Weather and Clouds, when do people image?

This year has been pretty bad by UK (East Midlands) historical records and I'm lucky to get few hours this whole month (there is essentially ZERO chance to have a full night and never mind the Full Moon in a fornight). The same could be said, I suspect, for much of Western Europe. In part must be my fault as I bought 2 cameras…

Used to be better than this in the east of the UK,

hi

this year has been bad in miami FL ,USA   , bad weather every week

I image on clear and partially clear nights, if I can. The prevalence of "fully clear" nights is pretty low. It ebbs and flows, but, when you hear about places having "200 sunny days a year" that number is rarely referring todays that are totally clear. Cloudcover is far more common than no cloudcover in most places. 

So, when you say you image on every clear night possible, do you mean only totally clear nights, not a cloud in sight? Or do you include nights that might have some clouds? 

What I've learned over the years, is if you really want to get more data, deeper signals, better SNR…then you have to take advantage of those not-so-clear nights as well. Maybe its just high, thin clouds. Hey, that can work, especially with narrow band, if the clouds are thin enough. Pocket-hole nights, where you get some clouds then some clear, then some clouds, etc. can work as well. And for broadband as well as narrow. 

The thing you have to accept is that, sometimes such nights work out ok, and other times they don't work out at all. You have to accept that you'll probably throw away a lot of junk subs (i.e. full clouds, enough clouds that they obscure your target too much, star-trailed subs that may have occurred before guiding could be fully restored, etc. etc. You'll definitely have throw-away subs. And you NEED to throw them away or degrade your stack. You will also need to accept the fact that sometimes you'll get hit with cloudcover that lasts long enough that recovery after they pass is impossible, and your session fails and you either get only limited data, or none at all.

What you should also find though, is that while you throw out more subs than if you only imaged on totally clear nights…you should also have MORE keepers, too!! If you don't take advantage of those partially clear nights, then you are only ever going to have the keeper rate you have now, give or take a small amount as the number of fully clear nights ebbs and flows. If you DO take advantage of them, then the potential is there that you'll take home more useful data that will improve your SNR, IQ, etc. At worst, you gain nothing and lose a bit of additional effort. At best, you gain a ton of additional data. ;)

My last few images from 2019, last time I really did much imaging, were all spanning 2-3 months, with plenty of partially clear or not ideal nights (probably the majority were). Some nights, I may only get 1-5 subs in total (I usually do 10 minute nb subs, but with RGB I may get 10-15 subs at a few minutes each.) Other nights, I may get another 10-20 subs or more. That is additional data I simply wouldn't have at all, if I hadn't tried on a less than perfect night.

@Fabian Butkovich Yes I’m the same as you I usually check the multiple weather apps I have and see if it’s worth setting up.

I also have only imaged from my back yard. But in a few months going to a bortle 3 Zone on holiday and will be taking my gear with me, I really do hope it’s going to be clear at least one day, but not holding my breath hahah.

Cheers Fabian

It's been so bad this winter that I'm considering to give up the hobby…

Clear around half the night and wind has felt like my mode of operation for the last few weeks. 🤣

Anytime it's clear with zero chance of precipitation. That could be as low as zero hours a month in the winter and as high as 150+ hours in the late summer. Having the observatory makes it easy to roll the roof open or close at a literal moments notice. I usually have all the sequences ready to go from the last session so I just click go.

As a lot of other people have said, it has been really cloudy this year and in 2023 in most of Europe, and no different here in Norway. Last year and so far this year I've gotten around 2-3 clear nights per month and I'm always unlucky enough to get those nights when there's a full moon out. Soon we're not going to get any darkness for a couple of months (midnight sun), but I'm hoping for better weather when the darkness returns in September.

Michael von Berner-Purgstall:
1st) if you have to work daily of course you can't go out as it clears around midnight and do imaging until 4am when you have to get up at 6am for work

Actually, I do (but not often). Although in all honesty it'll be likely 7.30am

Michael von Berner-Purgstall:
Hi Chris!
1st) if you have to work daily of course you can't go out as it clears around midnight and do imaging until 4am when you have to get up at 6am for work

Michael,

I quickly gave up waiting for clear nights during the weekends - it just doesn't happen.
So I go out for astrophotography whenever the weather and moon permits, (almost) no matter what's up at work the next day.

I use a mobile setup and try to get a few hours of sleep on a camp bed next to my gear - this helps a lot the next day.
However, this is more convenient of course during the warmer seasons than during winter.

During winter, clear nights have been scarce and imaging opportunities during this year's winter season here in Central Europe were as follows:
2 nights in November
2 nights in December
No nights in January
1 night in February (which I missed)
2 nights in March (where I missed 1)

In average troughout the year we can say 2-3 clear nights per month in Central Europe.

Let's hope for the best!
Chris

D. Jung:
It's been so bad this winter that I'm considering to give up the hobby...

Just been looking through some of your images, you can’t give up some beautiful pictures you’ve took.

@Michael von Berner-Purgstall 
I normally go out when it’s dark say in the summer 11pm set up then set my Alarm for when it goes light around 4am the retrieve my scope then go back to bed then wake up for work around 6:30am. That’s only if it’s forecast a decent night.

I didn’t even know you could buy files that’s interesting, I find the fun part is collecting your own data with your own equipment and learning what works best that’s just me though I’ve learnt so much in just a year. Just wish we had more clear nights 😂