The Weather

[keora]

I've been looking at the stars for over a year using binoculars, and at the beginning of October I bought a basic telescope. Since then the weather has been unsuitable for stagazing - night after night there's been thick cloud. I've been out with the telescope a few times and given up because of drifting cloud, or a thin haze which hides most of the starts. I tried last night to find the Andromeda Galaxy. I could see Mars in the South and Orion in the South East with the naked eye. But identification of the dimmer stars such as Pisces and Pegasus was difficult. The full moon didn't help

I'm using Clear Outside and an early evening BBC TV regional forecast to get an idea of the conditions.  I've got Sky Safari on a tablet. Is there anything that I can do  decide if it's worth going out?  I wondered about finding the Pole Star as an indicator to the clarity of the sky - but it's hard to see it where I live because of street lighting.

I would be interested to hear members' views on how to overcome poor visibility.

[TerryMcK]

It’s a pain at the moment. We can’t even travel to other countries to escape the constant gloomy skies.

I’ve not known it be this bad for a longtime. Last time I was out imaging was late September. Some members with permanent observatories have been able to take advantages when they arise. I use ScopeNights which is a paid for app on Apple and that is generally very good. Meteoblue is also another good app.
ClearOutside has been a bit hit and miss for me recently but others seem to use that.

[banjaxed]

As TerryMcK said the weather has been particularly bad for some time now and doesn’t seem to be improving. Unfortunately it is virtually impossible to predict what the weather will be like IMO as there are so many variables. As an old friend of mine told me years ago, the only way to see what the weather is going to be like is look out of the window.

[MrFreeze]

If it isn't cloud it's fog - we have been engulfed in thick fog since last wednesday, and it doesn't even clear during the day.

The best app I found was Nightshift on Android. It's not perfect, but the forecasts are a lot more accurate than any other weather app I can find. The interface can be a bit cryptic though. It also does rise and set times of moon and planets.

I just tend to stick my head out of the door at about 8:30 to see what it's really like. Keep being frustrated when it changes though, having decided it isn't worth staying up, watch some TV, go to bed then see stars out of the window.😠 Then you wonder if it's worth getting dressed again and going out.

David

 

[Deadlake]

36 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

It’s a pain at the moment. We can’t even travel to other countries to escape the constant gloomy skies.

I’ve not known it be this bad for a longtime. Last time I was out imaging was late September. Some members with permanent observatories have been able to take advantages when they arise. I use ScopeNights which is a paid for app on Apple and that is generally very good. Meteoblue is also another good app.
ClearOutside has been a bit hit and miss for me recently but others seem to use that.

I use scope nights, it's been wrong once in current memory. As far as the weather, its bad, but good for my bank balance 😃. 

Edited November 30, 2020 by Deadlake

[Ships and Stars]

I put in a lot of time looking at the weather and planning. I'm in NE Scotland, we are fortunate to be in a bit of a rain/cloud shadow as the West coast of Scotland and Cairngorms tend to catch and block a lot of the precipitation, but it's by no means 'dry' here!

I use three forecasts: Met Office, FLO Clear Outside and Ventusky, specifically their cloud cover/precipitation maps. You'll want to use Ventusky on a laptop or desktop PC, not a phone, it shows a LOT of information.

I then roughly average the three. If they are all in agreement for clear skies, I will consider making a road trip to my dark sky spot about an hour and a half away. If it's all clear on one weather site but marginal on others, I'll head to a spot closer to home.

As I view DSOs like nebulae and galaxies, the moon must be down or I'm wasting my time, sky is too bright. I'll use moonphase and mooncalc  to pick the upcoming window around the new moon. For example, in December I'm looking at the 8th through the 22nd, with longer viewing around either side of the new moon on Dec 14. 

So between some late hours and driving (up to 50-60 miles one way if we aren't in lockdown!) to clearer parts of NE Scotland, I usually manage to squeeze in at least one or two decent nights of DSO observing a month, anything over three and I'm feeling lucky.

