Clear skies... when is it worth trying to image?

[JR1987]

So last week and the week before the clear nights were plentiful..and it was frustrating because so was the moon! 

The moon is rising about 1am now so that leaves plenty of time without the glow, however.. Ive been getting so frustrated trying to 

photograph anything recently, its like everything is trying to stand in my way, if its not gusts of wind blowing the scope around its a battery running flat, or PHD crashing. 

I have a Friday night to myself, the skies are clear... but simply taking a look at Sirius and you can see it is like a damn rainbow. Probably due to it being windy.

Is there any point even setting up on nights like this where the seeing is poor? It seems like there is never a right night for astrophotography 

[wuthton]

Is there any point even setting up on nights like this where the seeing is poor? It seems like there is never a right night for astrophotography 

Yes there is! I can't remember which night but one recently had a so-so forecast but turned out to be an absolute belter for me, crystal clear and still. Although the flip side is all those cracking forecasts that turn to naught.

[Leveye]

Oh I've been there.Nights where everything seemed to go wrong. Gear and the weather. I always learn from it. Take the good with the bad and never give up!

[sgazer]

Most months for the last 6 years I've gone out on a clear night and wondered who had their flood light on. The full moon definitely clears the clouds on both sides of the planet.

[Astrosurf]

It's a right pain, I agree. If it's not one thing it's another. My group were out last night and I was unwell, sigh.

I've added Ha imaging now, as it allows me to image even when the Moon's out, but my second-hand Atik, the filters and wheel weren't cheap. Before I got that kit I was sold an Ha filter that someone had cobbled together from a 1.25" filter which he glued into some roughly-cut rubber as a collar so it could be fitted like a clip-in filter. I inserted that behind a 200mm lens in my modded DSLR and it took quite good pics! The lens was essential to keep the filter in so I couldn't do prime focus or the filter would have fallen out, but at least it was a cheap alternative! This is a pic I took:

Alexxx

[lensman57]

So last week and the week before the clear nights were plentiful..and it was frustrating because so was the moon! 

The moon is rising about 1am now so that leaves plenty of time without the glow, however.. Ive been getting so frustrated trying to 

photograph anything recently, its like everything is trying to stand in my way, if its not gusts of wind blowing the scope around its a battery running flat, or PHD crashing. 

I have a Friday night to myself, the skies are clear... but simply taking a look at Sirius and you can see it is like a damn rainbow. Probably due to it being windy.

Is there any point even setting up on nights like this where the seeing is poor? It seems like there is never a right night for astrophotography 

Unfortunately I have come to learn that " clear skies " as used by weather forecast station and TV presenters do not exactly mean the same thing to Astro imagers. Last night was forecast to be clear all night till early hours of the morning and it was but I took one look at the stars and the LP glow and came in for a glass of wine. It was murky and the whole sky was glowing an orange hue, Jupiter and a few of the brighter stars were visible but that was it. It would have been a waste of time even getting the Binos out for observing. I have only had a handful of proper clear nights in the last 18 months or so of imaging and I could count them on the fingers of my left hand with a few to spare.

Regards,

A.G

[PorkyB]

if the BBC internet weather forecast says "Clear sky" and rates the visibility as "Very good" or "Excellent", and it's not too windy, and the humidity is under 90%, and the Moon is less than half lit, then I find it's worth a try.  MetCheck also does a good astronomy forecast with percentage cloud at different levels and a variety of sky quality indeces.  If both sites agree then I make the trip out to my dark site.

Last night BBC said clear all night, but visibility was "Moderate" and humidity was over 90% - I nearly got lost in the fog!