Clear nights compared to previous years.

[Hawksmoor]

Very poor year on the East Coast. September was the best but then we both went down with Covid. When you factor in moonlight, the weather, the affect of the tide on coastal cloud, the jet stream, misbehaving electronics, illness, making time for other activities and my general decrepitude, it is a wonder I get to image anything from our backyard. Still and just like Peter Rabbit, I’m not downhearted and will keep on trying to amuse you all with my trade mark ‘blurry technicolour images. One thing I have noticed this year is how changeable the weather has been and consequently how often the metrology models have got it wrong for Lowestoft. I guess that is one of the many downsides of global warming. I believe my sunny uplands like my garden electrics have been submerged under flood water. Next year though, every night will be clear, transparent, and filled with laughter and the sound of shutters clicking!

[WolfieGlos]

21 hours ago, 900SL said:

I've found a bunch of advantages with the square sensor.. which means set up is much easier and you can get on with imaging rather than chasing down issues

Field flatness and corner issues are much less of an issue compared to APSC 

Backspacing is straightforward, and tilt has much less impact  

Files are smaller, data transfer quicker, storage less and processing faster

The 533 is more forgiving of scope image circle restraints, compared to my APSC and full frame Nikons

Filters and filter wheel are way cheaper 

All good points, thanks, some which I hadn’t even considered. Especially the filter side, assuming you mean the 1.25” are usable with the 533? I think I’ll make a separate post closer to the time rather than bog down this thread, but I was leaning towards mono and you (and Elp and Ratlet!) may have just pushed me a bit closer….

I have a 585mc and intend to try it for galaxy season, well assuming the clouds do one… 

[900SL]

14 hours ago, WolfieGlos said:

All good points, thanks, some which I hadn’t even considered. Especially the filter side, assuming you mean the 1.25” are usable with the 533? I think I’ll make a separate post closer to the time rather than bog down this thread, but I was leaning towards mono and you (and Elp and Ratlet!) may have just pushed me a bit closer….

I have a 585mc and intend to try it for galaxy season, well assuming the clouds do one… 

Yes, 1.25" work fine with 533mm.  No vignetting.  I've bought Antlia Ha and Oiii edge filters to try HOO to start with. I'm happy with the 533 sensor size so no need for bigger. 

This video swung it for me. 

 

now back to clouds. 

ITS CLEAR SKIES HERE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[Petrol]

I started imaging 10 years ago. looking back at my imaging dates, there were plenty of cold, clear nights this time of year. After a 10 year break I've noticed a significant reduction in clear nights. I've also noticed a massive increase in light pollution, then there's the satellite trails. I have a roll off in my back garden, but prefer to drive to darker sites. I'm in the process of building a second mobile rig to maximise the few clear nights we now get.

Pete

[LaurenceT]

Two nights ago I stepped out into the garden and although there were thick clouds to the west the moon was showing beautifully to the east.

I'd already been playing with the Evoguide 50ED earlier so I was set up outside in 10 minutes. Az GTI pointing the little scope to the moon and tracking enabled. Sharpcap on, focused and stabilized.

I got 9 lovely videos in an hour, took everything indoors and in a moment of inattentive madness deleted everything...... permanently 🤣.

When's the next clear night......?

 

[Mandy D]

@LaurenceT Permanently? Have you over-written everything? If not, the files should be recoverable.

[LaurenceT]

12 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

@LaurenceT Permanently? Have you over-written everything? If not, the files should be recoverable.

When I tried to transfer the files from my laptop to a usb stick I couldn't because the HDD was too full, in fact almost bursting, so there was no swap file usage available. It was full because my Sharpcap files were saved to my desktop which automatically was copied to OneDrive. That was the problem, my OneDrtive was full, I should have paid more attention to it earlier. The only remedy, so I thought, was to delete files from OneDrive but by not paying attention not only deleted everything but emptied the OneDrive Recycle Bin which is permanent. I've now unlinked my PC and laptop from OneDrive!

[MalcolmP]

42 minutes ago, LaurenceT said:

Recycle Bin which is permanent.

Dont do any writing of new files to any of those disks until the experts get back to you !
Windows thinks that files are permanently deleted only because it has deleted its index to where they are on the drive. The data may still exist but windows has made the space "available" for future new files. Sophisticated recovery methods are available but my knowledge of them is old,  hence wait for the experts !
 

[John]

There is a Windows untility called Recuva which is surprisingly good at retrieving deleted files. I use the free version:

Download Recuva | Recover deleted files, free! (ccleaner.com)

Off topic for a weather discussion thread though, but there you go 🙂

[Earl]

its almost like forever autumn these days, cloudy rainy and overall yuck.

[tomato]

Here is my unscientific contribution, based on the number of imaging sessions recorded. For various reasons I don't always image when it is clear, and I have sessions recorded which were severely curtailed by cloud.

2022 86 sessions, Av 7.17 per month

2023 75 sessions, Av 6.25 per month.

One thing I noted as I went through the books, there seemed to be far more instances of a 2 or 3 run of clear nights in 2022 compared to this year.

 

[Zermelo]

I agree on the recent run of poor weather, but there have been a fair few nights with an hour or two of clear skies, or evenings with a degree of mobile, low cloud throughout. Often, these opportunities have been in defiance of a pessimistic forecast.
So perhaps recent weeks have favoured visual observers who have the flexibility to set up speculatively, with fewer commitments, or grab-and-go equipment ready to deploy, happy to look at whatever is in the gaps ... but possibly not so good for the imagers.
 

[Simon Pepper]

I bought the JWST calendar for 2024 to specifically track all night clear, partial or no chance I’ll revert next December 😂

I agree though south east UK probably only seen three or four days at most since November. I am considering trying out visual as that’s so much quicker to setup! 

[Mandy D]

6 hours ago, MalcolmP said:

Dont do any writing of new files to any of those disks until the experts get back to you !
Windows thinks that files are permanently deleted only because it has deleted its index to where they are on the drive. The data may still exist but windows has made the space "available" for future new files. Sophisticated recovery methods are available but my knowledge of them is old,  hence wait for the experts !
 

@LaurenceT Sadly, Onedrive is a remote service offered by Microsoft, which once you empty the recycle bin, permanently deletes the files. They are then not recoverable by any means as you cannot access the physical drive in any way. On any local drive or your own server, you could carry out recovery, as all that an OS does is mark the space available, but the data is still there.