checked my diary. It's been seven weeks since I did a full night's observing at an out-of-town site and three weeks since I grabbed an hour or so in the light-polluted garden. The Met Office forecast says Saturday night may be clear, but it said that about last Wednesday night and all I saw was cloud.

[PorkyB]

So with the weather forecast looking encouraging for the next few nights, is anyone planning to get out and about?

Home commitments mean that I can't get away until after midnight for the next two nights, but I still might go out somewhere if the sky is clear, especially if other people are likely to be about (I realise I am running the risk of falling asleep at work). On Tuesday night I am travelling from Leicester to Birmingham, so I might stop off at my usual Atherstone/Coleshill spot.

[Dazzyd]

It's looking fantastic for tonight! Going to stay in my backyard tonight and the rest of the week but I break up on Friday for 2 weeks so I can start looking at travelling and staying somewhere till 1-2am SO hope this is the start of a good long stretch of nice clear skies