Just to wind myself up, I have a location in Western Nevada on my saved locations on FLO, I'll look at it but it just always shows clear all day and night, year-round 🤣

Edited November 30, 2020 by Ships and Stars

[wulfrun]

I stick my head out of the back doorway - then I know what my local, short-term forecast is. Just lately it's been "not tonight then" almost entirely, sadly. I bought a second-hand scope almost a month ago and have used it twice, plus a couple of additional times out with the binoculars to peer through the gaps in the clouds.

Ironic really, we have an ongoing pandemic which limits possibilities, appears to have driven demand for astro gear up and supply down so people are chasing stuff that they can't actually use. Once we get through it, whenever that may be, I wonder if there'll be a net increase in astronomers or just a glut of cheap, second-hand and little-used gear!

[JamesF]

It's just gone midday here, and it's so dark because of the cloud that we need the house lights on!  I struggle to find the enthusiasm to go outside and do stuff in such circumstances :(

James

[Jiggy 67]

You have to wonder where the various apps/organizations get their data from. 
I use Scope Nights which I find to be the best and Clear Outside which, lately I have found to be the worst. Tonight Scope Nights has completely clear skies from 9pm as does the BBC whilst Clear Outside and Xasteria has 100% cloud!!....how can they be so different?!? I suppose we’ll see later who is right 

[Ships and Stars]

2 hours ago, Jiggy 67 said:

You have to wonder where the various apps/organizations get their data from. 
I use Scope Nights which I find to be the best and Clear Outside which, lately I have found to be the worst. Tonight Scope Nights has completely clear skies from 9pm as does the BBC whilst Clear Outside and Xasteria has 100% cloud!!....how can they be so different?!? I suppose we’ll see later who is right 

Scope Nights uses Met Office data - I've found Met Office to be the most reliable, with Ventusky cloud cover prediction my second port of call - Ventusky is helpful to see which way cloud is moving (can be the opposite of the wind direction on the ground) or where it's developing. I have noticed Met Office will sneakily change the forecast from clear to partly cloudy literally on the hour if it doesn't clear, but at least they are paying attention! 

Met Office does a cloud cover forecast, but the imagery is really low res and grainy, Ventusky shows much better. I'll have to compare the two. 

I think I spend more time looking at weather forecasts than through the telescope. No, actually, I'm sure I do!

Edited November 30, 2020 by Ships and Stars

[keora]

Thanks for all the advice,I’ll look at some of the suggested sites.

[Kryptic]

The mount I bought weeks ago may end up never really seeing the light of night at current rate 

[banjaxed]

Further to my earlier post, the forecast for last night from all my apps said cloud cover all night but surprise surprise on looking out of the window there was the almost full moon and the sky was very clear and stayed clear for a few hours allowing me to get a good viewing session. If I hadn’t looked out of the window I would have missed it. 🙄

[KP82]

On 30/11/2020 at 09:18, MrFreeze said:

I just tend to stick my head out of the door at about 8:30 to see what it's really like. Keep being frustrated when it changes though, having decided it isn't worth staying up, watch some TV, go to bed then see stars out of the window.😠 Then you wonder if it's worth getting dressed again and going out.

David

 

Same here bro.

The only moonless clear night we had in our area last month was the day before the first quarter. But then there was strong gust, so the condition wasn't good for imaging. Last week we had a couple of clear nights and the air was gentle. But there was the Moon and high humidity. Well at least I did a bit of visual (mainly open clusters and the Moon itself).

[reezeh]

I  just use the weather apps that come with the phone and the met office one on iPad to get a general gist of the weather to come.

Workdays I'm usually too tired in the evening to do anything anyway and if it's not good stargazing weather my conscience is clear. 

This morning was crystal clear but Venus was twinkling like mad - can't decide if it was heat plumes from houses or jet stream. It'd not even worth carrying out a pair of binoculars for a quick look 😞

[Moonshed]

I have two very reliable systems that I use.

1) https://en.sat24.com/en. This gives an infrared satellite view of Europe. It doesn’t  give a forecast but shows the cloud cover and which way it is moving, starting from 90 minutes ago and every 15 minutes to the current time. I find it very useful for gauging if it’s worth while setting up if the sky looks clear at the moment.

2) Sticking my head out the back door!  There have been two occasions in the last week when all the forecasts have said it will be cloudy all night but looking outside I have seen  a break in the clouds and was able to record images of Mars for the best part of an hour.

