Oh the joys.......

[Yidoboy]

Well, it's now 00:45 and my night of observing is over........not that it ever really began!!!

My 'scope had been out on it's own for over an hour cooling down before I ventured outside to brilliant, clear skies. My prime objective tonight was to grab a decent image of Saturn using my webcam and practising with both Sharpcap and WxAstrocapture.

I set my 10mm up with the Barlow to make sure I had the finderscope aligned properly(it always seems to move about!) and instantly got a lovely view of Saturn and aligned nicely in the finderscope. I then set about trying to focus the webcam. For some reason I struggled to achieve this using Sharpcap so switched over to WxAstrocapture. This time Saturn came into view almost immediately. I then adjusted a few bits on Wx and it was then that I noticed Saturn coming in and out of focus......

I rechecked everything and it was all aligned properly.....I then decided to have a look up and find Saturn myself only to be greeted with cloud! Cloud!!!

I had spent half an hour setting everything up and then got [removed word] all!!!! I perservered for 5 minutes but eventually I gave up after noticing I could see nothing but clouds with my naked eye.

How frustrating was that!

This is the 2nd time this has happened this week. A few days ago I took my 'scope out for it's first venture to a dark site 40 minutes drive away, only to get there and see clouds rolling in.

Why couldn't I have chosen a simple hobby like watching tele or something!!!!

[stolenfeather]

Clouds, they are certainly the worse party crashers when it comes to stargazing. If clouds were so close, I doubt to viewing would have been great. Advancing low pressure systems usually wreck havoc on the quality of the visibility.

Tell yourself that "everything happens for a reason" and that crystal clear skies are awaiting you right around the corner! A wonderful image of Saturn will soon be yours!

Isabelle

[Yidoboy]

Cheers Isabelle. I keep telling myself that but staying awake until 01:00 - 02:00 just to get lovely unobstructed views of clouds can try your patience......

One day....one day.

[stolenfeather]

I remember waking up at 5:00 am for a decent view of Saturn. They predicted clear skies, my personal weather station predicted clear skies, the night before was crystal clear so I dragged myself out of bed that morning. Thinking, "this is brilliant" I dressed and grabbed a coffee.

Guess what?

CLOUDS!!!

You try going back to bed at 5:00 am with caffeine surging through your veins?

I know,.. I know,.. I should have looked outside before drinking it!

Isabelle

[Demonperformer]

Yidoboy,

The bad news is that you will have many more nights like that in the future.

The good news is that when you have a good night, you will see things that will make all the bad evenings seem like no more than a bad dream.

Stick with it ... it's worth it.