Desperate times

[Stargazer_00]

You know things are bad when you see this symbol on tomorrows forecast, in between dark clouds all day either side, next to this description and wonder if you'll get a few minutes in the garden possibly looking at the moon if you are lucky.

Desperate times indeed...

[Obi Wan]

Have had that same thought a few times myself! You never know, we may have an absolutely fantastic April/May with clear skies every night - that is desparation talking I think

[planetdnb]

Have had that same thought a few times myself! You never know, we may have an absolutely fantastic April/May with clear skies every night - that is desparation talking I think

Can you see that flying pig?

[fondofchips]

Have had that same thought a few times myself! You never know, we may have an absolutely fantastic April/May with clear skies every night - that is desparation talking I think

I suppose it is the half empty/half full thing, think of it as hope not desparation.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Can you see that flying pig?

At least flying pigs obscure a smaller portion of the sky than the typical cloud (unless the pig is very large, and the pass is very low).

[Stargazer_00]

Ordinarily though I'd look at that and think, no thanks I'll wait till at least a moon symbol. Over the last few weeks my response time to a gap in the clouds is approaching something akin to a Formula 1 pit crew. I can be dressed, out in the garden, shed open, stool out, scope out, eyepiece selected, pointed aimed and focused in less than 7 mintues now from spotting a break in the cloud.

[laser_jock99]

Good thing about being an 'imager' as opposed to an 'observer'- have still have data to look at and process from when it was last clear in February! Still plenty to do even when it's cloudy- won't keep me going for much longer though.

[Stargazer_00]

The only other things I can do in the interim is collimate the scope for fun :/

[JG777]

Pretty sure this week last year was like a mini summer. Could do with that right now.

[JamesF]

Pretty sure this week last year was like a mini summer. Could do with that right now.

It was. In fact it seems like the weather has not been better than this week last year ever since

James

[starman1969]

I'm still hopeful of a good year. Despite last year being disappointing weather wise, no surprise there, I still got to see many firsts.

Last year I saw amazing Perseid meteors, Lyrids & the September fireball.

I also saw Mercury, Neptune & Uranus for he first time as well as Saturn's Cassini division and the GRS on Jupiter.

Here's to 2014 & many more astro firsts.

[JamesF]

Here's to 2014 & many more astro firsts.

Let's do 2013 first though, eh?

James

[starman1969]

Let's do 2013 first though, eh?

James

Oh, yeah. I think I was getting ahead of myself. I don't want to give up on 2013 just yet lol.

[laser_jock99]

I'm pinning my hopes on August, September & October being the winning months in 2013. Last year we got some stunning clear nights in Wales during those months, the Summer Milky Way was cracking.

Scutum Star Cloud

[Brent]

Yes, last March was awesome. Out in the garden in a t-shirt most of the night for 5 nights on the trot and my first (rubbish!) images of M51 and M101 as a result.

If I'd known then how "far" I would have progressed my imaging a year on I think I would have cried the whole week.

It's just been dire. I've put the hobby on the back burner and have stopped checking the forecasts every day. Not getting a single opportunity to look for PanStarrs yet has been the kicker. It really saddens me to admit it, but the weather's beaten me into submission.

I won't sell the kit yet, but another year like the last? Who knows.

[Astralstroll]

If you really want to depress yourself, get the Scope Nights app. The next five nights are listed as POOR for where I live and displayed in very obvious red graphics.

:-(

[MorningMajor]

I remember a cricket match being snowed off in May 1976, just before "that" summer - all is not lost!