Dare I trust to hope?

[SlyReaper]

A brief glimpse of clear sky, or a snare and a delusion?  Will the weather change its mind?

[emadmoussa]

Ermm...very weak possibility. Then again, the partly cloudy could turn into clear and vice versa.

[FunkyKoval35]

Never ending caluuuuuudddssssss..... tu du du du daaa... Never ending clauuuuuudddsssssss..... tu du du du daaaa.....

[oldpink]

I see your 1 moon and raise you two moons

[Laurie61]

Its looking promising here for tonight and the jet stream is also playing ball so seeing should be good for Mars,Saturn. Unfortunately, for me, It won't get fully dark until 11 pm or after so faint fuzzes will be more of a challenge.  

[Treeden]

Edit:  picture not showing correctly... sorry.

[Steve Ward]

It either will or it won't , all you can do is poke your head out to see ... 

No rain forecast so worth putting the 'scope out to cool just in case , you'll kick yourself if the gap appears and you're not ready for it ... 

[SlyReaper]

That's a point, I've never had to cool a scope before.  How long does it take a ten inch reflector to cool?

[emadmoussa]

That's a point, I've never had to cool a scope before.  How long does it take a ten inch reflector to cool?

How big is your scope?  If 8" or less should be ready in 10 minutes considering it's not winter cold these days.

[Steve Ward]

Ten inch ... 

[emadmoussa]

15 minutes

[Laurie61]

Cool down  will depend on the temp difference, it will take longer if stored indoors than if in an outside shed/garage. I would expect a 10" to take about an hour to get close, you can use it at low mag to start with as a cooling mirror affects higher mag viewing the most 

[jabeoo1]

That's a point, I've never had to cool a scope before.  How long does it take a ten inch reflector to cool?

Remember mirror thickness must have a big part in the cool time.  Mine becomes best after the 1 hour mark, I would advise more than that to optimize. You will get to know the time yours takes but preparation & patience really does bring out the best views !  

[SlyReaper]

[oldpink]

I'm going all in with 4 moons

and I'm currently tracking Jupiter already (through some high thin cloud)

[cotterless45]

Hubbard bubba !

[bish]

Meant to be clear here late tonight/early hours. Believe it when I see it.

[MND]

Solid cloud here st the moment. Another weekend passes by with awful weather

[Davey-T]

Think how much you're saving on sun cream 

Dave

[oldpink]

Damn down to one clear spot around 1am
they can't even forecast accurately for a couple of hours, beginning to think the weather men are like fortune tellers, they make it up as they go along

[SlyReaper]

Damn down to one clear spot around 1am

they can't even forecast accurately for a couple of hours, beginning to think the weather men are like fortune tellers, they make it up as they go along

Quite.  Now they're saying it's cloudy until 2 in the morning, clouding up again at 4.  Looks like the weather changed its mind.  I'll stay up late on the off chance I can get a clear shot at Saturn or Mars. 

[Laurie61]

Well the sun has set and the scopes are out    Targets for tonight are objects around Ursa Major with the video camera and Saturn, Mars with the Dob.   

[Laurie61]

Conditions not bad here,  Saturn and especially Mars showing detail. Still waiting for proper darkness to use the camera.  

[oldpink]

Conditions not bad here,  Saturn and especially Mars showing detail. Still waiting for proper darkness to use the camera.  

same here

getting some good runs on Mars and experimenting with settings before I swap to the canon and trying to get some DSO's

M53 should be good in about 30 mins

[SlyReaper]

Had a brief moment of partially clear skies, enough to get a two star alignment on the new ten inch dob.  But the seeing wasn't great - the view of Mars was no better than what I've been able to achieve with the 5 incher.  But I'm loving the Synscan Goto mcguffin.  Select M3 from the M catalogue, it automatically slews round to view it (though I had to correct it slightly, as it wasn't perfectly centred).  It appeared as nothing more than a fuzzy blob, but I'm hoping that'll improve later once the twilight disappears.  It's gone overcast again, but the Met Office website promises the sky will clear at 1AM.  Maybe 2AM.