Cold Weather Observing

[Sky King]

Hi All,

I just wanted to say that those of you up early on cold winter mornings or evenings, deserve alot of credit.

I know some of you have observatories to help cut the chill, but realize most others don't and are exposed to the elements as they try to obtain great captures.

Walking my dog on cold winter mornings at 5 AM, here on Cape Cod, I look up to see Jupiter shining brightly, but have no intention of hauling out all my gear to do capturing myself....its too damn cold. Except for a rare mild winter morning/evening or a rare astronomical event, my scope will stay where it is until late March when mornings are more bearable.

Kudos to you hearty souls.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

but isn't that part of the fun....   

[Fish]

We have no choice in the UK our best skies are during the winter and you can guarantee its cold when its clear :-)

[Joel Shepherd]

What Fish said. In Seattle, in the winter, clear means cold. Of course, cold in Seattle is not like US East Coast cold: a few degrees of frost  qualifies as extremely cold here ... it's maritime air though which gives it extra bite.

I find adrenalin and distractions are enough to keep me "warm" while observing and photographing. It's when it's time to pack everything up that I realize how cold I really am and start shivering. All part of the fun.

-- Joel.

[carl20171]

I find somewhere in the low 20's it gets a little too cold for me. The wind is the worst though. I was out in 23 degrees last week for about 5 hours but  when it is windy I have trouble below 30. I have learned as I am sure my friends in the UK already know that nothing beats a autosave routine where I only have to set up and start a 1 hour photo session then just go outside to check on clouds etc.