That perfect night....this weekend?

[nightfisher 7,479]

i have been planning to get a scope out friday night but starting to wonder if its worth doing, all this talk of not getting dark

[Stu 30,382]

Get out there Jules :-). Plenty of nice doubles out there to have a go at.

Stu

[nightfisher 7,479]

Get out there Jules :-). Plenty of nice doubles out there to have a go at.

Stu

maybe a last look at saturn, and like you say, some doubles, always nice to view

[Marki 833]

I'm going to get out tomorrow, even if it doesn't get properly dark. Its been so long, I need the set-up practice anyway .

[mdstuart 1,933]

See if you can still find that pannstars comet..there is a challenge for you...map on sky hound comet page....mark

[laser_jock99 6,480]

BBQ & and few beers for me. Not dark enough for astronomy- only reading 18.5 on the SQM last night.

Edited July 4, 2013 by laser_jock99

[earth titan 556]

Yeah... Too light for me.

Still nice to see the sun though.

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

[stevetynant 470]

Full up with flu and in bed ribs feel like I been in the ring with tyson I've coughed that much . nothing worse when the sun is shining brightly outside grrrrr

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[SteveNickolls 1,209]

That final ingredient - a dark sky is absent this time of year. However with a touch of luck maybe an NLC or two to look at/photograph. Have a great time though and don't forget the beers. Cheers,Steve

[Macavity 5,852]

BBQ & and few beers for me. Not dark enough for astronomy- only reading 18.5 on the SQM last night.

We do like to see a bit of SCIENCE in these things?

(In my Last of Summer Wine Norman Clegg voice!)

Recently took the BEST single shot (10s) inegrations, with my Watec Video cam.

Mag +16+(?) under summer skies. Might get even closer to the theoretical limit?

A few BEERS is never a BAD alternative to so many things though...

Edited July 5, 2013 by Macavity

[Nathan_Pembs 99]

Various apps and other reports says clear skies for Pembrokeshire, but was very hazy with high cloud last night, hardly a star visible. Also the local council has just replaced an old orange streetlight with one of these super bright white ones that stays on all night. My little corner of convenient dark sky is gone, I'm so gutted

[emadmoussa 1,852]

True, summer sky sucks. I took the liberty of documenting that last night. I set up the camera to take interval photos every 2 minutes. At close look, you can notice that you can have some observing done between 11:30pm and 2:00am. Having said that, even this period doesn't get dark enough...it's bluish grey really and even with the camera exposure set to 10 seconds it's still disappointing.

[Dunkster 258]

Get out there and enjoy it anyhow Graham... using London's latitude, the Sun dips a bit below 15 degrees just after 1am. Got to be worth looking at some nice globs at that time

Edited July 5, 2013 by Dunkster

[Matt Scunthorpe 646]

Its forecast for clear skies here tonight/tomorrow/sunday and monday! I will be happy with 2 nights outta 4 though.

[Stargazer_00 749]

You can bet your last pound I'll be out tonight and tomorrow even if the skies aren't good for telescopic astronomy I'll just get a deck chair out the shed, lay back and get drunk staring at the stars with naked eyes.

It's all good.

[madsarmy 28]

I have been itching to get out. I bought a skyliner 300p flextube from First Light Optics just over a week ago & I managed to get out the first night I had it, but it was only to zero the telrad finder. Just finished the fine-tuning & then the cloud rolled in. That was the end of that.

Last night I let the dog out & looked up in total shock. CLEAR SKIES!

So at 22.30 scope was set up, at 23.30 I wandered out double checked the colli & had a fantastic hour & half of stargazing. Had to call it a night as I started on morphine patches yesterday & my vision went all fuzzy. Should have stayed out, as I haven’t had a wink of sleep all night. Partly the morph patch but mainly excitement of how great the night sky is going to be come the dark nights. Spent the rest of the night reading astronomy books. So my sleepless night ended up being educational.

After using a Celesteron 130 for the last two years stepping up to a 12" dob is just mind blowing. Damn me if that sky isn’t just full to bursting with stars.

Don't get me wrong the 130 was a pretty good scope for the money, it did greatly increase my interest in astronomy. It could have easily gone the other way if it was rubbish. It was greatly improved by a few better quality eyepieces.

I must be hooked as I have just skinted myself & ordered a Moonlite CR1 focuser.

Glad I never got the goto 300P. I’d be selling a kidney for imaging equipment by now.

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Martin at First Light Optics for his fast response to my email questions & for the outstanding service that they give to their customers.

[bish 1,031]

I will get the scope out if I get a chance. The light summer nights don't bother too much as the light pollution is so bad here I feel like I'm more of a level playing field with people that don't suffer light pollution. Light pollution from the sun isn't as annoying as from street lights on crystal clear winter nights!

[nightfisher 7,479]

guess who was looking forward to a couple of hours out with scope tonight............guess who now has to work tomorrow *&*&%%%^&%! not a happy chappie

[ronin 3,800]

Glad I never got the goto 300P. I’d be selling a kidney for imaging equipment by now.

No commitment, you've go two. :eek:

Mind you astroimaging can be expensive enough that you might have to sell both. :grin:

Was planning on going out, have to option of 2 scopes to pick, but the sky doesn't look like it will be clearing. Heavier cloud cover then last night from what I am looking at - East. No clearer from the other direction either - West.

Ever had the idea that these clear skies aren't quite going to materialise. :mad:

[Matt Scunthorpe 646]

Looking good here atm. Looks a bit hazy to the west but east looks good. Shame its not gonna get dark for another few hours yet.

[221B Observer 5]

I have just been outside, a bit of cloud but some breaks. Hoping to catch Saturn a bit later on.

[Nathan_Pembs 99]

Got all the gear out, started to polar align and the clouds rolled in for the whole night. How can the Met Ofiice and 7Timer get it so wrong? lol

[ronin 3,800]

How can the Met Ofiice and 7Timer get it so wrong?

You are assuming that what the Met office define as clear is the same as we do, and that is I suspect a mistake. Last week I recall something stating that unless there was 1mm or more of precipitation then the Met office didn't define it as rain. It was most likely on the question of weather at Wimbledon.

Last night I could see stars last night but still had a fine cloud layer that made anything other then the brighter stars of the constellations a bit pointless. State where Deneb was obvious but Albereio was not easy.

[wxsatuser 5,484]

Here is what the cloud cover was last night at 1800utc.

The Metoffice get exactly/plus more as I do from Meteosat and it was obviously a bit dodgy for us gazers.

[Marki 833]

Same here Ronin - could see deneb and sadr, but barely spot Albireo with the naked eye. Very disappointing. Hopefully better tonight though Having said that seems to be some cloud piling up over York now... .

Yours optimistically!

Edited July 6, 2013 by Marki