Keeping a record of clear nights in 2022..

[F15Rules]

Well before the end of 2021 I had decided to start keeping a simple log of clear nights at my location from Jan 1st 2022.

Nothing too complicated, as I'm keeping the record on our kitchen calendar so it's easy to do it each day..I know a lot of SGLers keep quite detailed records of both numbers of sessions and contents of the sessions, but for now I just want to keep a simple record as to how many nights each month offer clear skies.

So, on the calendar, I'm marking a simple "Clear" if it's clear, a blank if cloudy, and if it is/was clear, an "O" or "X" to show if I observed ("O"), or not ("X").

The latter is to help me check, on how many clear nights when I could have observed, I actually did observe..

Anyway, with 1 week of 2022 gone already, I have (almost unbelievably!) recorded 4 clear nights in the past 7!! And also almost unbelievably, I've not been able to observe on a single one of those clear nights due to residual illness from the Christmas period. Thankfully I'm now improving daily, but I have agreed with my wife that I would wait until the beginning of next week until getting out under the stars...just to be on the safe side.

I have to admit that the black humour of this situation is rather amusing..I genuinely cannot recall a 1 week period in winter in which we had 4 very clear nights in the past 5 years of living in Lincolnshire..

And of course, I'm now taking bets on the chances of next week offering 4 clear nights too....500-1, anyone??😂

Clear skies!!

Dave

 

[jock1958]

Good idea Dave and glad to hear your on the mend just a shame you couldn’t get out to enjoy those four clear nights. No such luck in South Wales, it seems to rain for five months of the year starting in November 😩

[JeremyS]

Good idea, Dave. I keep and Excel s/sheet. It’s gratifying to look back at the end of the year to see the result (if you can handle it, of course 😊)

[F15Rules]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Good idea, Dave. I keep and Excel s/sheet. It’s gratifying to look back at the end of the year to see the result (if you can handle it, of course 😊)

Thanks Jeremy..

Yes, I might get around to putting the results onto excel, especially good for year on year comparisons, trend analysis etc..

Only potential problem is that I don't use our laptop much these days...it doesn't have a handle so I'm always worried I might drop it!🥴😂

Dave

[Anne S]

2 hours ago, jock1958 said:

Good idea Dave and glad to hear your on the mend just a shame you couldn’t get out to enjoy those four clear nights. No such luck in South Wales, it seems to rain for five months of the year starting in November 😩

You mean it didn't start raining till November. We had it from August up here in mid Wales.

[Sunshine]

I better not keep such a record as it would make me want to cry and sell my telescope in a fit, I would rather fool and convince myself that I was out more than I was as my memory is the pits anyway, ignorance really is bliss.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Sunshine

[dannybgoode]

Ooo I like this idea as last year I was convinced it was cloudy every night expect 21 June which was also a full moon of something 😅.

It somewhat dampened my enthusiasm and perhaps keeping a record like this will show me we do have decent nights and that it is I that does not always make the most of them. 

Might knock something up accordingly

[JeremyS]

6 hours ago, dannybgoode said:

Ooo I like this idea as last year I was convinced it was cloudy every night expect 21 June which was also a full moon of something 😅.

It somewhat dampened my enthusiasm and perhaps keeping a record like this will show me we do have decent nights and that it is I that does not always make the most of them. 

Might knock something up accordingly

That’s exactly the point. We all think astronomy in this country is difficult. My records go back to 2005 and show that on average I observed about 30% of nights each year. Some years better than others of course. No general trends to worse conditions. As per my post in another thread, for me 2021 was average, yet we tell ourselves (me included!) it was a poor year!

[dannybgoode]

Well I've got my little diary started.  I just used an Excel template for a month to a view calendar that allows a little of text to be typed into each day field.  I have 4 colour codes - green = clear and did something, orange = clear and didn't do anything, blue = cloudy but did something astro related (say worked on getting software running smoothly or serviced some kit etc) and red = cloudy and didn't do anything.

Then I have just typed in a few words about what I did (or didn't) do on each day.  I will try and keep this up for the year now and hopefully it will give me a record to look back on

[Guest]

That's easy for me.  We have had one clear night so far.  But as is usual for Ohio the seeing and transparency were on the low side.  Two nights in a row is a fluke, any more then that is divine intervention.

[F15Rules]

Sorry to laugh, Mike, but it's clear here right now, which means that it's (unbelievably) the 6th night of 9 since 1st January that observing has been possible!!

