Clear skies. Full moon. Do you bother?

[Datalord]

So, I have this situation:

What do you do? Set it up and deal with the gradients? Chill and drink whisky instead?

[geordie85]

Set up and image through my 3nm Ha filter. 

[Craney]

If I drink too much whiskey,  even a horizontal bed feels like a gradient.....🤪

 

[Datalord]

Hmm, I already have 11 hours Ha on the tadpoles. I need O3 and S2... 😐

[MarcusH]

Set up, tear down, general tweaking, pec training, testing new gear / setup / software, collimation....

Essentially anything that I wouldn't want to waste a perfect dark night on.

Mind you, that part about the whisky sounds tempting, too 😁

[Datalord]

I have a robotic gig in e-Eye, though. I just have to decide whether to shoot or not... 😅

[RT65CB-SWL]

Clear skies, full Moon, etc., what are they?

Seriously, I have had so much cloud during the past few months; I have forgotten what the night sky looks like! 

☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️

☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️ 🔭 ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️

[Jkulin]

I tend to shoot Ha and SII when a full moon and the OIII when the moon is out of the way.

Good Choma Filters really help.

[Datalord]

Well, I did shoot yesterday, and a good thing I did. The forecast shows clouds for the next week, but I think I got enough O3 and S2 yesterday to finish. 

[CloudMagnet]

I'm just happy to have a clear night at all to be honest . It is still worth it, particularly if the target is far away from the moon.

It is also a good time to practice with new equipment or work on new techniques, so no night should go to waste

[banjaxed]

I am more than happy just to look at the moon 🙂

[Ceramus]

Enjoy a wee dram of that nice malt in the light of the full moon...

[Ouroboros]

Around the time of full Moon Lady Ouroborus manacles me in the cellar and hopes the neighbours don't complain too much about the howling. 

[Dixie]

I'll accept anything at the moment.  Dead loss this winter has been and tonight has descended into rain - would you ******* believe it!!! 

[Datalord]

37 minutes ago, Dixie said:

Dead loss this winter has been and tonight has descended into rain - would you ******* believe it!!! 

Exactly why I decided to go with e-Eye. All that expensive equipment unused.

[jjosefsen]

10 hours ago, Datalord said:

Exactly why I decided to go with e-Eye. All that expensive equipment unused.

I completely understand, but the price tag for a setup down there though... ouch..

This fall/winther has made me question if it is even worth it to pursue this hobby up here. No darkness during summer, and rain / clouds during the winther.

[AbsolutelyN]

Clear skies are so rare these days I usually do some HA imaging if I can but didn't bother last night as it was only very very intermittently clear.

[Datalord]

3 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

No darkness during summer, and rain / clouds during the winthe

Yeah, the other benefit of Spain is that the summer nights are still about 8 hours of astro dark. It really helped me get my gear used. Yes, it's expensive, no doubt about it, but it is that or giving up. I haven't used my UK rig since summer because it isn't worth the aggravation at the clouds here. 

[steppenwolf]

On 11/01/2020 at 18:27, geordie85 said:

Set up and image through my 3nm Ha filter. 

+1 😎

[jjosefsen]

17 minutes ago, Datalord said:

Yeah, the other benefit of Spain is that the summer nights are still about 8 hours of astro dark. It really helped me get my gear used. Yes, it's expensive, no doubt about it, but it is that or giving up. I haven't used my UK rig since summer because it isn't worth the aggravation at the clouds here. 

Yeah that might be where I eventually end up down the road as well (in many years when I can afford it), but I would feel bad about putting an EQ6 and a couple of cheapo fracs into a place like that.

[TerryMcK]

On 11/01/2020 at 17:40, Datalord said:

So, I have this situation:

What do you do? Set it up and deal with the gradients? Chill and drink whisky instead?

I image with a Triband Filter. It works great even under full moon. Then while the images are coming down I drink rum 😄

 

Edit: However as others have already said this winter has been dire. I can only remember one clear night so far.

Edited January 13, 2020 by TerryMcK

[tomato]

I’d image whenever you can, clear nights in the UK are too precious to waste.

NB makes sense but it’s still worth doing LRGB, the subs will be sub optimum but you can still check you rig is working as it should in all other respects, so you don’t waste those rare, clear and moonless nights.

[Datalord]

Thanks all, I ended up setting it up the past two nights and now I have 11 hours of O3 and S2 bin2 data on the tadpoles. 😎

[Jkulin]

Well it's now 2 weeks since my op and I was desperate to take my mind off the pain, so I managed just 7 x 1200s of Ha on M1, I lost a load of subs due to clouds, but it was just a pleasure to get out and do some imaging, hopefully get my OIII and SII over the next couple of weeks: -

NB. Yep just because there is a full moon doesn't stop me, I just choose my subject differently.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Jkulin

[DaveS]

Although I have tried [SII] under the full moon, I found the subs rubbish, even with a 3nm Astrodon, and I wouldn't even consider [OIII]. HII is OK, [NII] maybe if you have it and the target shows a strong signal, perhaps M27 or other brightish PN.

TBH, my last experience may have been atypical, as I think there was some very thin high cloud that was being lit by the moon and was making the sky very luminous.