The most frustrating hobby?

[laser_jock99]

Drove 120 miles to my dark sky site in Mid Wales, the sky was promisingly clear all the way. Spent about an hour loading the scope doing PA, alignment, collimation and then focusing. Slewed to the first object (M51) and within minutes there was 100% cloud cover!!! Even the first 120 second sub was affected.

To say I was disappointed would be putting it mildly. Not to be deterred I covered the scope and went inside to reflect on the vagaries of our climate. When I looked out half an hour later it was snowing heavily..... I nearly thought about jacking it all in there & then. 

[Luke]

I'm starting to think it's not so much the small number of clear nights we get, for me it's more knowing when we are going to get them. If only the forecasts could be accurate, it would a bit easier to manage. Like the other night, I probably could have imaged, but the forecast was iffy so I stuck to visual. Last time I hauled the DSO imaging gear out, it clouded over before I really got going.

Keep your chin up, hope you get better luck next time and it all seems worthwhile again!

[Space Dragon]

I don't even do AP but

                                      find

                                             my 

                                                      patience         s    t      r        e        t        c        h            e                d     to  the  very limit at times. Gotta laugh eh ?

I can count on one finger the number of nights we've had since Xmas that have been clear for more than a couple of hours.

I used to think fly fishing for sea-trout at night was frustrating but have now found something that beats that.

I envy those guys in Arizona who can pick n choose their nights and go out in shorts and T-shirt under pristine, dry skies. Must be great.

[trazor]

I envy those guys in Arizona who can pick n choose their nights and go out in shorts and T-shirt under pristine, dry skies. Must be great.

Cries and drools at the same time.......

This winter is the worst I can remember for cloud.....

[Beulah]

Drove 120 miles to my dark sky site in Mid Wales, the sky was promisingly clear all the way. Spent about an hour loading the scope doing PA, alignment, collimation and then focusing. Slewed to the first object (M51) and within minutes there was 100% cloud cover!!! Even the first 120 second sub was affected.

To say I was disappointed would be putting it mildly. Not to be deterred I covered the scope and went inside to reflect on the vagaries of our climate. When I looked out half an hour later it was snowing heavily..... I nearly thought about jacking it all in there & then. 

Been there, done that. Totally understand how you're feeling. The weather has taken its toll on imagers with the amount of setup time...

I want to explore more facets of astronomy - getting back into sketching and taking widefield shots.

The sky is so frequently cloudy & unpredictable that I only have time for simple observing because each time it feels like I am having to catch up with old friends.....

Arizona? Totally concur on the crying & drooling!!

[cotterless45]

The reason why I try and sketch is the very limited time to observe. I've even taken to observing doubles with a full Moon.

The sudden changes and violence in our weather doesn't give much chance to hang around,

Nick.

[ronin]

Problem is we do not get many suitably clear nights and generally they have to also occur on a Friday or Saturday.

[Astro Imp]

I feel your pain.

Yesterday we had a glorious sunny day and was getting really excited about having a good session, you guessed, come dark the clouds started appearing. I thought give it half an hour and they might clear but no, total cloud cover. I did look out at about 9.00pm and there were a few stars trying to make themselves known through the cloud but even Jupiter was only a faint speck.

BTW as I type this it's tipping down.

[starman1969]

Nightmare. That has happened to me a few times, but not after driving 120 miles!!!

[LukeSkywatcher]

Drove 120 miles to my dark sky site in Mid Wales, the sky was promisingly clear all the way. Spent about an hour loading the scope doing PA, alignment, collimation and then focusing. Slewed to the first object (M51) and within minutes there was 100% cloud cover!!! Even the first 120 second sub was affected.

To say I was disappointed would be putting it mildly. Not to be deterred I covered the scope and went inside to reflect on the vagaries of our climate. When I looked out half an hour later it was snowing heavily..... I nearly thought about jacking it all in there & then. 

Thats the beauty of being a back garden astronomer. You dont have to travel far to find out that the weather is rubbish and you can retreat back into the comfort of your own house even before you transport and set up.

120 miles?. 

That's dedication.

I'm lucky if i even transport and travel 50ft from my kitchen.

Not mocking you, but if i was to drive that far.............................i would want ALL weather reports to say that it will be clear from dusk til dawn.

[Beulah]

Luke, I think Laser_ Jock build an observatory at his property in Wales but has to work away  lot.   Here's a mouthwatering thread to prove that...

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/192642-cambrian-mountains-obsy-phase-ii/?hl=%2Bcambrian#entry2019749

[laser_jock99]

On the plus side the observatory seemed to have survived the last few storms okay. One of the neighbours was not so lucky and lost parts of their recently repaired roof.

[Beulah]

Well I remember the build and you had done some good retrofit work on the roof to make it more sound. If it can survive the strongest winds I have experienced in living memory, it will survive anything!! 

[Druid]

I don't even do AP but

                                      find

                                             my 

                                                      patience         s    t      r        e        t        c        h            e                d     to  the  very limit at times. Gotta laugh eh ?

