Northern Summer

[Astro Noodles]

It seems that up here at 54deg north, I am about to loose astro darkness and it won't be back until mid August.

What do you 'Northerners' do during the summer, especially astrophotographers when it is no longer dark enough ? Do you spend more time on SGL/dream of new kit/just go to bed early ?

[fifeskies]

Even further North than you so suffer the summer bright skies more.

The Moon is always worth a look and some imaging over summer, and there is always the change in phase of Venus to enjoy as it moves around.

Not so bad taking close up moon detail while wearing a T shirt.

[Budgie1]

When I lived on the Isle of Lewis we had nearly 3 months of Twilight All Night, still out in the garden at 11pm, if you can stand the midges!

Down here are nearly 57° N it'll be getting into Noctilucent Cloud time. Below is a time lapse from my SkyCam from last year. 

I only started back into astrophotography in August last year so I don't really know what I'll do. I may get the Mak 127 out and do some Moon stiff with the ASI120MM Mini as I've not tried that yet. I'll also be fettling with the mount and cleaning the scope ready for when it does get dark enough again.

 

[KP82]

8 hours ago, Astro Noodles said:

It seems that up here at 54deg north, I am about to loose astro darkness and it won't be back until mid August.

What do you 'Northerners' do during the summer, especially astrophotographers when it is no longer dark enough ? Do you spend more time on SGL/dream of new kit/just go to bed early ?

Stay up late on weekends to do a bit of visuals if clear skies, but no imaging until at least late August.

[Carbon Brush]

Summer can be the time to strip a mount, remove free play and apply proper grease (instead of the stuff like chip fat used by Synta etc.).
It is the time to strip and flock a reflector, like you meant to do last year, and the year before that.
If you have an observatory, that is the time to top up the timber weatherproofing and mend the roof.
What about the muddy path to the observatory - lay some slabs.
If you don't have an observatory, or good quick setup location, time to sort it.
Run that permanent power or data cable from the house to your viewing area.

If none of of the build/mend activities appeal, and you don't want to look at the moon and brighter objects.
There is always (well sometimes - OK occasionally) the sun. White light costs only a filter, then you can start to spend on other views if you like it.

 

[Nik271]

There is also Saturn coming up in the morning sky and later in the summer Jupiter. Admittedly still low in the sky but better than last year!

[JuergenB]

Hi,

Still 2.5 hours of darkness here at 53° N, but this will be only 2 hours 7 days from now. With (hopefully) higher ambient temperatures it's a good time to test new gear or new software, especially if you do astrophotography. Imaging nebulae throug H-alpha-filters is possible to a certain extent. It helps if you have fast optics.

Another playground for me will be spectroscopy of brighter stars. Just got a Star Analyser 100 for that. Then, of course observing the moon, bright planetary nebulae, globulars and double stars.

Juergen

[DaveS]

Last year during "summer" (for want of a better word) I managed some H-alpha imaging (3nm helps) and a couple of the brighter globs (M13 and M5 I think). It can also be a time to refine your PA that you've always been meaning to do (Points finger at self lol).

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

On 01/05/2021 at 09:54, fifeskies said:

Even further North than you so suffer the summer bright skies more.

The Moon is always worth a look and some imaging over summer, and there is always the change in phase of Venus to enjoy as it moves around.

Not so bad taking close up moon detail while wearing a T shirt.

The moon becomes my primary object during this time. Followed by planetary observing. As fifskies wrote, it's a rather pleasant experience observing in a t-shirt.

There's also noctilucent clouds to look foward to and just generally pleasant summer evening and night time sights and sounds.

My favourite summer observing time was midnight until 2am or get up early to catch pre dawn planets. One of the advantages of shift work, but with now being in a 9-5 job for the duration that's scuppered somewhat.

 

[Adam1234]

I'm not convinced lack of astrodarkness in summer makes much of a difference to me living in such a light polluted area! The sky can be just as bright during the middle of the winter, especially when the docks are active 

[mikemarotta]

Right now, I live at 30N, but I grew up at 40N (Cleveland, Ohio), -- and in a nod to @Adam1234, a mile from the steel mills -- and for a few years, we lived at 45N (Traverse City, Michigan).  Right now, I am in the city limits (two-county metro of 1.8 millions) and a mile from a major shopping mall. For me, a good night is Bortle 7 almost 6-ish.  So, just to say, you make the best you can of what you have.

It is like with telescopes in general. I have modest refractors, not dobsonian light buckets. But there's always a better instrument. You could have Keck and still feel disadvantaged because it is not Hubble. 

I just bought Sun Catcher filters for my telescopes. I plan to do some solar observing, counting sunspots, that sort of thing. The Sun is the nearest and a very average star. Might as well enjoy it. Though not for me, H-alpha with a Lunt is always an option for someone who wants to invest in it.

And, for that matter, I just attended a (virtual) five-day conference in dynamical astronomy. I wrote up the class I took last winter. See here:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/368009-edx-courses-in-astrophysics/

I read books and do not actually ever get around to reading the magazines to which I subscribe. 

And then, there is here. You can come here to chat, which we do. 

I cross-my-heart promise not to wish that I be in Scotland this winter when you have all that darkness to enjoy. But I do have a story. (See "Here Comes the Sun" in The Lounge.)

Edited May 22, 2021 by mikemarotta
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[Chefgage]

I still image throughout summer. There area still plenty of things to image, just because there is no astronomical darkness does not mean you cannot produce good images :)

[Astro Noodles]

36 minutes ago, Chefgage said:

I still image throughout summer. There area still plenty of things to image, just because there is no astronomical darkness does not mean you cannot produce good images

I was going to try to ignore the absence astro-darkness and carry on imaging things like globular clusters. As much as anything, for practice. I wasn't expecting a solid month of cloud. I've only managed one hour of observation in May so far.

[Nigella Bryant]

I love the summer months for solar imaging. A calcium II K filter and a 70mm to 100mm refractor you can image lovely features using your own scope. Cost is comparable to a decent refractor but what's not to like. Plug and play unlike HA where you have to tune and clock the solar scope to get even illumination. Screenshots for info in Calcium II K yesterday 22nd May.

[Astro Noodles]

11 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

I love the summer months for solar imaging. A calcium II K filter and a 70mm to 100mm refractor you can image lovely features using your own scope. Cost is comparable to a decent refractor but what's not to like. Plug and play unlike HA where you have to tune and clock the solar scope to get even illumination. Screenshots for info in Calcium II K yesterday 22nd May.

That's food for thought.

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 01/05/2021 at 09:35, Astro Noodles said:

It seems that up here at 54deg north, I am about to loose astro darkness and it won't be back until mid August.

What do you 'Northerners' do during the summer, especially astrophotographers when it is no longer dark enough ? Do you spend more time on SGL/dream of new kit/just go to bed early ?

I wait for late September. I'm 52 north (near Dublin,Ireland).

[iapa]

@55.8N I stock take, buy more kit I probably will not use often, and tune and tune and tune.

[tomato]

On 01/05/2021 at 09:35, Astro Noodles said:

It seems that up here at 54deg north, I am about to loose astro darkness and it won't be back until mid August.

What do you 'Northerners' do during the summer, especially astrophotographers when it is no longer dark enough ? Do you spend more time on SGL/dream of new kit/just go to bed early ?

Keep on imaging.  The results will be inferior but you can still practice the craft. This was captured a couple of nights ago, and what with the twilight and full moon, you could easily read a newspaper outside.

 

[Astro Noodles]

1 minute ago, tomato said:

Keep on imaging.  The results will be inferior but you can still practice the craft. This was captured a couple of nights ago, and what with the twilight and full moon, you could easily read a newspaper outside.

 

I certainly will keep on imaging and observing. Unfortunately the weather has rather put an end to either in May. I've only managed  a single hour's observing in the whole of may. This weekend looks promising. I have booked Monday off so I can stay up late on Sunday night. I'm going to try the Sadr region.

[Budgie1]

As well as having Twilight All Night at the moment, we have another little issue with being outside for observing at this time of year, especially when the wind drops!