Does it *ever* get relaxing?

[Trikeflyer]

8 minutes ago, cletrac1922 said:

Breaking news

NASA is launching a new probe to our sun called Parker Solar Probe later this year

NASA have invited astronomy communities members world wide to submit their name, to be included on microchip on the probe, and then print a VIP Boarding Pass

 

http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/The-Mission/Name-to-Sun/

 

John

Thanks for sharing, I'm onboard ?

[Demonperformer]

6 hours ago, cletrac1922 said:

NASA have invited astronomy communities members world wide to submit their name, to be included on microchip on the probe, and then print a VIP Boarding Pass

They did something similar with a Mars probe a number of years back.

I'm sure that's how my name got on all the Martian junk mail lists ...

[JOC]

Errr...is there a tenuous link between the mars probe chip and the thread that I've missed?

[Demonperformer]

It wasa response to cletrac's comment. 

[russ]

I think all depends on what you are trying to get from the hobby. For me imaging was never relaxing, it was rarely enjoyable. DSO hunts were frustrating because my skies couldn’t deliver. But an early morning start, a couple of hours before work, just trawling the sky, no hard and fast plan. No human activity, maybe just a few birds. That was the very definition of relaxing and chilled. 

Going out again last week for the first time in 4 years reminded of how relaxing this hobby can be. 

It sounds like you maybe adding extra pressure to yourself. There’s no need. I found with a young family that the morning before work was the best time. Everyone was fast asleep, I could take my time, there was no pressure to get back in because it was bathing time or my wife was neglected. My skies are rubbish which was highly frustrating. But open clusters, Globs, double stars all still looked great. The planets had their problems but I never let it bother me. If I got a view that was ace, if not there was always next time. Because time is on your side. There’s always a next time. 

[rockystar]

Been reading this thread for a while now, thought I'd chime in

For me, the relaxing sessions come after I've put in hard work and had frustrating sessions. The hard work starts to pay off, things are more easily found and/or observed and everything just kicks into place. 

Now I've got a bit more experience, and started looking for objects that are a bit trickier, the hard work starts again, but now i can fall back on the previous hard work, leave the tricky and  have an easy and relaxing session.

The club I attend has weekly open observing sessions under LP skies (weather permitting), I don't get there every week, but when I do I find showing newbies the easy stuff, imparting my knowledge and helping beginners very relaxing. 

[Sunshine]

 These barriers you face are just the usual for nearly everyone i'm sure, there will be a time, soon enough, when you find yourself with a couple of hours to burn and a beautiful 

sky above, everything will then fall into place. I have dropped out of the hobby for years at a time, so caught up in study, work, etc, but i have never forgotten why i love looking through my scopes. Give yourself time my friend and don't look at it as something that is there to provide you with entertainment like a show, look at it more like the boat in the bottle you build a bit at a time until its done and only then will you realize why it was all worth the effort. My parents were always the most dedicated bird watchers, they would travel hours to watch a particular bird migrate, from here to there, and could name every bird in the sky and its habits. I believe, what ultimately made it so rewarding for them was that fact that they knew what they were looking at so well, i find that is the same for me and my love for the heavens. The more i wonder and learn about what i'm looking at, the more rewarding it is when i see it myself, my neighbours must think i am crazy, they watch me drag my scope out countless times only to see me rush back in 20 min later for some reason or another. 

Never will that sway me from doing it again, the next day, because when i do finally catch that glimpse of the Orion nebula i find myself lost in its splendour as if 'm seeing it for the first time again. I understand its incredible size, its distance, the fact that it is a stellar nursery, it is over 20 light years across! i find it far more rewarding knowing this otherwise it would just be a fuzzy blob. 

Don't be discouraged my friend, soon enough, maybe next week? you'll find yourself awestruck by something you've seen through your scope, and even more once you fully grasp what you've seen, all your questions will be answered.

welcome to the hobby my friend!

[Demonperformer]

9 hours ago, rockystar said:

For me, the relaxing sessions come after I've put in hard work and had frustrating sessions. The hard work starts to pay off, things are more easily found and/or observed and everything just kicks into place.

As someone once said, the only place 'success' comes before 'work' is in the dictionary

[Girders]

Oh dear.  When I started this thread at the end of February I wasn't expecting my observing to become quite *this* relaxed.  So relaxed in fact that it's been entirely non-existent ever since!  Not through lack of interest but through lack of anything approaching clear skies.

But early this morning I finally got out again.  Despite making the rookie error of not checking the battery on the red dot finder, I had an enjoyable hour or so in the cold.  Partly following the tips in the thread, and partly by the necessity of not having a working RDF, I just stuck with Jupiter.  With no pressure of chasing "the next target" it was definitely more relaxing and I think I will try to do this going forward.  

Thanks again to all who contributed.  Fingers crossed it won't be as long until my next session!

[25585]

36 minutes ago, Girders said:

Oh dear.  When I started this thread at the end of February I wasn't expecting my observing to become quite *this* relaxed.  So relaxed in fact that it's been entirely non-existent ever since!  Not through lack of interest but through lack of anything approaching clear skies.

But early this morning I finally got out again.  Despite making the rookie error of not checking the battery on the red dot finder, I had an enjoyable hour or so in the cold.  Partly following the tips in the thread, and partly by the necessity of not having a working RDF, I just stuck with Jupiter.  With no pressure of chasing "the next target" it was definitely more relaxing and I think I will try to do this going forward.  

Thanks again to all who contributed.  Fingers crossed it won't be as long until my next session!

Maybe your thread should be titled "Does it ever get less exasperating?"

[wok]

I only have my first scope since a few weeks, but every time I use it, its pure joy. I live in whats call a "microclimate", and dark and clear skies are very common here, I guess if I had to wait or drive a lot to get dark skies, I would feel different.

Sometimes, when family comes for dinner for example, I take the scope out, and only use it like once every 20 minutes, try to find a nice view and call the family so they can check it out. Other times I use it for only 15 minutes to watch the moon, and other times I would stay up until 5am pointing it at random places.

So far, I haven't done much planning, I just take the scope out and scan the sky, trying to learn where common objects are. Only the last session I set the task of finding a specific star (where a nova was supposed to be near). My equipment is pretty basic, an 8'' dobs, straight 9x50 finderscope, 25mm, 10mm, 6.5mm and 2x barlow, it was quite hard finding the star, but once I did, it was really rewarding. But even if I didn't find it, I wouldn't feel bad about it. I still got to see other great views and learn a little more of what I was observing.

Like I said, I am lucky that the skies here are pretty good for observing, if they wasn't I think I would also be a little stressed, feeling I HAVE to go out just because of the opportunity of a clear sky. I'd say, don't go out only because there are clear skies if you don't feel like doing it. There will be more good skies in the future, and the stars will still be there.

[Demonperformer]

Glad you had a good Jupiter session. There is always a lot to see on Jupy and it is an object that really benefits from spending time - definitely a "the more you look the more you see" type of object. It is good you are beginning to find what works for you ... this is, after all, a hobby ...

[Ande]

If you own an Amazon Alexa, and want to be really pushed over the edge, ask her for the 7-day weather forecast.  I just did, and she gave me this:

Wednesday - 7 degrees and rainy weather

Thursday - 8 degrees and showers

Friday - 9 degrees and showers

Saturday 8 degrees and showers

Sunday - 8 degrees and intermittent clouds

Monday - 7 degrees and showers

Tuesday - 12 degrees and showers

 

I don't know whether to laugh or cry  

[25585]

I use the BBC Weather app. No more clear skies in March at least.