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Am I the only one getting annoyed about this weather in the UK?


euphony

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Ok,

I know there have been numerous threads about this over the last year as the weather has been absolutely ridiculous. the ridiculousness of it seems to have continued for most of the winter for me locally. Time after time after time it's supposed to be clear by a multitude of forecasts but 9 times out of ten it doesn't clear, or it clears for half an hour. I can count on my hands the number of times I have been able to actually have more than an hour to actually observe or try and image something in the past 4 months, no word of a lie. The occasional night it clears without warning I'm either tired out from work and can't keep my eyes open or I've had a few 'refreshments' down the pub with friends and setting up is really the last thing I know I should be doing.

Oddly, i remember (perhaps I'm romanticizing, but I'm sure I remember it rather vividly), last year most the winter appeared to be clear as more often than not when I looked out the window or stepped outside it was clear.

Am I the only one who seems to be experiencing this so often?

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Last year was shocking mate. Hardly used my scope for three months then either. Year before........little better! Our winters blow, big time. I often wonder why so many on the forum look forward to it. TBH I get so much more observing done in summer (when every one else puts their scopes to bed), yeah the nights are short but at least you've got some chance of actually observing something.

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Even in the south east which is supposed to be dry-ish it's been total gack.

I think last winter was unusually dry according to the weather blokes so we got more clear sky than usual (I think).

Still wondering whether it's worth buying astro gear in UK :mad:

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Last night was the first time I have really got into a hissy fit about it. The sky was reasonably clear so I set up at 8pm to try and see the asteroid later, came out at 8.30 and couldn't see a star anywhere! It just really hacks me off, I love this hobby, and being a newbie I want to be out as much a possible, but the chances seem to be very slim of any viewing time at the moment, and I am seriously wondering if it is worth the hassle any more.

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think it just makes the nights out you do get more special - yes it is frustrating but we're in the UK, an island surrounded by water in the Northern hemisphere - it is what it is no point stressing.

I've kept a diary this year from January just to see if it is as bad as we all think but so far there has not been a period in excess of 8 days when you could not have got out if you had the inclination - and February so far has given us twice as many observing chances as January already.

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I bought our ST102 as a quick set up scope so we could dash out during breaks in the cloud... I'm now looking for bins so I can dash out in the few minutes we're getting as the breaks seem to be getting shorter...

If this doesn't work...

Win the lottery and buy an English Electric Lightning to get me up to 80,000 feet...

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Tis very frustrating at the moment. Last Jan / Feb I recorded 21 nights out, this year to 15th Feb - just 4! End of last year I was all pumped about getting into imaging but I'm finding it difficult to get any motivation together when the odd clear night does come around - I tend to plan for a cloudy night rather than a clear one. When a clear night does come around I am scratching around trying to put a session together only for it to cloud up within an hour.

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I do remember when I first started in this hobby, 30yrs ago (altho only recently bought my first scope) winter nights in N Yorkshire were crystal clear & me & my best friend were out most nights looking up. Winters nowadays are just wet, damp, foggy, misty, cloudy and Rubbish. Stevetynant is right tho as so far this month ive had the scope out more times this month (4x but not for long tho) than in the last 3!!

Steve

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Yep, happened to me again. It was clear, I set up, aligned and the cloud rolled in. so another wasted night.

It's not just the fact that the weather is so poor, it is the inability of any forecast to actually get it right that frustrates the life out of me.

I have to forsake doing other things when I'm out with the telescope as I run a small independent record label, so that's twice this weekend when I could (and should have) been busy with admin tasks related to that, but instead spent all night setting up, then staring at clouds and packing up again.

They have apparently forecast it clear again tonight, but this is like the boy who cried wolf! Do I really risk setting up again?

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