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Forgot what a scope is for!

simmo39

By simmo39
in The Astro Lounge

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Astro Imp

Astro Imp

Posted
Posted

I am waiting for my new scope, 3-4 weeks, but there will be NO PROBLEM with the weather here. In fact for 7-8 months of the year there are plenty of clear skies.

That's why they call it the "lucky country!"

Sorry to report this to you guys...

You really know how to cheer us up, don't you?  :eek:

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kirkster501

kirkster501

Posted
Posted

Tell me about it.  I would love to see the M82  SN - never seen a SN as yet.  But with our weather in UK of late we are not likely to see it either.  Its howling a gale outside, again....

Every single time there is a newsworthy astro event the weather is dreadful.  :mad:

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Brian Down Under

Brian Down Under

Posted
Posted

My apologies for being so insensitive by reporting the wealth of clear skies we are subject to here.

Believe me it can get worse in Autumn (Fall) when one can get sick to death of endless blue skies and clear nights and long for some winter rain...damn my toung is stuck in my cheek...

Lets see, Sunday night means a glass of wine reposed on the comfy chair under the stars, yep, near perfect!!!

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hippie

hippie

Posted
Posted

I'm starting to get webbed feet hear Quack!  Last time I was out was new years eve,

No sign of a let up hear yet but we have blue sky's this morning but by tonight the forecast is   :clouds1:  Grrrrr. With pretty much rain for the next 5 day forcast  :clouds2: .

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

Posted
Posted

The weather has been so bad for so long I have given up to be honest - last year I kept a weather diary. I checked the  weather a few times in the night so that if it was (for instance) cloudy at 6pm - was it clear later ? etc etc.  So most nights I checked the weather two or three times across the evening.  Having to be mobile makes it harder for me of course. I cant just waddle down the garden to an obs I have to take a 40 minute car ride and load the car so its a commitment of a minimum of two hours.

If the the weather was cloudy at the last check point (typically 22:00 to 23:00) it would be marked off as a cloudy night because if its clear at 01:00 its no use to me having to be mobile and having to get up early for work the following day.

It basically boiled down to 14 clear nights, only 9 of them with no moon.  I was available for only four of the nights it was clear and moonless and only went twice, on both occasions the sky was murky by the time I had driven to my site and set up resulting in a wasted trip - on bother occasions every met forecast said clear all the way.

My diary also compared predictions of weather to reality - all I can say is the weather forecast would be more accurate if they just flipped a coin, at least that way the probability would  be that they would be right for 50% of the time.  The forecasts were universally wrong to a staggering extent.  Clear skies obviously means something completely different to the met office.  They are obviously using some new meaning of the word clear skies which translates as 'its not peeing it down with rain, hail or snow or any other form of water in a frozen, liquid or semi liquid state'

So in a year with endless comets and various other objects theoretically available I got to see exactly [removed word] all - my prediction exactly as its happens the moment I knew we were in for a 'bumper' year of spactacular sights (like previous spectacular sights of Halleys Comet (cloudy), Solar eclipse (cloudy), Mars close approach (raining) - in fact now I come to think of it I cant ever recall actually beaing able to see a single 'must see' event due to weather) .  

So far I haven't even had a clear night to see M42 and thats been around now for about 4 months where I have been free !!!!

Consequently for me astro has become something I may do, possibly, if weather plays ball and if I dont happen to have some paint drying to watch because even watching paint dry would be more interesting than lugging gear around to see zip and I can do it in the warm as well.

Before anyone jumps in to say 'bear up the weather will get better' thats been said for as long as I can remember, well at since I took the hobby up again and every year its gotten worse so please dont jinx it more by telling me its 'bound to get better' it sounds like empty headed optimism of the worst kind - you know - the kind where people say with a kind of moronic look about them that 'things could be worse mate har har ' after you have been through a car windscreen.

I have just had too much disappointment in this game and to  be honest I just cant be bothered to worry about it anymore - there are so many other things to do which dont require a clear sky.

Lest you think me a real misery guts - dont even think about it - I am worse than that - at least where astro is concerned but on the upside I have been having a whale of time with rocket building and launching and having the sort of fun I could only dream about with astro in this weather.

Soz to anyone who has been waiting on PMs from me - I just reached the point where I lost interest altogether and havent even been coming online to read the board.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

Posted
Posted

Nah - seen plenty of people more skilled and talented than me pack it in - and I have been guilty as well of telling peeps it will get better.  I dont come online much anymore because whats the point of reading about astro if you cant do it.  Its a bit like trying to sate your appetite by reading the menu.

My site hasnt been updated because with no clear skies its impossible to review stuff.  I was planning a review of budget widefields but the sky was so duff I ended up selling them all off without ever looking through them.  Similarly was planning a superwide-megabucks review of Nagler 31, Pentax XW30 and Ex Sc 30mm - gave up waiting on a clear sky and if I could be bothered I would flog off the Ex Sc but its gotten so bad I cant even be bothered to read ABS let alone deal with people wanting to buy stuff. In fact it took so long Pentax ended up stopping making the XW30 so its pretty academic now :) (wasnt it always :) )

Flogged off all of my Baader GOs apart from the 5mm (slightly damaged case) and 6mm (cant be bothered to sell it) - part of the general malaise really just decided I couldn't really justify cartons of eyepieces that never got used - Kept my UO VTs though and wont ever sell the Pentaxs (well not unless someone makes me a silly money offer).

I will keep the gear - it cost too much and there was too much pain involved getting it to do anything other than keep it but unless we got something on the scale of Betelgeuse blowing and a crystal clear sky then theres not much thats likley to entice me out of a nice warm flat.

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