I can count on one finger the number of nights we've had since Xmas that have been clear for more than a couple of hours.

I used to think fly fishing for sea-trout at night was frustrating but have now found something that beats that.

I envy those guys in Arizona who can pick n choose their nights and go out in shorts and T-shirt under pristine, dry skies. Must be great.

I've been dabbling with iTelescope recently, who have remote imaging sites in New Mexico, Spain and Australia.

For the last day or so it seems to have been raining or overcast at all of them ... 

[laser_jock99]

I've been dabbling with iTelescope recently, who have remote imaging sites in New Mexico, Spain and Australia.

For the last day or so it seems to have been raining or overcast at all of them ... 

Certainly an interesting concept- the cost of my fuel would have got me an hour or two on this 0.4m beastie:

http://www.itelescope.net/telescope-t32

Might have been a preferable experience to dismantling my outside pier setup in a blizzard? 

[bomberbaz]

Weathers not ben at all kind recently, certainly where I am. Lots of patchy nights where yiu just get a few hours.

Been better recently and tomorrow nights looking promising

[nightfisher]

It can be a very frustrating hobby, i got the scope out last night for first time in over a month, then had 20 mins trying to spot things in cloud gaps, but i have learnt to live with this, i will be doing more Solar imaging this year to help make the most of the scope

[Druid]

Certainly an interesting concept- the cost of my fuel would have got me an hour or two on this 0.4m beastie:

http://www.itelescope.net/telescope-t32

Might have been a preferable experience to dismantling my outside pier setup in a blizzard? 

But perhaps not as conducive to the building of moral fibre?

[Crebles]

I think we should try to come up with the equivalent of the Drake Equation - but for successful observing nights. Something like:

Ns^{[Nights of Success]} = Nc^{[Nights not Cloudy]} x Nsch^{[Not a 'School Night']} x Tt^{[hours clear sky not during tea time]} x Nphwws^{[Nights you haven't Promised to Help the Wife With Something]} x Hntp^{[The window in hours you're Not yet Too P**sed to carry a scope by the time its clear]}

Your versions or amendments welcome!

[andyman]

Feel for you buddy what a bummer.but travelling that distance the weather can change dramatically this is the uk after all.

This is what can happen and most of the time it does... what with lp driving us further afield to try to observe under dark skies

Hope the clouds play ball for your next trip out under the stars if its not put you off for good

[LeeB]

I'm sure we all thought last year was the worst in memory and discussed so in the forum,  but the british weather decided to try and best itself this winter, ohhh! ( with the most sarcastic tone possible) I'm so looking forward to next winter, the joy of dark crystal clear nights........., and long observing sessions, still keep smiling everyone could be worse....

[RT65CB-SWL]

I find SWL'ing just as frustrating. You 'lock' on to a DX station/signal waiting for the ident, then you get pestered by QRM, QRN or the phone rings. Slightly off topic I know, but still frustrating!

[Daniel-K]

Jock I feel your pain its the risk that we take for those dark skies some times it pays off and sometimes it doesn't but when it does it makes up for all those other times.i took a risk on Friday night with the forcast saying clear till 9 and then fog but I thought being that high up it might not affect us I ended up having a great time. Hopefully you'll get a fix soon

[Tonys]

I think we should try to come up with the equivalent of the Drake Equation - but for successful observing nights. Something like:

Ns^{[Nights of Success]} = Nc^{[Nights not Cloudy]} x Nsch^{[Not a 'School Night']} x Tt^{[hours clear sky not during tea time]} x Nphwws^{[Nights you haven't Promised to Help the Wife With Something]} x Hntp^{[The window in hours you're Not yet Too P**sed to carry a scope by the time its clear]}

Your versions or amendments welcome!

Brilliant. Perhaps factor in nights not soaked in dew and nights next doors security light isn't permanently on. Also moonless unless observing same.

[jabeoo1]

The forecast last night in the south seemed okay in theory, so I thought I would be in for some good sights between some clouds, great! 

So I carried everything down to cool in shed. 1 hour later got remaining essentials down.  Kept waiting, 1 hour later cloud thinned .  Saw some gaps, was on the verge of setting up.  Noticed a massive blanket of gray cloud

Proceeded to rain, felt too tired to wait for another 2 hours for a clearing.  Carried everything back upstairs, tidied it all away.  Looked at my eyepieces for a bit admiring their potential (so far I have used my 8mm for 15 min only).  

Went to bed and read a small section of Burnham's Celestial handbook before falling asleep.  Woke up, went to toilet & looked outside to the clearing I knew I was to tired to stay up for.  You can't be prepared in every way for the short opportunities we get it seems, is what I may have mumbled whilst on my way back to bed.

However tonight looks like (in theory ! ) to be clear for 6 hours.  I am going to get the scope back down into the shed to cool and hopefully look through the eyepieces instead of at them...If the clouds don't roll in that is.  If they do I have much to read of the 3 volumes Handbook instead.  Arm chair astronomy is an essential back up for sticking 2 fingers up to our inclement weather systems. 

Clear skies (In theory!)