So it's like that, is it?

[JamesF]

Clear sky forecast here from 10pm today until the small hours tomorrow, so I thought I'd get out to the (as yet unfinished) observatory and set up what kit I could to have a bit of a play.

Well, 10pm came and went and all that happened was that the cloud cover increased.  And I really do mean that's all that happened.  It is absolutely silent.  Not even a fox howling or a pheasant shifting in the trees or a badger snuffling about looking for food.  You could hear a pin drop a mile away.  I checked the forecast again.  Clear from 11pm now.  Gah!  So I relaxed for half an hour idly watching the sky and rather pleasingly caught the ISS emerging from the cloud in the west, before similarly disappearing in the east.  But the sky was still quite overcast so I came inside for a while.  Checked the forecast again.  Now it's not forecast to be clear until midnight, and now only for an hour

Most irritating.  I can't decide at the moment whether to give it up as a bad job on the assumption that actually it won't be clear at midnight after all, or stick with it in case the sky does actually clear.

James

[Seanelly]

My opinion is you should find that pin you heard drop and stick with it.

Edited May 25, 2019 by Seanelly

[Ibbo!]

Take your drink of choice and go sit out and enjoy the quiet.

 

[upahill]

About 60% cloud cover here, taking the opportunity to practice some focusing in between clouds but pretty much given up on the idea of any imaging happening anytime soon.

Forecasts seem to be pretty much random guesses at the moment.

[JamesF]

I seem to have got a clear patch for the moment, but only above about 40 degrees.  Below that it's a bit random.  Did catch part of another ISS pass though.  It's been quite some time since I saw two in one night, so not all bad

Just playing with the DSLR and timer at the moment, taking 1 min subs for some star trails.   Could do with going to get a jacket, but I'll be in-shot...

James

[upahill]

Oooh just caught starlink going past. Made my night since I was busy packing away gear in a huff.

Silver lining I guess

[JamesF]

Yes, I'm going to jack it in shortly.  I've lost view of pretty much everything to the south now.

James

[JamesF]

And that's it.  Too much cloud to do anything useful now.  I did catch Jupiter very low in the south just before I closed the observatory roof, but only naked eye.  Perhaps I'll try to mount up the C9.25 tomorrow.  The forecasters are threatening a few hours of clear sky tomorrow night.

James

[Hughsie]

Just checked the BBC weather website for tonights forecast. It shows it being clear sky from 10pm to 1am.....with a 13% chance of rain. Forgive because I am no meteorologist here but if it rains there must be clouds so it cant be a clear sky. If its a clear sky there are no clouds so I guess no rain?

A more apt forecast from the boffins at the BBC should be ;

It will be cloudy with clear skies with a chance of fog, rain, snow, hail, frost, bright sunshine, hurricanes....... between 10pm and 1am. 

PS don't forget the sun tan lotion.

[Kev M]

I have found that the change in air pressure caused by opening the roof on my obsy causing a low pressure effect that sucks over the nearest clouds. 😉 

[Dinglem]

It's showing in both clear outsde and the BBC that it will be clear here from 17:00 to midnight, now all I have to do is remember how to use my gear it must be covered in cobwebs.

[JamesF]

Looking fairly grim here at the moment and there's a distinct "on the point of tipping down" feel about the air, but the forecast is for near completely clear sky from before sunset to after sunrise.  Perhaps I should abandon the day and go back to bed until this evening :)

James

[Gina]

If you do that it's bound to be cloudy tonight!!

[Kev M]

1 hour ago, Dinglem said:

It's showing in both clear outsde and the BBC that it will be clear here from 17:00 to midnight, now all I have to do is remember how to use my gear it must be covered in cobwebs.

Lets see.....I am about 40 mile north from you...I will try and open my obsy quickly and suck the clouds away from you...🌤️

 

[JamesF]

Well, they've done the same with the forecast as last night.  Originally clear from 8pm, then 9pm, and now "Maybe not.  10pm ok with you?"

It is starting to clear now however.  Someone needs to "have a word" about all these aeroplanes though.

James

[geoflewis]

It’s cleared out here in the last half hour or so. The Obs roof is open, so I hope to be out there imaging in about 90 mins from now. If all goes well it will likely be some more low down globs with the C14.  M4 which I’ve imaged once before with the 4” APO and then M19, which will be a new target for me. Both hover around 10 deg altitude from my location, so challenging targets....

Geof

[JamesF]

So depending on the seeing they'll quite possibly end up dirty low-down globs...

Good luck with it.  I don't have much of a window for that altitude from my observatory unless I get medieval on a few trees.  I may well do that in time, given that most of them are sycamore and therefore barely above "weed" in status.

James

[geoflewis]

Well that didn't go as well as planned. The sky was clear at 11pm and just about dark enough to try imaging, so I started by capturing M10 while I waited for M4 and M19 to gain altitude. I missed the slot for M4, so went after M19, a new target for me, but after only 8x120s on red, I lost that target too. I wasn't sure whther it was increasing cloud at the horizon, as nearby Jupiter looked as if it was being seen through cloud, or whether M19 had gone behind my neighbours trees, which is what I suspect. The net is I didn't get what I was after, so I will have to hope for another night. I spent the next half hour or so messing around with some test subs on M51, which I've also never captured with the C14, but it soon became apparant that indeed the entire sky was clouding over, so at around 2am I gave up and shut everything down.

C'est la vie, Geof

[JamesF]

Yes, I ended up calling it a day at around 1:30am as cloud was starting to build up again.  Overall I'd say it was better than the previous night though.  Definitely less hazy, though still a fair bit of brightness over from the direction of Taunton.

James

[Gina]

It was clear here at 1am.  As I saw from my bedroom window.  Jupiter was shining brightly though at a low angle.

[JamesF]

It was indeed.  It wasn't until a little later that cloud was starting to drift in from the north-west and from sat24 it looked as though there was a fair bit of it so I decided I could live with calling it a night.

James