weather and astro

[nightfisher]

Just letting a little steam of, this has to be the worst year so far for me and astro thanks to the great Queensbury weather, i think i can honestly say i have only used a scope maybe 3 or 4 times this year

not done any Luna imaging, or if i have it was so long ago i have forgotten, barely even seen the moon this year, other than a few times during the day, i had been toying with getting an ST120 but this is on hold for the foreseeable and TBH on this batting average i just as well sell up surplus kit  and just stick to one scope-will make a decision on this later in the year, lets see what late Autumn brings, the trouble is we are very high up and this brings more than our fair share of wind rain and cloud, or thick mist

Sorry for sounding negative but this is getting to be a joke (bad one at that)

My friend that lives a couple of hundred yards away has sold nearly all his astro kit due to weather 

Rant over, just getting it of my chest

[cloudsweeper]

That's OK, Jules - I'm sure a great many of us feel the same way!  I haven't had a good session for ages.  So the other day I was thrilled to see the Moon, but only for a few minutes before clouds covered it.

And I recently bought a laptop, partly to host Stellarium for use outside, and I'm itching to use it there.

I won't go as far as selling up, but who's buying astro gear at the moment anyway?

Doug.

[DRT]

I can certainly empathise, Jules. The year has been a washout here too and if it wasn't for the relative success I have had with solar observing over the summer my scopes would have been very lightly used.

Let's hope the autumn brings us more friendly skies

 

[nightfisher]

Derek, i really hope so, at the moment i dont see any reason to keep the heard when the 150 pro and eq5 would do for the rare night with no clouds

[Roy Challen]

Yeah, been a very poor year so far in Watford. I've only had the scope out a couple of times, and even then it wasn't worth it. Last nights Perseids were a total waste of time, as soon as it got dark the clouds arrived.

Really glad I have two trips abroad later this year.

[Fozzie]

I can totally relate Jules.. Our sky's are probably very similar being that we're about 30mins drive apart or so.. This year has been abysmal weather thus far, and I've personally managed a handful of solar and even less night observing..

In fact the last time I went out at night it was an exercise in frustration and difficulty for so many reason.. It felt like everything was out of sync, from alignment of the RDF to getting crisp focus to finding a comfortable viewing position, I was all over the place.. However saying that, and as I don't use goto, I bagged the blue snowball for the first time which I put down as a big win considering how bad I was going!

Ive only been observing since 2014 and I've never in my life been so dismayed with weather but then I've not really ever paid that much attention with the sky as I do now.. 

I'm hopeful of a better autumn winter season, dark earlier significantly increases our opportunities to get out, especially with early work starts and a little one.. 

Time will come again.. Maybe we're just not summer observer's! 

I'm showing a bit of clear tomorrow night so planning for a moon shot then! Looking forward to it too..

So yeah I can emphasise.. 

Clear sky's Jules!

Fozzie

[astro mick]

I agree,its been an absolute terrible year for Astronomy,and the weather in general.

Grey cloud vitually all the time,with the odd sunny day making an appearance.

In saying this,i bet the next clear night will be when the Moon is full !!!

[nightfisher]

7 minutes ago, Fozzie said:

I can totally relate Jules.. Our sky's are probably very similar being that we're about 30mins drive apart or so.. This year has been abysmal weather thus far, and I've personally managed a handful of solar and even less night observing..

In fact the last time I went out at night it was an exercise in frustration and difficulty for so many reason.. It felt like everything was out of sync, from alignment of the RDF to getting crisp focus to finding a comfortable viewing position, I was all over the place.. However saying that, and as I don't use goto, I bagged the blue snowball for the first time which I put down as a big win considering how bad I was going!

Ive only been observing since 2014 and I've never in my life been so dismayed with weather but then I've not really ever paid that much attention with the sky as I do now.. 

I'm hopeful of a better autumn winter season, dark earlier significantly increases our opportunities to get out, especially with early work starts and a little one.. 

Time will come again.. Maybe we're just not summer observer's! 

I'm showing a bit of clear tomorrow night so planning for a moon shot then! Looking forward to it too..

So yeah I can emphasise.. 

Clear sky's Jules!

Fozzie

Yes work can get in the way, so i dont get the chance to do astro on a "school night" during the summer/long days!

I did the right thing getting into flying multi rotors, at least i can enjoy this hobby when its cloudy just not in wind and rain

with luck the weather will play ball at SGL X11 and we will get some good skies but i feel i am forgetting most of what i learned, dont know a milky way from a mars bar now 

[callisto]

Same up here...... I kid you not, It's been wall to wall grey skies, rain and wind up here for nearly 2 weeks now. I would think it was about November-December if I never looked at my calendar 

[Gina]

Absolutely!!!  It's so long since I've done any imaging that I've forgotten how to do it.  So much so in fact that I'm starting again with different software.  I'm changing from Windows to Linux.  This long break provides the ideal opportunity - less chance of getting confused with what I did before.

[Tomjo59]

It has been very poor, hasn't it?  Last winter was awful - those cold, clear nights we really appreciate were almost absent - just mild, cloudy, rainy. I just want our climate to get back to something more 'normal'.

