Cloudy night skies.

[malgpz900]

Think we have had 3 cloudless night skies since we bought our telescope.

Got some good views of the moon. Upgraded eps,  raci finder scope. Need some clear skies tonstart using it.

Thinking of going to a meeting tonight of local astronomical club for their talk for begginers, should be interesting.

Malcolm.

[Martthebass]

Welcome to the world of the frustrated Malcolm 🤣

I've generally found that the number of dark, clear nights is inversely proportional to the amount of time that you can devote to it at that point.   You can be pretty sure that when you buy a new piece of kit that you will obviously be wanting to break ground on, that the clouds will roll in for weeks.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Martthebass

[Mandy D]

1 hour ago, Martthebass said:

I've generally found that the number of dark, clear nights is inversely proportional to the amount of time that you can devout to it at that point.   You can be pretty sure that when you buy a new piece of kit that you will obviously be wanting to break ground on, that the clouds will roll in for weeks.

 

So, I am doomed to cloudy skies for weeks, now! I guess it must also apply to the seller of used equipment, too, so we're both in for cloudy skies! 😂

[johnturley]

6 hours ago, Mandy D said:

 

So, I am doomed to cloudy skies for weeks, now! I guess it must also apply to the seller of used equipment, too, so we're both in for cloudy skies! 😂

Derbyshire in particular seems to be suffering from cloudy skies at the moment, based on some posts things appear to be a bit better in Somerset

Edited July 28, 2022 by johnturley

[Nyctimene]

Try to maximize the number of observations by taking even the slightest chance of gaps in the clouds. That means, keep your equipment stored at ambient temperature, with easy access to an observing spot; check the weather forecast - and get used to observe the moon, even the full moon (crater rays; concentric craters). The same goes for the sun in white light (using a filtered off-axis mask). For observations of just a few minutes (often astonishingly rewarding), keep some binoculars ready.

TOMDEY, a forum member of CloudyNights, posted his experiences of  decidedly maximizing his observations during a whole year, and came easily to a three digit number, while others were complaining about the unusual bad weather that year....

Stephan

Edited July 28, 2022 by Nyctimene

[jjohnson3803]

1 hour ago, Nyctimene said:

Try to maximize the number of observations by taking even the slightest chance of gaps in the clouds. That means, keep your equipment stored at ambient temperature, with easy access to an observing spot; check the weather forecast - and get used to observe the moon, even the full moon (crater rays; concentric craters). The same goes for the sun in white light (using a filtered off-axis mask). For observations of just a few minutes (often astonishingly rewarding), keep some binoculars ready.

I quite agree.  I keep a small refractor (minimal cool down time) on a lightweight tripod by the back door so I can get outside on short notice.  My 10x50 binos are nearby if I can't get the refractor out.

I prefer to observe in the early morning but have learned from experience not to pass up a clear evening.  There's no guarantee a clear evening leads to a clear morning the next day.  (I actually had that reinforced today: clear last night, but I was tired and went to bed so of course there was 100% cloud cover this morning.)

I also run the Windy app on my phone so I can check weather satellite views in near realtime.  Very handy for checking if there might be some gaps in the clouds coming.

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by jjohnson3803

[Elp]

It's the perpetualness which really irks me, when it rains it seems to last forever, why it doesn't rain like it does in hot climates where it downpours and then stops I don't know. If it's not that it's lingering grey, constant grey. It's supposed to be summer, where's the good weather? Heatwaves don't count, long summers gone used to last for weeks, now it's one or two weeks of heatwave then back to grey and wet weather for another year. I think I've had more clear nights late autumn and through winter than spring and summer.

[VNA]

Hello, Eh! wait a minute, it would not be England with out clouds and rain, just like it would not be California without sun! 
No rain here for several months, but fog is never very far lurking!

Astronomy requires patience, I was told, although sometimes or somewhere it requires more of it. 

[Elp]

I would very much prefer the hundreds of days of sunshine a year, love the west coast

Edited July 28, 2022 by Elp

[jjohnson3803]

My son lives in LA and I love it out there myself, but he has to deal with wildfire smoke and air pollution.  Add light pollution and sadly there's no such thing as paradise.  Ironically he spends his most of his free time in Mexico.  🙃