The sky is clear! Wow, look at those stars!

[Moonshed]

I stuck my head out the back door at 5 pm tonight to check the weather conditions, as I often do because forecasts are very generalised, and the sky was incredibly clear, stars like lightbulbs, Mars a veritable red spot light! I quickly set up my gear, used PoleMaster, Bhatinov mask, started tracking and Mars showing beautifully in the flip mirror eyepiece and looking great on the FireCapture screen. Yippee!  
I set the target as Mars, selected RGB and AVI, selected 60 seconds for a first run, and created a Save Folder, set the Automatic Alignment. That’s it ready to go, Yippee again! Sat down in my typist chair and checked everything ready to go.......wait, what’s that noise?  Did I hear something? Oh no! It’s my wife calling me in for dinner. What to do? Explain to her that I can’t afford to miss this golden opportunity and risk 24 hours of stony silence? Or be sensible, leave everything set up and pop indoors quickly and eat the meal then come straight back out again? The latter seemed  the safer option.

So indoors  I went, muttering under my breath, and ate my dinner as fast as I could without making a big thing of it. 15 minutes later I was back outside, and you already know what’s coming, zero visibility, nothing to do but pack it all away again. 

I should have risked it and stood my ground, but then eating is fairly important and domestic bliss priceless! 

C’est la vie!

Keith

Edited December 8, 2020 by Moonshed

[banjaxed]

At least you got a look at some stars, it has not stopped raining here 🙁

[Muc]

Got clear skies meself, just have to eat dinner and walk 🐕

 

Hope she is in the mood for a brisk one cause I need some sky time

[tomato]

This has happened to me so many times I now disregard the first view of a clear sky, if it’s still clear half an hour later then I’ll get started.

[Moonshed]

8 minutes ago, banjaxed said:

At least you got a look at some stars, it has not stopped raining here 🙁

That’s true, the short time spent looking at Mars in the eyepiece made it all very worthwhile, makes me wonder if all this faffing about is worth the bother. I’m seriously thinking of packing my cameras away for a month or two and instead returning to the great pleasures of observing during the prime winter months.

Edited December 8, 2020 by Moonshed

[Moonshed]

2 minutes ago, tomato said:

This has happened to me so many times I now disregard the first view of a clear sky, if it’s still clear half an hour later then I’ll get started.

But that could just be a cunning plan.

[PXR-5]

That's so typical

but at least you got a nice warm meal 🙂

[Mr Spock]

Raining here 

[Moonshed]

5 minutes ago, PXR-5 said:

That's so typical

but at least you got a nice warm meal 🙂

True, but I almost choked on it in my haste to get back outside and admire the magnificent fog.

[John]

here.

Looks set that way this evening so I won't need to repeat last nights "jack-in-the-box" performance.

 

 

[Moonshed]

1 minute ago, Mr Spock said:

Raining here 

It’s to be expected on Delta Vega really, you can’t have all that wonderful bright vegashine without the storms such heat creates.

[Cyril]

You need to get wise and stop peeking everyone knows you'll get caught out.

I'd would have thought that you'd also developed a knowledge of local conditions over the years, so  you need a weather report,  set a time for action,  check equipment, relax with a cup of tea until zero hour then pounce and with any luck you'll catch the ancient gods of the sky napping and wake bleary eyed in the morning satisfied in the knowledge that knowledge overcomes adversity.

 

 

 

[Moonshed]

39 minutes ago, Cyril said:

You need to get wise and stop peeking everyone knows you'll get caught out.

I'd would have thought that you'd also developed a knowledge of local conditions over the years, so  you need a weather report,  set a time for action,  check equipment, relax with a cup of tea until zero hour then pounce and with any luck you'll catch the ancient gods of the sky napping and wake bleary eyed in the morning satisfied in the knowledge that knowledge overcomes adversity.

 

 

 

Talking of waking bleary eyed in the morning, it’s funny how when I was working there were tons of occasions I could have stayed at the scope all night because conditions were so good, but as I was working the next day I wasn’t able to.  Now I’m retired I don’t get those amazing long clear nights any more. Someone’s having a laugh.

[bish]

My binoculars get used quite a lot, especially at dark sites. Often I am just grabbing breaks in the clouds

[Whirlwind]

11 hours ago, Moonshed said:

Talking of waking bleary eyed in the morning, it’s funny how when I was working there were tons of occasions I could have stayed at the scope all night because conditions were so good, but as I was working the next day I wasn’t able to.  Now I’m retired I don’t get those amazing long clear nights any more. Someone’s having a laugh.

The weather gods appear to work that if you are on annual leave it is cloudy.  The day after you get back it miraculously becomes clear and you can't take the opportunity.  I've concluded that we need to relocate the country completely.

Edited December 9, 2020 by Whirlwind

[Moonshed]

2 hours ago, Whirlwind said:

The weather gods appear to work that if you are annual leave it is cloudy.  The day after you get back it miraculously becomes clear and you can't take the opportunity.  I've concluded that we need to relocate the country completely.

I agree about relocating the country, I would love to have it towed to the Caribbean.

[Shimrod]

3 hours ago, Whirlwind said:

The weather gods appear to work that if you are on annual leave it is cloudy.  The day after you get back it miraculously becomes clear and you can't take the opportunity.  I've concluded that we need to relocate the country completely.

I get frustrated by daytime weather vs nighttime. I have not had a viewing session since end of September. I got excited at the start of this week - blue sky horizon to horizon, then at 5.30 - clouds roll in and that's it for the evening.

[Sunshine]

We amateur astronomers never catch a break. At least your belly was full of warm dinner, better luck next time!.

[Whirlwind]

6 hours ago, Sunshine said:

We amateur astronomers never catch a break. At least your belly was full of warm dinner, better luck next time!.

Not in the UK we don't...There are places in the world that a bit more friendly to Astronomy (until satellites fill every possible space above anyway).

[Paz]

On 09/12/2020 at 00:44, Moonshed said:

 

I do think the most important things to do to enjoy this hobby fully are (1) retire (2) leave the uk.

I have achieved neither!

[Whirlwind]

8 minutes ago, Paz said:

I do think the most important things to do to enjoy this hobby fully are (1) retire (2) leave the uk.

I have achieved neither!

Given the way things are going we might not be allowed to do either as well....! 

[Voyager 3]

Hey guys ! Sterday was my first time seeing a star in a month and my first session after September 21 🤦🏻‍♂️( courtesy clouds and rain ).  Great session but I was a bit late so I was freezing to death even with the winter gear 😂 . Wind became stronger and stronger as the night moved . Not that much only some winter open clusters and M42 . Tried R Leporis but cloud said you enjoyed enough and closed the doors 😟.

[Moonshed]

12 hours ago, Voyager 3 said:

Hey guys ! Sterday was my first time seeing a star in a month and my first session after September 21 🤦🏻‍♂️( courtesy clouds and rain ).  Great session but I was a bit late so I was freezing to death even with the winter gear 😂 . Wind became stronger and stronger as the night moved . Not that much only some winter open clusters and M42 . Tried R Leporis but cloud said you enjoyed enough and closed the doors 😟.

And I thought we were having it bad! Hope things improve for you.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Moonshed