Is bad weather driving people away from Astronomy?

[glend]

The east coast of Australia, from north Queensland right down the coast has been subjected to what seems to be continuing cloud, rain, storms, east coast lows, cyclones (in QLd) and generally miserable weather for what seems like the last year. There seems to be a decline in the attendance at various Star Parties, and dark site trips.

What effect is this having on amateur astronomy? Have your changed your observation and/or imaging time as a result of the weather? Have you packed it all away until things improve? Is this the future, and a legacy of climate change affecting what we can do?:question:

[LewisM]

It HELPED me sell last year during times of family crisis - it was one factor that helped me justify selling the gear.

I did my first imaging in 6 months 2 nights ago (and what a night it was! PERFECT seeing, and I could naked eye observe MANY DSO's that night from suburbia). When I turned my mount on, the HC asked the date.... the displayed last date turned on was 26/09/2014!

I had switched to visual (in sucker holes!) from my upper balcony for a few months - and enjoyed that immensely - so much so that ANOTHER recently acquired non-motorised GP mount now comes down next to it's imaging brother and I do visual with my Little Tak whilst the Bigger Tak takes pretty pictures.

Can I mention the lovely clear cold nights QLD has had? :) Looks OK for tonight too, apart from the wind.

[La_Displuke]

Last new moon was 100% cloud cover and i mean 100% and we had 25-29 scopes out to our dark sky evening with about 60 people. I can't speak for all areas but we seem to be doing fine.

[BeanerSA]

As a new Astronomer, I can say that I never would have braved the cold nights recently if they weren't so rewarding.

[Ric]

Hi Glen

Can't say that these weather conditions are helping the hobby, it's certainly frustrating to say the least.

What it does do is make you appreciate those clear nights when they happen.

[pgc hunter]

Been an absolute veritable basket case here in Hellbourne this year. I have been out may be twice, both nights complemented by poor seeing ofcourse.

The weather itself I can't say enough bad things and four-letter words about, even by Melbourne standards. This year has been cloudy and exceptionally cold. April and we are seeing typical July temps with the standard wintry antarctic winds, messy showers and cloud.

Then there has been those DAMN burnoffs every single clear day/night over the last few months.

[rrussell1962]

Agreed, the weather has been crap. Coupled with having a job where I mainly work nights it has meant virtually no observing over summer. On the plus side I have read a lot of books, and have organised a lot of seasonal observing lists to put some structure into my future observing sessions. Coming from the UK 20 years ago the recent weather has been pretty much what I hoped I had left behind!

[sn1987a]

Should be like this in Perth tonight


:poke:

[el_draco]

What bad weather? :shrug:
I saw a star last week. Two last night :rofl:
I think its called WINTER

[N1]

Not me. It just makes me enjoy clear nights even more. Friday night was reasonably good outside of Sydney. Used the opportunity to check out the lobes of Homunculus at 250x. Made up for a lot of waiting.

Lewis - I saw you mention the FC100 in another post of yours - how are you finding it, specifically for visual?

[LewisM]

Mirko,

I have the OLD (1988) FC-100, not the new one, so if it is the new version you are enquiring about, perhaps head over to here:

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/497866-old-tak-vs-new-tak/

and here:

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/415740-takahashi-fc-100d/

The old Tak FC-100 I find absolutely superb visually, and it is certainly no slouch for imaging as well - the image below is a 20 minute (2x10 min combined) H-a shot of a section of IC2944, using the specific reducer (makes it f/6.4)

Anyway, we now return you to the original topic :)

And to keep it on topic, this was shot 2 nights ago during QLD's MAGNIFICENT night skies :) I hope we are returning to our old winter weather patterns in QLD... like 2.5 months of clear cold sky :)

[Jen]

The weather has been perfect for me :) even though it is getting a bit chilly but at least I don't have the mozzies and the bugs to tend with this time of year :)
it's my job that gets in my way :shrug:
I would love to do more astronomy but I only do it on the weekends now because if I did it during the week I would never get up for work haha :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Nico13]

Can't even look at the sun down Geelong way :(
and yes Jen work gets in the way, in my case permanent afternoon shift for a while so weekends only and they've been pretty sad.
It's been giving me time to make little projects and improvements though.

[Wavytone]

Sure it does.

During the "big wet" around 89-90 we had 18 months in a row of bad weather, it rained on 26 consecutive weekends. At that time I got rid of all my astro gear to pursue a different hobby.

And ever since I've been reluctant to spend much on equipment that might be used a couple of times a year, there's little point.

When I reture to somewhere with better weather I might be more keen.