 

[ollypenrice]

Our spring (in SE France) was very disappointing this year but June, July and August have had me on my knees with clear skies! Tom O'Donoghue and group have been here for the last three weeks and we've nailed over 150 hours of deep sky data (three rigs.) The June into July new moon bagged over 100 hours. The weather has been different, though. We expect August to be hot - in the thirties - and it has been sometimes but then a north wind will blow and it drops into the twenties. So, for us, a poor spring but an excellent summer. Long may it continue! (By the way, knocking off early this morning at 5.00am after DS imaging and Perseid spotting we could see the whole of Orion in the east. Brrrr...... Winter!

Olly

[DRT]

42 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Our spring (in SE France) was very disappointing this year but June, July and August have had me on my knees with clear skies! Tom O'Donoghue and group have been here for the last three weeks and we've nailed over 150 hours of deep sky data (three rigs.) The June into July new moon bagged over 100 hours. The weather has been different, though. We expect August to be hot - in the thirties - and it has been sometimes but then a north wind will blow and it drops into the twenties. So, for us, a poor spring but an excellent summer. Long may it continue! (By the way, knocking off early this morning at 5.00am after DS imaging and Perseid spotting we could see the whole of Orion in the east. Brrrr...... Winter!

Olly

I am very pleased to hear that you have had a great summer, Olly, but given Jules' desperate state your post is verging on schadenfreude

Orion? I didn't even know it had breached the horizon yet! Many more weeks need to go by before it clears the trees and houses to my east and south before I will see it again

 

[ollypenrice]

No, when we are going through a cloudy patch we need to hear that other people are confirming that the stars are still there!

Jules, they will be back....

Olly

[iPeace]

Ah, so it's actually the weather? That explains a lot. I thought I just wasn't trying hard enough.

[DRT]

This is proof that if you buy enough telescopes and eyepieces often enough the weather gods will reward you...

 

[iPeace]

Honestly, though, this is my first year in astronomy. It's never been any better for me. How can my glass be anything less than half full? My cup runneth over!

Hang in there Jules!

[SilverAstro]

Huh, Orion ! I'm only just acquiring Vega

[DaveS]

The trouble with this weather is, it makes sacrificing imaging time / nights to sort out new kit or experiment with existing kit very painful.

It may be worth it in the long run, but on this wet rock the long run can feel like a marathon.

[nightfisher]

10 hours ago, iPeace said:

Honestly, though, this is my first year in astronomy. It's never been any better for me. How can my glass be anything less than half full? My cup runneth over!

Hang in there Jules!

Yes, as always im hanging in there, it seems my location is plagued with poor weather, still there is always next weekend, and i hear a heat wave is on its way, guess that means queensbury will be damp and cloudy with mega high humidity 

[ronin]

I suspect that if imaging is what draws you then it is very difficult, especially when better means RGB which close to quadruples the time required.

For the simpler visual I really think that a small grab and run out side scope is what is required, someone put a WO 66 on a good photo tripod and they are likely going to see more then anyone with a large scope. A big scope strikes me a bit like one of the the big American RV's very nice but used 3 or 4 times a year. Most time you would jump in the Aygo for shopping etc just about every day of the week.

If you want a goto and/or tracking option then maybe a 66mm or 72mm on an iOptron SmartEQ. Rough polar alignment and get looking, Setup might take 10-15 minutes, forget cool down and everything else, 3 eyepieces and put eye to eyepiece.

Weather wise I would like to know what is defined as "Clear". Fog is horizontal visibility of less the 1Km if I recall and I guess there is a definition for Clear, but I do not think it matches the Astronomical requirements of Clear. Also if it is astronomically clear at 1:00am untill 4:00am I would never be aware of it.

Having somewhere to go and observe is another factor, somewhere easy and with some facilities such as access, reasonable parking, half reasonable observing area. I read often of people trying to find some out of the way bit of inaccessable field to set a scope in. That just makes this hobby difficult. Perhaps we need to drop the "Must be Dark" attitude, just find somewhere to observe from. I often use a small area 20 feet off a main road, although there is a hedge, and 200 yards from a big motorway junction. The view East towards the junction is not exactly good but the overall views are better then a garden, darker then the garden, lower horizons and it is observing. The Cambridge Club meet at the University site and that has light pollution, lots of it, but when cloud premits they are out there as are the University Asrtro Club (CUAS) itself.

Basically in terms of weather and LP perfection we are not going to get.

 

[nightfisher]

Good post Ronin, makes a lot of sense, have to say my little TS 80 gives me great views and being F7.5 CA is not a major problem with it, set up on AZ4 is seconds silly idea of getting a second one of these and making a bino frac

[DRT]

Clear Outside promised me clear skies from 23:00 last night until dawn this morning - see the picture I posted a few posts above.

I sat up watching the Olympics until 4am. I stuck my head out the back door every 20 to 30 minutes from 23:00 until I went to bed and I didn't see a single patch of clear sky.

Perhaps I shouldn't get too excited about what that picture above suggests I should expect tonight

 

[iPeace]

8 minutes ago, nightfisher said:

Good post Ronin, makes a lot of sense, have to say my little TS 80 gives me great views and being F7.5 CA is not a major problem with it, set up on AZ4 is seconds silly idea of getting a second one of these and making a bino frac

I love that silly idea. Can't wait to see the pictures of it.

[nightfisher]

11 minutes ago, iPeace said:

I love that silly idea. Can't wait to see the pictures of it.

the big problem to overcome is mounting it, it would need to be on a home made alt az