When Will It Change

[LDW1]

Up here in my Northern Ontario viewing sites the clouds, the ice crystals in the very few clear times, the cold has been around for a long, long time. The count since even a good, average sky is now in months not days or weeks. My scopes are starting to wilt, lol !  Are many of my fellow astronomers having it just as bad in other parts of our world ? When will all this nonsense end, it appears not to soon enough based on the two week long range forecasts ! Any good news ?   PS:  With all the daytime ice crystals causing haze even solar viewing is not up to par, I have had my Lunt 50mm ha scope for a couple of months and it hasn't even been out side, just some WL, lol !

Edited April 2, 2023 by LDW1

[Marvin Jenkins]

SW France calling and it is very poor and has been poor for most of the time.

I missed two nights last week due to work and those were the only nights.

As of tomorrow we have a full week of clear and sunny so Solar stuff it is as we are going to be bang on full moon again!

On top of that, by tomorrow, there is hardly any solar activity for WL practitioners. Honestly you couldn’t make it up.

Marv

[Bogmonster]

Ireland here and I'm in the same boat. I've had my scope about 6 weeks I think and I've gotten out 3 times. It's frustrating! Even last night I got just over an hour and the clouds came in. I was observing and the clouds would obstruct it so I would wait and try again. Pretty much happened the whole time until they just covered everything and I called it a night and went in.

When I bought my scope I was told "the bigger the scope you buy or the more expensive the piece of gear you get, the longer the clouds hang around".

I think it's true as I've had a string of very dark and clear nights up until I got the scope 😫

[Carbon Brush]

Ah but is there a grain of truth behind our tales of woe?

Is there more cloud, or more water in the air, or more thermal instability (on long term average) now we are experiencing climate change?

Or is it that when we bought our first scopes we would go out as long as there was a little point of light somewhere for a few minutes?
Now we look up and don't bother unless it is something special?

 

[Guest]

I feel your pain down here in Ohio.  I have been out twice since November.  I dont handle cold well anymore so unless its north of 25 degrees i dont go out.  Two weeks ago i was out in marginal skies for 1.5 hours and it was just a struggle as we had high thin clouds.  Today was clear all day, but the farmers have been at it all day and i wont expose a freshly cleaned 16 inch mirror to that.  I have no idea when i will actually be able to get out.  

[Sunshine]

Here in southern Ontario it has been very cloudy for the last month or so, maybe one clear night a week and even then the smoke from Alberta wildfires has been an issue. You are definitely not alone, hang in there, better times on the horizon.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Sunshine

[LDW1]

Actually for three nites in a row this week the skies were average to above average with some haziness, borderline between Bortle 4-5, SQM-L 19.8 - 20.65 at about 10:30 to 12:30. Each night I used a different scope in order, my Vixen SS62, f8.4, then my Svbony 48P 90mm, f5.5 and then my NP101, f5.4 . I concentrated mainly on M3, M13 and M92 and the views were excellent, I tried to locate M80 / 81 but with no luck this time around. Things are looking up !   PS:  I used various eps from my 21mm Celestron Ultima Edge down to my 9mm Baader Morpheus and several in between.

Edited May 12, 2023 by LDW1

[LDW1]

And I was a bit lazy, I mounted my 14-15 lb NP101 on my Porta II because it was already out in my shed, rather than my AZ5 but the Porta handled the weight very well.

[Guest]

I was actually able to get out last night for a while.  Set up at 10pm under sub par skies. Battled some thin clouds and some haze.  It was a two hour session and by far the longest since November.  Slowly but surely the skies are starting to clear 

[CCD-Freak]

This is what I have been dealing with for months.  The intervals of clear sky are short and seldom.

 

 

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, CCD-Freak said:

This is what I have been dealing with for months.  The intervals of clear sky are short and seldom.

 

 

We are in the same boat here.   Since November i have been out two or three times.  There was one night in February that was nice, but i only lasted 30 minutes.  I just dont do cold well anymore 

[Epick Crom]

Geez, and I thought we had it bad here in Western Australia! It's been a week since we got clear skies and I'm getting anxious, but it's finally looking clear tonight. 

Hang in there fellow astronomers, the clouds will part eventually!

Clear Skies

Joe

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, Epick Crom said:

Geez, and I thought we had it bad here in Western Australia! It's been a week since we got clear skies and I'm getting anxious, but it's finally looking clear tonight. 

Hang in there fellow astronomers, the clouds will part eventually!

Clear Skies

Joe

Ohio is in the top ten cloudiest states here in the US.  My part of the State averages 65 clear nights a year.  I am able to take advantage of about one third of those nights.  Astronomy in Ohio sucks lol