"Go figure!!" , as you guys say in the States😊

Dave

[Guest]

No worries.  Ohio has some of the most light polluted skies in the States.  Add the wierd weather and our skies just never get really stable.  The reality is it will be late January or early February before stuff settles down and we get decent skies.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Guest

[Paz]

I resolved to do this a few years ago but didn't keep it up for long, the weather was unrelentingly either completely cloudy or any observing involved cloud dodging so I stopped noting the weather.

I can plan my observing quite confidently  on the assumption that on any given day it will probably be cloudy!

[F15Rules]

22 minutes ago, Paz said:

I resolved to do this a few years ago but didn't keep it up for long, the weather was unrelentingly either completely cloudy or any observing involved cloud dodging so I stopped noting the weather.

I can plan my observing quite confidently  on the assumption that on any given day it will probably be cloudy!

I totally get that Chris..

I'm going to try to stay the course for this year, as I do want to know, based on data, not (increasingly  unreliable!) memory, what were the facts for the year in terms of available observing opportunities, and how many of those available opportunities I actually exploited..

I also hope that the fact that I will have to answer to myself regarding the results at the year end, will spur me on more to take as many opportunities as I can!🥴😊

Dave

[Paz]

Yes it will be interesting to see the facts, I am always surprised when I add up my observing sessions each year. I always did more than I thought despite how bad the weather is.

[kirkster501]

The start of 2022 isn't so bad so far.  Two clear nights in the first week and three this week although the moon spoils this week a bit for DSO. 

[dannybgoode]

Well so far this month I have 6 clear nights recorded and have observed or imaged on 5 of them and didn't want to break my neck on the other.  I have also done extensive work on setting up things like NINA, testing various wifi configurations, worked on getting PHD2 guiding as well as possible on a further 4 nights.  So that is 9 our of 12 nights I have done something.  5 or 6 more than last year in total I think!  Tonight is looking good also.

[Naglerman]

On 07/01/2022 at 23:15, Sunshine said:

I better not keep such a record as it would make me want to cry and sell my telescope in a fit, I would rather fool and convince myself that I was out more than I was as my memory is the pits anyway, ignorance really is bliss.

Hahaha. I’ll try the ignorant method too.  What did you say your name was?  🤔

[7170]

I've now completed the task of getting my log up-to date by going back and looking at dates of images, as I let the records slip towards the end of 2021.

So far this calendar year I'm on eleven clear nights of which I have imaged on ten. Last calendar year I imaged on 37 nights and there were a number of visual only (which is unusual for me). Q1 2021 was particularly good, as was Nov-21. 

I'm still on the look out for some good observation logging software which would make this sort of log keeping a breeze. 

[F15Rules]

Right..so, as at the end of January 2022, my local clear night score for the month was:

12 clear nights total

2 partially clear nights

17 Cloudy/foggy/hazy nights

Of the clear nights, illness prevented my from observing for 6 nights, and the bright moon deterred me on a further 4 nights.

I had 4 sessions under the stars, 2 excellent ones, 1 quite good and one poor session ( the latter two sessions on the "partially clear" nights, where the sessions were hampered by non astro weather issues).

Overall, to have 12 good clear nights in January is great, and I'd happily take that every month!

The illness was, I hope very unusual, so I would hope to manage at least double the number of sessions per month going forward.

Note: All classifications of Clear, Cloudy etc defined as the period from 7pm til midnight, being the usual hours I would observe normally😊

Dave

Edited February 1, 2022 by F15Rules
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[JeremyS]

January has been an excellent month. I observed on 19 nights. Made 1166 CCD variable star measurements. Let’s hope the rest of the year is as good 🤞

[wookie1965]

I've had several clear nights but unfortunately my health has been too bad to enjoy them, hopefully February will give me some more clear nights that I can enjoy been much too long since I was last out. 

[Telescope40]

My count for Jan 2022 was 10 clear / ish nights. 
Got out with a setup 8 times. 
So far so good I think. 
House move in the offing with a great south facing garden. Sure the numbers will only be going one way. 
John 

[F15Rules]

Sounds great, John! 

Good look with the move, hope it all goes well👍.

Dave

[Stu]

Great thread Dave. I have gone low tech with my approach, in a desperate effort to spend less time on my phone or pc!

I’ve just been logging my sessions in a notebook, with brief  details of when I observed, the conditions, the kit I used and what I saw. I’m including solar sessions too, and think I managed 17 in January, some kind of record for me. Some were brief, and none have been particularly adventurous in terms of targets but I will work on that! Want to start observing a lot more DSOs and get the 16” in regular use too. Hopefully this will motivate me to do that.