Weather

[Butterfly Maiden]

Sorry guys, but we are having glorious weather at the moment.

Dry and sunny, with current temperature of 57.2℉ (14℃)

[GCoyote]

Unfortunately those high wind gusts didn't take down the ugly, old willow tree at the end of my street. It would have been even nicer if they had knocked over the larches that block my ESE view. Alas, no joy.

Last summer a close lightning strike took about 20 feet off the top of a particularly obstructive oak tree on the easement south of my yard.
The cloud gods giveth and taketh and sometimes blasteth things to bits. :eek:

[OzEclipse]

Next Monday is a public holiday. Having a few friends out for an astro observing weekend.

So far night times are looking "donuts" clear, dew free and not too cold! That 77% cloud on Saturday 4pm-10pm usually clears as the sun goes down

.

[Ylem]

Clear, cold and polleny (is that a word?)

Going to keep the scopes in till the pollen clears.

[pakarinen]

Clear, cold and polleny (is that a word?)

Going to keep the scopes in till the pollen clears.

I remember stepping outside somewhere I was visiting and it looked like I was in a cloud of sulfur, so polleny seems like a good word. Wasn't Charlotte, most likely Wisconsin or southern Indiana.

[turboscrew]

If "polleny" wasn't a word, it is from now on.

[GCoyote]

Windy and cool.

[pakarinen]

Cool and rainy, but forecast to clear and hit the 80s this weekend. I'll be in Ken-tuck-eee though, so no observing unless I can find a place in rural southern Indiana to stay over on the way back.

[turboscrew]

The frigging forecasters made it again.
At about 8 o'clock PM, the forecast said that the sky starts to clear at 10 PM, and around 12 AM it should be clear.
So I hauled the VX 12 and CEM120 out to check, if my adjustments helped.
At 10 PM, the forecast had changed, an the clearing would start at 11PM, and it should be clear at 01 AM.
It's now 12:30 AM, and the sky hasn't even begin to clear. Not the forecast says that it should be clear at 04 AM.
Clowns! Except that I'm not laughing.

I'll still look out for a while. Just maybe I could do some tests.
It's not fun to haul over 80 kg (176 lb) setup out and back in for nothing.

[turboscrew]

Yep, yep. It's now 1:30 AM, and the sky haven't even started to clear.
And the forecast has changed again - everything is supposed to happen an hour later.
It should be clear at 5 AM. I seriously doubt it.
During this evening, the forecast of clear sky has moved from 12 AM to 5 AM!
Let's see if the sky clears by 11 PM tomorrow...!

[turboscrew]

Guess where the sky is still totally cloudy. Now the forecast says it will start clearing at 9 AM and it should be clear by at 11 AM.

[turboscrew]

Now (9:45 AM) the clouds are breaking. This is what it should have been yesterday around 10 PM, by the forecast at 8 PM yesterday.

[turboscrew]

I wonder if I dare to try tonight.

Forecasts now (11:57 AM):
Tonight 10 PM - 02 AM
7Timer! - 40% - 50% cloud cover
Foreca - 0% cloud cover
FMI - 0% cloud cover
yr.no - 0% cloud cover
ilmateenistus.ee - 0% cloud cover
Clear Outside - 0% - 2% cloud cover
Meteoblue - 0% cloud cover

Got to see what it looks like outside at 9 PM, and what the forecasts say then.

[Butterfly Maiden]

Better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all.

I know it is frustrating for you Juha, but hang in there. At least most, if not all, of us have been in the same boat at times. It is just one of the pitfalls of astronomy :sigh:

[turboscrew]

Better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all.

I know it is frustrating for you Juha, but hang in there. At least most, if not all, of us have been in the same boat at times. It is just one of the pitfalls of astronomy :sigh:

I know (sorry for the ranting). It's just that the weather forecasts have failed so many times. It takes half an hour to set up my bigger rig and another half an hour to tear it down. Then the waiting of at least somewhat usable weather that doesn't come.
My last somewhat good session was Apr 20, 2021, that ended prematurely due to a gear problem.
I have had the 300 mm tube for almost 2 years, and mostly due to the gear problems, I've had only one mostly successful session this far.

[OzEclipse]

Better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all.