[multiweb]

Apparently there is now a 70% chance of an el nino event. This means, potentially, months of clear skies and low humidity. Another drought is possibly around the corner. Remember the one from 2003 to 2009? So I think there are some good times ahead for astrophotography. I wouldn't sell anything yet. the USD being so high as well it would be difficult to replenish telescope gear ontime.

[glend]

Ha ha, I'm retired now and thought I had a good spot but often the proximity to our children and grand-children limit going too far away to live. Access to health services can also be an issue. And living in a wonderful astro site might get boring after awhile as we come to expect great conditions. It's all a trade-off.

[Nikolas]

That purple text is making my poor eyes BURN!!!!!!!

[rustigsmed]

hi glen,

I would say for sure! I was considering doing some actual amateur astronomy on top of astrophotography, but that has gone out the window.

[N1]

It all depends how much commitment and cost one has dedicated to the hobby and the (perceived) opportunity cost this creates as a result - time and money that can't be spent on other stuff. This potentially leads to a minimum number of clear nights being required to make it all worthwhile. Where that threshold is will be different for everybody, but when it's reached (from the wrong direction), I'd imagine it to be sad moment indeed.

One strategy that has worked for me is not taking the whole thing too seriously. I've bought my gear knowing full well that it might not see starlight for months on end, but that's fine. There are plenty of other things to do in the meantime.

[Jen]

:rofl::rofl::rofl:
I guess you better invest in a purple solar filter then hehe :P

[xelasnave]

I think dealing with moisture problems stopped me from getting more sophisticated scope and imaging gear. I had planed going to 16 inch imaging because it is not that expensive these days for scope and mount.
But finally my health became the main reason not to upgrade.
I certainly do more observation these days as viewing windows can be short.

[OzStarGazer]

Is bad weather driving people away from astronomy?
Well, you can't study or examine what you can't see... (OK, of course there are also books, but you know what I mean.)
This all started just a few weeks or months after I got into astronomy... Maybe it's all my fault?

[ZeroID]

Nah, just gives me time to DIY more astro stuff and ponder on various problems and study all the technical jargon and concepts.

Really ...

My job these days is a bit humdrum to say the least. I often have longish quiet periods, hours, even occasional days. The current RN 8F8 project has given me immense pleasure working out build details and material requirements, solving complex 3D configuration ideas. I guess I get a lot of my astro enjoyment out of the DIY factor in reality.

It's all good fun I tell ya ... :P

[uwahl]

I have just started last year (retired Feb 2014), bought a van and some astro gear. The weather has been extremely frustrating. I can't recall whether its worse than previous years but its really shot my timetable. I thought I would be well past taking my first images and doing some photometry by now - no such luck!!:sadeyes:

[KenGee]

Get off the east coast and come west its great over here.

[astroboof]

The effect at present? Makes me sell old gear, and buy new stuff, an autumnal spruce up for better (ha!) winter seeing.

But yes, I can recall many times when the gear has languished for months due to giving up in frustration over weather, you plan sessions and it was time wasted. So you persue other interests, sports or hobbies for a while, even years.

In the end, you either know you are going to get into it again or you are not. For some drawn into the hobby as imagists only the chances of continued interest seem to be less likely. But others are always around to benefit from that. So the cycle goes on.

[Terry B]

I just tallied up the number of nights I have been able to take spectra or pics this year. I have 19 nights in 4 months. This is pretty hopeless really. Last year over the corresponding time I have 30 nights of observing. Mostly the problem has been cloud although some has been work as well.
Shame the cloud hasn't created lots of rain as well. We still have low dams. Maybe this weekend will help fill them.

[Eden]

Hah! I was thinking the same thing myself recently. I swear, before I bought a telescope, the sky was always clear whenever I went outside at night and looked up...

Yes, the weather situation is frustrating but it's so satisfying when you persevere and finally catch that perfect night. Wouldn't ever give it up, no matter how infrequent those night became.

[The_bluester]

Like anyone else I find it frustrating when winter bugs, weather and work times conspire to keep my gear in the garage. But it is never going to drive me away.

The gear is bought, it is paid for and it costs almost nothing to maintain. I was away from the hobby for 20 years so I am not selling up again. Financials would have to be pretty dire for me to sell the gear for that reason. Just like race cars (I have one of them too) the market is relatively limited and usually would mean selling for a substantial loss, so unless it was the only way to get through I would never see the point of doing it.

[OzStarGazer]

I am not going to give up either of course. But it IS frustrating. It was particularly frustrating with the moon eclipses. Luckily I have a good Internet connection, so I watched them live online. But really, I was not able to see a single second of a single eclipse from here!