Holy cow, did you see the weather forecast😭😭😭?

[Elp]

We just end up buying more stuff we can't use. Maybe there's something dodgy going on here...

[saac]

Guys at some time in the next few decades there will be a real likelihood of  a permeant presence on the moon. Who knows, maybe with the possibility of a having a week long holiday on the Moon - oh those dark skys, day and night!  Knowing our luck though the neighbours will have their security lights on. 

Jim 

[Pete Presland]

And there was me thinking now the clocks have gone back, i might be able to finally get some planetary imaging done!

[Paz]

There's two sides to this weather, whilst we are not amused these people are loving it...

https://cloudappreciationsociety.org

...they even have a "cloud of the month"!

 

[WolfieGlos]

3 minutes ago, Paz said:

There's two sides to this weather, whilst we are not amused these people are loving it...

https://cloudappreciationsociety.org

...they even have a "cloud of the month"!

 

Well I suppose every cloud has a silver lining! 

[Stephenstargazer]

I am fine with clouds too..........in daylight 🙂

[mikeDnight]

I've sat in my garden on countless cloudy nights waiting for a sucker hole and have been rewarded with some amazing views of the Moon and planets. I've even observed a comet low in the west when it was thick cloud above, and I was so cold I couldn't move my fingers from my binoculars, and it was snowing. Defeatism is for wimps! 😉

[uhb1966]

23 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

I've sat in my garden on countless cloudy nights waiting for a sucker hole and have been rewarded with some amazing views of the Moon and planets. I've even observed a comet low in the west when it was thick cloud above, and I was so cold I couldn't move my fingers from my binoculars, and it was snowing. Defeatism is for wimps! 😉

fingers frozen to the binos... that's what i call determination👍🏻

[mikeDnight]

11 hours ago, uhb1966 said:

fingers frozen to the binos... that's what i call determination👍🏻

I remember it as if it was yesterday despite it being 2006. There was thick cloud above and a thick cloud against the horizon, with a thin strip of sky low down separating the cloud. It was blowing a Gale and snowing, but Venus was visible in the twilight sky and I was determined to catch a glimpse of this Sun grazing daylight comet. Just as I found it Paulastro phoned me to say he'd just found the comet and it was then that I realised how cold my hands were and I struggled to release my grip. 

I made this sketch to commemorate the adventure, but leaving out the snow which was blowing almost horizontally.

[Bugdozer]

My local weather forecast predicted solid rain from yesterday through today for the rest of the week. I popped my head out about midnight last night and the sky was completely clear! Grabbed the scope and set up to test my new polar alignment method (worked perfectly) and although some small intermittent clouds came and went, it continued being nice and clear and has been sunny here all morning too. Don't trust the forecasts!

Mind you, despite the lack of clouds, the actual seeing was pretty poor.

[Mr Spock]

Rain, rain, rain. Might as well move to Ferenginar 

[tomato]

On 29/10/2023 at 12:25, WolfieGlos said:

When those clear nights come it’s great, bit the long waits between them, particularly this year, are tiring. Last year November was a total write off, and with the current forecast…it’s looking the same again this year ☹️

Perhaps FLO ought to consider remote hosting, as I’m sure their sales must be taking a dent with all of us moaning all the time 🤣

FLO do have remote imaging, based at Pixel Skies in Southern Spain. 
It’s called Remote Observatory, I have made enquiries…

[WolfieGlos]

7 hours ago, tomato said:

FLO do have remote imaging, based at Pixel Skies in Southern Spain. 
It’s called Remote Observatory, I have made enquiries…

Oh! Best keep it quiet, or a lot of people will be accumulating debts 🤣

Seriously, I didn’t know that, and I’ve seen no mention of it before. Let us know if you hear anything back! 

[tomato]

1 minute ago, WolfieGlos said:

Oh! Best keep it quiet, or a lot of people will be accumulating debts 🤣

Seriously, I didn’t know that, and I’ve seen no mention of it before. Let us know if you hear anything back! 

Here is the link to their website:

https://www.remoteobservatory.com/
 

They appear to have a number of 90mm APO rigs set up, but I’m interested in one of their 8” RC rigs when they become available. I’ll post my experiences on SGL, but I think it will be in new year before it happens.

[WolfieGlos]

16 minutes ago, tomato said:

Here is the link to their website:

https://www.remoteobservatory.com/
 

They appear to have a number of 90mm APO rigs set up, but I’m interested in one of their 8” RC rigs when they become available. I’ll post my experiences on SGL, but I think it will be in new year before it happens.