I always stick my head out the door and never rely exclusively on forecasts, cloud cover is not accurate down to individual villages!

[tomato]

I’m afraid in the UK with this hobby you are more of a weather watcher than you are a star gazer.

[Stu1smartcookie]

just bought a nexstar 5se ... it sits , tightly packed away in its box .. wondering when or if i will ever use it ! Frustrating to say the least  

[SStanford]

13 hours ago, Moonshed said:

 

1) https://en.sat24.com/en. This gives an infrared satellite view of Europe. It doesn’t  give a forecast but shows the cloud cover and which way it is moving, starting from 90 minutes ago and every 15 minutes to the current time. I find it very useful for gauging if it’s worth while setting up if the sky looks clear at the moment.

This is very cool. Will be looking at this often. 

[keora]

I've started now to check the astronomy forecast during the day. Then in the early evening I have a closer look at the stars to see how many are easily visible. If there aren't many to see, I don't go out and I don't bother having another check later on in the evening.

[Adam1234]

It was clear here for me yesterday evening, even though CO said up to 80% cloud cover, BBC weather showed the 🌙 icon with some cloud, and metoffice said clear all night (so annoying that all apps say a different story!!🤬)

Decided to set the scope, all set up for imaging, was imaging by 7pm, checked outside again at 7 30 and clouds had come in after my 3rd sub 😭😭

Checked metoffice again, and hey presto it had changed it tune from clear to cloudy ☁️ ☁️ 

[Carbon Brush]

Very good posts earlier on looking at weather.
My 'weather mitigation' has taken different paths. Maybe something here will help?

Have an idea of what you want to look at before setting out. Ideally targets in different quadrants so you can look elsewhere if only part of the sky clouds over.

Have a quick 'plant and go' solution if in doubt about the effort of setting up a goto mount etc vs the probability of packing up early..
This may be a simple alt/az mount. But does not need to be lightweight as it is only house to garden.

If you think you may be going outside later, put the scope somewhere cold. This reduces cool down time.
I don't know what scope type you have, But some scopes take a lot longer than others to cool.

My best move was not as easy as the above but has allowed me to enjoy the hobby. Build an observatory.
Power up mount, It is already aligned, roll off the roof and look.
Cloud or rain arrives, park scope, roll roof back and go inside.
Yes expensive but for me, money well spent.

HTH, David.

 

[groberts]

I swear the forecasters don't have windows, it's not unusual that the weather outside is completetly different to what's being forecast at that time.  Notwithstanding, it is a difficult science and even the best of forecasts rarely get it right more than 48- hours ahead, unless there's a very definitive & strong system rolling in.

Certainly since changing their weather forecast contract at the BBC I've given up on them, they're very poor.  I find the Met Office a good starting point, together with + Foreast.co.uk https://www.forecast.co.uk/cloud/ for cloud and surpringly the Nowegian Meterological Institute  https://www.yr.no/en/forecast/daily-table/2-2639545/United Kingdom/England/Surrey/Redhill - although I just noriced they've changed their display format which inevitbaly is not as good as before!  Sorry to our sponsors but don't find Clear Outside very good.

Even with all this the sky can be very fickle and there's no substitute to looking out the window, in all directions - it's often good looking south + a big cloud rolling in from the north + look at wind direction and  speed to se what might be coming.

Since I started astronomy 6-years ago it's  my strong imporession that there's now more clould, often lasting for weeks or even months + if it is clear it's at full moon! 

Good luck.   

 

 

    

Edited December 2, 2020 by groberts

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

GRoberts I'm in agreement that the last couple of years, autumn especially has been an almost complete cloud out. October & November have been pants the last two years.

Except as you also mentioned, during a full moon it's almost guaranteed to be clear! 🙄

[Tiny Clanger]

26 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

GRoberts I'm in agreement that the last couple of years, autumn especially has been an almost complete cloud out. October & November have been pants the last two years.

Except as you also mentioned, during a full moon it's almost guaranteed to be clear! 🙄

As Keats nearly said in his poem, Autumn :

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him to goad and distress

With cloud cover the stargazer clan