How do you survive the night?

[BilliGoatsGruff]

Late every afternoon, when the sky is clear, I have the same good intentions to drag my gear outside and study the sky. By 8pm that motivation is gone and I am left as a drooling pile of sleepy human flesh. How do you all manage to stay awake long enough to see the stars come out? Is there some secret trick that I don't know about, yet?

[Shiraz]

that's one reason why I got into imaging Billi - the automated system churns away in the dark all by itself while I fall asleep in front of the TV. Then I look at the results the next day - perfect.

[BeanerSA]

I'm a shift worker, odd periods of being awake are the norm.

Try cooking/eating dinner outside, especially on nights with a first quarter moon. Do some viewing while the sun is still up. Move to brighter objects while the sun is going down. By the time astro twilight hits, you should be warmed up.

[MattT]

Sounds like you work for a living still...as do I.
No secret just go with the flow. I work lots of nights in my job and have lost count of the nights I set up a scope go to 'work' get home 'round midnight and couldn't be bothered, I'm tired and a glass of red is beckoning :D

There are times I can be bothered and the red stays in the bottle. Always in Summer and Autumn....

Matt

[Somnium]

this is the catch to astrophotography. as you get more equipment to take better images the set up and tear down time increases significantly. this was probably the main reason why i wanted to build a permanent observatory.

But even before the obs i was generally setting up on a friday afternoon (pending weather) and image 2 - 3 nights before i pulled it all down, however, the camera did come in each day. if you are imaging one target per night then unless you need to perform a meridian flip you can just let it run.

also +1 to Ray, automation software makes things a lot better.

alternatively, if you want to study the sky, maybe you could drop down to a more portable set up.

[BilliGoatsGruff]

I don't have much of a job, except cleaning the local footy club each morning, which means being up at 5am. I think my two girls are the real energy burners!

I have a little table-top dob so setting up takes as long as the walk to the backyard and all of my eyepieces are ordered in a case for easy selection. Haha there's no way I'm ready for imaging yet! I've only really started exploring the night sky and the thought of more equipment gives me a headache.

I loved that the sun set early in winter and rose later, giving me more time to get outside, but of course all good things come to an end. It's been about 2 months since I took my scope outside and it's fair to say that I get totally lost now.

[xelasnave]

Set up when you get home and have a nap with your eye patch on.
Or try a weekend night.

[casstony]

I'm more likely to observe if I set up before dark. Even if the desire fades I've got to go out and pack up anyway so I may as well look at some stuff.

[ZeroID]

I normally wander outside early evening to see if I'm inspired, ( and the clouds haven't spotted me ). Pretend to do some gardening while surreptitiously glancing at the sky. Cautiously approach the orange tree,(close to the Ob) and then sneak in and power up stuff.
Then I go back inside as though nothing has happened and the clouds lose interest.
Then when it's dark I sneak out with my hoodie up so they don't recognise me and open the roof up ... ;).

Having the Ob makes a HUGE difference to motivation as I know I can be up and running in 10 minutes and if nothing inspires me well there is always the red inside. (TV is a waste of time !! ). I can do an hour or two of imaging, viewing or just fiddling and then be in bed 10 mins after shutdown.

Can be a mission sometimes after a hard day though. :shrug: