Almost ready to quit...

[GTom]

Same here (West coast of Scotland): we do see the Sun during the day, goes in the fancy "sunshine hours" statistics, but 70-90% of the sky is covered. In the night worse, weeks are passing without seeing a single star or planet. Considering moving or at least establishing some kind of second home - but where? We are the last ones with B1-2 skies in the country...

[NGC 1502]

I feel your pain…….right now where it hurts😢

But if astronomy is in your blood like it is in mine….please don’t give up and sell up all your kit…..you’ll only regret it and spend BIG bucks when you buy it all back again😊

Ed.

[JeremyS]

Clear again tonight 👍🏻

[Sunshine]

25 minutes ago, GTom said:

"sunshine hours"

That's every hour of the day, for me! 😂

[John]

16 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Clear again tonight 👍🏻

It's clear here as well ............. as far as the cloud base that is 😒

 

[pipnina]

49 minutes ago, DirkSteele said:

However, I already know I will be looking up for the rest of my life, even it means becoming this….

I am exactly the same.

Even if in 30 years skies below bortle 6 are impossible to find and you can see more star-links than stars, I will still find myself looking up at our local pocket of the universe when the opportunity arises. I have found sometimes it is the sessions where I am moving from one place to another (usually in winter) and I have no optics, just looking at the sky as it presents itself that can invoke emotion and the sense of scale of our place in the universe.

[HollyHound]

Although I currently have much less time for doing much else, as I've been expanding my business this year, I have still managed a few short sessions over the last few months... for this, having  the grab and go 76" all setup and ready to go (loaded with APM SuperZoom) has helped a lot... take any opportunity that comes along.

Someone earlier mentioned complementary hobbies/interest... I started back in photography last year, and have an interest in photographing wildlife primarily. Being on a farm, with loads of surrounding fields/woods does help a lot, but it means I can grab a few hours in the daytime to take some photos, and it's much less dependent on the weather (even rain isn't a real issue).

There's just as much opportunity of going crazy buying cameras and lenses (just like scopes and eyepieces), so beware of that and buy as much used (as I have) as possible 🤣

It's almost as relaxing, gets you outdoors and a good alternative when the weather is just a bit crummy.

Like others have said, I view both these interests as long term and so whilst right now it may seem a bit of a bad spell, the (hopefully) clear nights ahead will more than offset that 😁

Good luck everyone with the nights to come 🤞

[JeremyS]

38 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Although I currently have much less time for doing much else, as I've been expanding my business this year, I have still managed a few short sessions over the last few months... for this, having  the grab and go 76" all setup and ready to go (loaded with APM SuperZoom) has helped a lot... take any opportunity that comes along.

Someone earlier mentioned complementary hobbies/interest... I started back in photography last year, and have an interest in photographing wildlife primarily. Being on a farm, with loads of surrounding fields/woods does help a lot, but it means I can grab a few hours in the daytime to take some photos, and it's much less dependent on the weather (even rain isn't a real issue).

There's just as much opportunity of going crazy buying cameras and lenses (just like scopes and eyepieces), so beware of that and buy as much used (as I have) as possible 🤣

It's almost as relaxing, gets you outdoors and a good alternative when the weather is just a bit crummy.

Like others have said, I view both these interests as long term and so whilst right now it may seem a bit of a bad spell, the (hopefully) clear nights ahead will more than offset that 😁

Good luck everyone with the nights to come 🤞

It’s just as well Tak doesn’t make cameras otherwise I might have to take up photography 😊

[John]

11 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

It’s just as well Tak doesn’t make cameras otherwise I might have to take up photography 😊

Canon do though and Canon Optron make Tak objectives 🙂

Would you really want a sand cast camera ? 😁

Edited July 28, 2023 by John

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, John said:

Canon do though and Canon Optron make Tak objectives 🙂

Would you really want a sand cast camera ? 😁

Nice try John. But I’d insist on the viewfinder presenting an inverted image.

[Franklin]

Rain, rain, rain and more rain, that's what's been happening over my garden the last month, the plants are loving it. What a Summer! Maybe I have a dark cloud following me around as punishment for some terrible deed in a former life but joking apart last night was actually clear, not a cloud in the sky. As dusk fell upon Chesterfield I could see the Moon low in the south so I put a scope out to cool and waited for the sky to darken some more. When I went out a bit later the sky was still completely cloudless except for one single, solitary rain cloud that had managed to get itself blown right in front of the Moon and then the winds must have subsided, as this cloud just hung there, blocking the Moon for what seemed an eternity as I sat in my garden just staring at this damn cloud, completely motionless. In fact, I would not be surprised if this cloud was moving in reverse sync with the diurnal motion of planet Earth as the Moon never did appear from behind it. I couldn't stay up any later than I did as I was up for work at 5.30am this morning, so I packed up my scope and went indoors, head held down, defeated with the sound of laughter from the weather Gods ringing in my ears.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Franklin

[Hawksmoor]

I left cloud shrouded Lowestoft for three days and actually saw the Sun for a few hours above the Kent country side. Back now and the sky is a uniform grey from horizon to horizon. I’m going on holiday soon for a couple of weeks so the weather in the UK is likely to improve considerably in my absence. Sadly for any meteor fans I will be back before the Perseid maximum which should probably put the kibosh on that.🔭🤣🌧🌪

Edited July 30, 2023 by Hawksmoor

[tomato]

Well, my 2022 Astro session note book had a few blank pages left in it come December 31st, but this year’s copy only has three unused pages left. So, assuming the printer didn’t skimp on the paper for the 2023 edition, then either:

a) there have been more clear nights in 2023, or

b) I have been more inclined to get off the sofa and get out there when the clouds are absent.

[Paul M]

My last outing was in April.

But with light nights from May onwards I've not lost too much.

I'm now getting emotionaly prepared for dark nights returning. So hopefully it'll improve. 

My astro life has had many ebbs and flows over the decades. I don't mind long gaps. Life has got in the way more than weather. But my love of astronomy is always restored by, for example, the winter constellations in a crisp, clear night sky.

Orion, like an lifelong friend returning ❤️

[Marvin Jenkins]

On 27/07/2023 at 19:23, Mr Spock said:

So, the last time I was outside I had an hour and a half on the moon looking at Aristarchus and Gassendi. That was it more or less for June. I have had nothing in July. Nothing but cloud every single night.

Oh look, we have dark skies again, well, light grey for here. Sadly all I will see of it is more cloud. Is this just becoming a pointless hobby and we are all better off doing something less frustrating?

You’re not allowed to quit, you’re a mod!!!! Man up and get a grip.🤣

[jjohnson3803]

I've started keeping my 50mm converted RACI finder with a 15mm EP in it on an alt-az mount and small tripod by my back door .  And I've started going out even if there are just brief sucker holes or the moon is full.  The 50 is a bit small, but it's the easiest scope I have to get outside.  I've limited mobility with my neck so I'm about to sell my binos - the diagonal on the 50mm prevents a lot of pain.  

I spent last weekend at a dark site cabin.  Sunny all day long and rained every night.  🙁  At least it was on a lake.  After I got back home it was days (and nights) of wildfire smoke.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll have a clear night this weekend.

I don't know, maybe concentrating on other hobbies from June through September is the way to go.

[Xilman]

On 27/07/2023 at 18:23, Mr Spock said:

So, the last time I was outside I had an hour and a half on the moon looking at Aristarchus and Gassendi. That was it more or less for June. I have had nothing in July. Nothing but cloud every single night.

Oh look, we have dark skies again, well, light grey for here. Sadly all I will see of it is more cloud. Is this just becoming a pointless hobby and we are all better off doing something less frustrating?

Could be worse.

I have three months at a time being unable to do any observing. My observatory is in La Palma and half the year I am in the UK.

Returning to LP a week ago I found that the telescope control system was having difficulties chatting to the dome, focusser and mount, so nothing has yet been done. With luck today's work will have solved those issues but, of course, the clouds are now building up.  Cloud over has gone from 0% to 50% in the last two hours and it is still quite a while until sunset.

 

[Franklin]

8 minutes ago, Xilman said:

I have three months at a time being unable to do any observing. My observatory is in La Palma and half the year I am in the UK.

If only we could all have problems like yours☺️.

[Xilman]

1 hour ago, Franklin said:

If only we could all have problems like yours☺️.

You want not to be able to use your telescope for three months at a time and then be at the mercy of the clouds thereafter?

 

Curious,,,

[Alan White]

I when I read Michaels opening post thought 💭 he is right, but it’s in my DNA to look up. 
Michael please hang in and it will improve as it always does, it always feels a longtime during cloudy spells.

Of course, on order it cleared last night at the very moment I was due up the wooden hill, but not wanting to miss this had a great hour of amazing seeing before the cloud again closed in. 
Never has m13,m29 and m57 looked so wonderful, capped off with a nice double double etc and a good mooch around a darkening sky.

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by Alan White

[Ratlet]

I'm going to level with you all.  The lack of clear skies is probably the only reason I've stuck at this.

I have a bad habit of getting obsessed with my hobbies and then doing it constantly until I begin to lose interest.

The drip feed of clear nights is just a constant tease that keeps me hungry to get the scope out.

On balance though, this summer has been pretty dire.  Fortunately last summer was even worse and on balance at 56° north there are worse things to lose than civil darkness/nautical darkness observing.

[MalcolmM]

On 27/07/2023 at 21:07, JeremyS said:

It must surely have been highly innocuous as I’ve never had a Tak Abbé 32

But do let me know how you get on with it Malcolm 🤣

I have all the Abbes except for the 32. You said your OCD would have remedied that pretty quick

Malcolm 

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, MalcolmM said:

I have all the Abbes except for the 32. You said your OCD would have remedied that pretty quick

Malcolm 

Ah yes, I remember that Malcolm 🤣

[StarDuke82]

I spent the better part of June not using my rig because of clouds and rain, maybe got 3 nights out of the whole month and July wasn’t much better. Luckily it’s August now and now it’s nearly August and the forecast for the next week is clear skies and it usually stays that way until October here 🤞🏻

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Observing has reintroduced me to reading and learning outside of work.

I've been reacquainted with the great outdoors. Camping was a distant memory. Now I'm out under canvas a few times a year enjoying fresh air, great scenery and under cooked sausages. 😄

The above comes with a renewed interest in our indigenous wildlife. I've learnt the northern midge is a formidable foe!

Socialising with like minded people without finding it necessary to spend time in dodgy night clubs is probably a bonus too... 🙄

Astronomy has not cost a great deal. With reserved spending of maybe £3k at most over the last few years on observing kit and camping gear, I don't feel massively hard done by if the clouds are sticking.

Finding this hobby has been a wholly positive experience and despite finding the challenging weather frustrating on occasion, giving up observing is unimaginable.

Those few cloud free nights each year make every book read and penny spent worthwhile even under light polluted skies most of the time.

Basically, stop moaning, remember why you look up, enjoy those times you can and do something else when you cannot. 😀