Wow, pricey per month but certainly a solution. I dare say the cost for a year with circa 200 clear nights would cover the cost of a high end setup. If you do go for it I’d be interested in how you find it 🙂

Funnily enough I looked at roboscopes a few weeks back which Peter shah from SGL is involved with, they had some serious equipment too; https://www.roboscopes.com

Edited October 31, 2023 by WolfieGlos

[tomato]

Yeah, there is no getting around that it is a big commitment financially. Despite the terrible UK weather I know I want to have kit at home while I can physically still go out and use it, but  the FLO pricing model is the next best thing to shipping my own gear out to Spain. I really like the notion of logging on and imaging a chosen target without having to join a queue or limiting how much integration time I spend on it.

The rolling month option although more expensive allows me to dip my toe in the water and see if it would work for me, those Southern sky targets are a big temptation also. I’m now starting to monitor cloud cover in Southern Spain, I’ll keep you posted.

 

[LongJohn54]

On 31/10/2023 at 09:05, mikeDnight said:

I remember it as if it was yesterday despite it being 2006. There was thick cloud above and a thick cloud against the horizon, with a thin strip of sky low down separating the cloud. It was blowing a Gale and snowing, but Venus was visible in the twilight sky and I was determined to catch a glimpse of this Sun grazing daylight comet. Just as I found it Paulastro phoned me to say he'd just found the comet and it was then that I realised how cold my hands were and I struggled to release my grip. 

I made this sketch to commemorate the adventure, but leaving out the snow which was blowing almost horizontally.

 

That's a lovely sketch.   Here's my image taken 10 Jan 2007 at 17:06 of the Comet and Venus.  I was resting the camera on a cushion on the top of my car in a car park at the top of Dunstable Downs in Bedfordshire.  Once the comet disappeared behind the clouds and reappeared it was far too dark for my camera to register anything.  No snow but pretty cold and windy.

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by LongJohn54

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, LongJohn54 said:

 

That's a lovely sketch.   Here's my image taken 10 Jan 2007 at 17:06 of the Comet and Venus.  I was resting the camera on a cushion on the top of my car in a car park at the top of Dunstable Downs in Bedfordshire.  Once the comet disappeared behind the clouds and reappeared it was far too dark for my camera to register anything.  No snow but pretty cold and windy.

 

Thanks for going to the trouble of finding that photograph. Obviously in my mind Venus and the comet were closer together than they actually were in reality, and the comet wasn't as vertical as I remembered it, but that might have been due to my letterbox view through the two cloud banks? I'll have to try and find the original sketch of the comet as seen through the binoculars.  It's hard to imagine all those years have flown bye as in my mind it seems like yesterday. I haven't forgotten the pain I was in either, but I drove home very contented. 😊

[LongJohn54]

@mikeDnight I'd arrived at Dunstable Downs well before 4pm as I wanted to catch the comet as early as possible.  I took a photo every couple of minutes until I saw it.  This is my 'discovery' image. I've attached its Exif as well. Just 6 minutes off from your sketch. 😁   It's pretty faint but the comet is to the left of the wispy cloud in the top right third of the image.

The tail was much more vertical then so I think your sketch would be pretty accurate at the time. 👍

 

[WolfieGlos]

Nice and clear here tonight, first image just captured 😃 Allegedly clear again Sunday night after tomorrows wet and stormy forecast. Fingers crossed. 

[DaveS]

I tried imaging tonight, got 90 mins before the cloud rolled in. Of the 9 subs only 6 were useable.

[WolfieGlos]

I got nearly 3 hours, but had to wait for clouds to pass several times, and I suspect a few of those subs will be scrapped. Shame, it was near perfect conditions prior to that. Better than nothing though!

[DaveS]

 

13 hours ago, DaveS said:

I tried imaging tonight, got 90 mins before the cloud rolled in. Of the 9 subs only 6 were useable.

And this is the dismal result, hardly worth bothering except to check the framing. It's HCG 10 in Andromeda. It was very low and I think 3 of the subs picked up stray light from an upstairs window that I had forgotten about.

[Nigella Bryant]

On 29/10/2023 at 18:02, Stephenstargazer said:

I am fine with clouds too..........in daylight 🙂

Noooooooo, I'm a solar observer, lol.

Edited November 4, 2023 by Nigella Bryant
Pics

[globular]

25 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Wow!  There is a lot going on there! Is it always like that? I think I'll have to ask Santa for some new toys.