I know it is frustrating for you Juha, but hang in there. At least most, if not all, of us have been in the same boat at times. It is just one of the pitfalls of astronomy :sigh:

I know (sorry for the ranting). It's just that the weather forecasts have failed so many times. It takes half an hour to set up my bigger rig and another half an hour to tear it down. Then the waiting of at least somewhat usable weather that doesn't come.
My last somewhat good session was Apr 20, 2021, that ended prematurely due to a gear problem.
I have had the 300 mm tube for almost 2 years, and mostly due to the gear problems, I've had only one mostly successful session this far.

I hurt my back a few years back and couldn't handle setting up my 18" for almost a year. Even so, I didn't sell it. Astronomy is a long game. Be patient.
Joe

[turboscrew]

Better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all.

I know it is frustrating for you Juha, but hang in there. At least most, if not all, of us have been in the same boat at times. It is just one of the pitfalls of astronomy :sigh:

I know (sorry for the ranting). It's just that the weather forecasts have failed so many times. It takes half an hour to set up my bigger rig and another half an hour to tear it down. Then the waiting of at least somewhat usable weather that doesn't come.
My last somewhat good session was Apr 20, 2021, that ended prematurely due to a gear problem.
I have had the 300 mm tube for almost 2 years, and mostly due to the gear problems, I've had only one mostly successful session this far.

I hurt my back a few years back and couldn't handle setting up my 18" for almost a year. Even so, I didn't sell it. Astronomy is a long game. Be patient.
Joe

Still here thinking if I could try tonight.

BTW, you must have hurt your back quite badly. No further complications, I hope?

[OzEclipse]

I hurt my back a few years back and couldn't handle setting up my 18" for almost a year. Even so, I didn't sell it. Astronomy is a long game. Be patient.
Joe

Still here thinking if I could try tonight.

BTW, you must have hurt your back quite badly. No further complications, I hope?

Hi Juha,

I took my close friend from Sweden who was terminally ill out to Central Australia. His "bucket list" wish. One day we were walking at Uluru and he had a bad fall. Because he was quite weak, in helping him up, I was lifting much of his body weight and I hurt my lower back. Then I re-injured it about 2 months later and made it even worse.

I have a permanent lower back injury and have to be very careful with lifting now. Although a permanent injury, by taking great care I manage most things fine. I can still lift a certain amount, eg my EM200 is 17 kg. I have no trouble carrying it out and setting up but I am very careful picking it up and I store it on a shelf at waist height so I don't have to pick it up off the floor. Basically I just have to think before i do anything stupid.

My 18" weighs 100kg. At the time I had to push the wheels over a step into a friends observatory where it was then stored. It required a lot of force. Now I have at my home with ramps out of the house onto the rear deck and another ramp off the rear deck into the back yard. The secondary cage of the 18" isn't particularly heavy but I have to climb a ladder and reach out with it to attach it to the truss tubes.

Joe

[turboscrew]

I hurt my back a few years back and couldn't handle setting up my 18" for almost a year. Even so, I didn't sell it. Astronomy is a long game. Be patient.
Joe

Still here thinking if I could try tonight.

BTW, you must have hurt your back quite badly. No further complications, I hope?

Hi Juha,

I took my close friend from Sweden who was terminally ill out to Central Australia. His "bucket list" wish. One day we were walking at Uluru and he had a bad fall. Because he was quite weak, in helping him up, I was lifting much of his body weight and I hurt my lower back. Then I re-injured it about 2 months later and made it even worse.

I have a permanent lower back injury and have to be very careful with lifting now. Although a permanent injury, by taking great care I manage most things fine. I can still lift a certain amount, eg my EM200 is 17 kg. I have no trouble carrying it out and setting up but I am very careful picking it up and I store it on a shelf at waist height so I don't have to pick it up off the floor. Basically I just have to think before i do anything stupid.

My 18" weighs 100kg. At the time I had to push the wheels over a step into a friends observatory where it was then stored. It required a lot of force. Now I have at my home with ramps out of the house onto the rear deck and another ramp off the rear deck into the back yard. The secondary cage of the 18" isn't particularly heavy but I have to climb a ladder and reach out with it to attach it to the truss tubes.

Joe

Sorry to hear. But at least for noble cause.
I, too, have some lower back problems. It starts to hurt in static stress, and it's about a weeks recovery from that.
A couple of years ago I scraped window frames for repainting. That meant leaning forward for quite long times. Next day it took me three quarters of an hour to get to sit on my bed when I woke up. 3 weeks of sick leave and 600 mg ibuprofen for the pain.

[turboscrew]

So far so good. All the forecasters still show zero cloudiness except 7Timer!, but it has changed its cloudiness forecast from 40% - 50% to 20%.
Not rushing to set up just yet.