Feel "guilty" missing clear skies

[kirkster501]

Do you guys get that as well?  It's been clear last two nights but I have not felt so good this last few days and been in bed at 10:30 and don't want to stay up.  Still doesn't stop me feeling "guilty".  I know that the stars will still be there but, nonetheless, hate missing out on observing and imaging opportunities when we get them so infrequently!

[mark81]

I used to feel like that all the time.  But the last thing you want to do is turn this hobby into a chore.  So now, if it's clear and I don't really want to go out..... I just don't. It makes me enjoy it even more when I do venture outside...

[Ferre]

Sounds familiar Yesterday evening the sky was clear when we came home very late but I was exhausted. Still felt guilty about it, even now

 

[lukebl]

I get this. Really looking forward to darker evenings so I don't have to wait so long.

I'm not a night owl. I think I've picked the wrong hobby but it's too late to change now!

[Beulah]

Yup, wanted a first light on a new dob but after a very physically active day, was too tired to make the trip. Day job also gets in the way!😁

[DaveS]

Yeah, same here. Had a few late nights on the trot so didn't feel like starting a 2 or 3 hour  run at 12 o/c when the moon had set. I could, perhaps have set up an automated run, but don't quite trust the software yet. I would still have had t go out to close everything up.

[Craney]

Yes,   even more so since having a pier and OTA  covered up 'primed' for action.  

Also, I have a partner who likes her cuddles and me faffing around til 3 in the morning sometimes creates extra issues, especially when clear Moonless nights coincide with weekends and holidays.

  " The course of true love never did run smooth ".      (  that's not me and the scope,  just to be clear .....)

[PeterCPC]

It's not compulsory 😁. Just enjoy it when you do go out.

Peter

[Gina]

I took a couple of years off!  Now I've got the bug back but trying to control myself and not "play" if I'm too tired or don't feel like it.  As said above "It'd not compulsory" but I know what you mean.

[Paul M]

As a guesstimate, I've turned out for less than 10% of the clear skies I've been available for. My biggest obstruction to setting up a telescope these days is shift work. The fatigue just kills it.

Hopefully we'll have a few good nights coming up. I'm off for 2 weeks!

 

[kirkster501]

3 hours ago, lukebl said:

I get this. Really looking forward to darker evenings so I don't have to wait so long.

I'm not a night owl. I think I've picked the wrong hobby but it's too late to change now!

Yep that's the issue in Summer.  Had it been dark earlier yesterday then I would have probably got some observing in.  But when its 9:00 PM by the time it's dark enough, sometimes if I am feeling a bit under the weather, like I was yesterday I just CBA and veg out on the sofa (couch) instead.

[Gina]

I have the advantage that I am a night owl.  Barely wake up until midday!!  If I haven't tired myself out during the day I really come awake around 11pm 😁

[Les Ewan]

The trouble is good nights are too damn rare to miss. I'm lucky I have a sliding roof and equipment set up ready for use  just a few yards from my back door.

If tired after work why not have a few hours sleep in the evening and set the alarm clock for say midnight and get 2 or 3 hours observing then.Its a bit of a risk if its a starry winters evening and it clouds over before the alarm goes off ,but if it works out you often get the best observing conditions  after midnight,and in the early hours.

[DaveS]

I'm feeling increasingly annoyed with myself for wimping out last night. OK, the forecast wasn't brilliant, but we've had those before with the night better than forecast, and I might *just* have been able to collect the Luminance data I so desperately need on Stephan and Deer, especially it I'd set an automatic close-down routine in Sequence, and trusted it. It would have had to start about 12 o/c given the moon, and no filter, and ended sometime after 3 o/c.

Don't know now when I'll be able to finish the image.

[Beulah]

38 minutes ago, DaveS said:

I'm feeling increasingly annoyed with myself for wimping out last night.

Yes, me too.. I was going to go out tonight to try again but have to plan for an astronomy event. Ohhh, the irony... 

[tomato]

I’m feeling  more frustrated than guilty in that I haven’t finished construction of my permanent Obs since moving house, as I’d rather put my energies into getting that up and running rather than continue with set and take down every session. 

However, there does seem to have been quite a few clear nights in the last 4 weeks or so...

[Gina]

Seems perfectly reasonable to me.  In fact I've often felt the same.

[mike chadwick]

The way I see it is this if you observe when you want to and not because you feel you have to 

you. / I  will enjoy the observing that you do more as you have a more relaxed frame of mind 

observing when you want to and. Not through some obligation as you may have other priorities 

[Paz]

Clear sky nights are in the minority where I live but I will skip an observing opportunity if work or family commitments clash, or if I can't afford to be tired.

Yesterday I did a bit of solar in the day, then lunar/planets at dusk, and then set up my mount in the back garden to do some doubles later. But I could tell I was tired so in the end I brought my kit back in and made sure I good a goods nights sleep.

Edited September 8, 2019 by Paz

[Stub Mandrel]

Sometimes I feel a bit guilty, but the objective is to enjoy myself, so why bother if I don't feel up to a late night?

[Gina]

Agreed!

[Alan White]

If it's clear and it fits with me I observe.
If it's clear and it does not fit with me I don't observe.

Do I worry about this, in all honesty, yes sometimes,
but not for 90% of the time as the sky will wait.
 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Alan White

[Rob Sellent]

I guess being in Spain there are slightly more sunny days and clearer nights, but even so, I'm not bothered if I've taken advantage of them, or not. I also enjoy a little house and garden work, painting miniature figures, scale modelling, sitting quietly, listening to music, going out for meals and just putting my feet up and doing nothing. If I do any one of them, the others don't get their pride of place, and if I started feeling guilty every time that happened, I think I'd go slightly mad . 

[Mognet]

I don't tend to worry too much as there will be other clear nights. It's not like the sky is going to vanish any time soon

[kirkster501]

8 hours ago, Mognet said:

I don't tend to worry too much as there will be other clear nights. It's not like the sky is going to vanish any time soon

If this global warming carries on, they may well do.

Feeling a little bit better now.  I had some sort of bug that my daughter brought home from school, typically over the weekend.  However, three precious clear nights lost   Wanted to bag the Little Sombrero galaxy in AP and do some observing in Cygnus/Cepheus region  

Anyway, they will still be there when it's next clear (won't they?)!