Which months is best in Sweden ?

[Astrofriend]

I bought my SkyWatcher EQ6 mount 2013, from that I started to take more astrophotos. In Sweden where I live the best season is from October to Mars when it's darkest, but also cold. Sorry to say we have a lot of clouds, how does that influence the number of nights I can do astrophotographing ?

I have collected all my nights with astrophotos in a simple database. From that I can get some statistics. One example is a table over the accumulated number of astrophotos each months over the years.

It can be seen that I get much more astrophotos at the spring compare to the autumn, even if the darkness is about the same. That's because of the clouds.

Have a look here:
http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/astronomy-photo/database/astronomy-photo-database-statististica.html

The light pollution is worse in the winter season.

Lars

[rustigsmed]

Hejsan Lars,


Perhaps May-Jul is a good time for some solar observations!


Cheers


Russ

[Astrofriend]

Yes, Sun is always there. Strange, the closets star we have is less interesting than the stars far away that we can't see any details on.

At least I have done one solar observation:

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/astronomy-photo/solar-system/sun/solar-eclipse-1999/solar-eclipse-1999.html

Perhaps more interesting are interviews I have done with people who observed the 1954 solar eclipse in Sweden:

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/astronomy-articles/solar-eclipse-1954/solar-eclipse-1954.html

Lars

[Astrofriend]

The astro season which started in August 2024 have given me more clear nights than normal.

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/astronomy-photo/database/astronomy-photo-database-statististica.html

Good because I have new equipment to test out.

Lars

[Matthieu]

Lucky you're doing astrophotography, your best months are the coldest :jawdrop: I can imagine it would be tough for visual.

How does your equipment handle the temperature?

[Astrofriend]

Hi Matthieu,

In October we had +5 C to +10 C, higher temperature than normal. The lowest temperature I have tested my equipment at was -15 degrees C. It worked without problem, that time I had the mount at balcony and I sat indoors at +22 C. I'm more sensitive to cold weather. The bad thing with the balcony, Bortle Class 9, very light poluted.

How about temperature at your place at astro season ?

Lars

[By.Jove]

Lars from your graph it looks to me more like the hours of darkness are what matter - ie in summer (May...July) it's never dark enough for imaging. You're doing better in winter than I do in Sydney - at any time of the year.

[Astrofriend]

The astro photos I take in August and partly September, April isn't dark enough. But good to test the equipment in that time. October to middle of April is dark, and cold.

Lars

[Matthieu]

I only do visual so astro season is year round as a 20 minutes cloud break is enough to get some enjoyment. The coldest I've been out observing in Victoria was +3° and the warmest night probably in the vicinity of +27°. That said, I've done a lot of naked eye observing growing up below zero in the snow. I'm pretty sure my limit would have been around -5° though.

I think it's a smart move to setup and go back inside :)

[Leo.G]

That is an interesting concept that the average Australian would have probably never thought of, every night is going to get dark eventually over here unless you live in the middle of a city. Though regional areas are getting more light pollution with modern LED street lighting and higher populations.
So many people seem to love leaving their porch lights on all night where I live in a regional area 2-3 hours west of Sydney and the house behind used to always leave a sun like security light on in the back yard all night. Thankfully it's now turned off with the former police officer who rented moving into his own house (nice fellow who worked funny hours and just left it on, probably for the security of his wife and young daughter).
Now it's just trees.


How do you cope with ice, dew straps of my favourite at home where AC power is readily available and I use a hair dryer, mostly just on cold air, occasionally warm but never hot?
The coldest we get in my region mid winter is -12c.

[Astrofriend]

Hi Leo,
We have the same problem here, with LED they leave to light on all the night. I hope some regulation force them turn it off during night, for the birds and other animals out in the dark, and maybe some astronomers.

The dew is a problem, normally after 30 minutes I get dew on the front lens. I have installed dew heaters on the front lense, both main and guide telescope. Low power, about 1 Watt or lower.

Here are some:

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/projects/project-heating-band/project-heating-band.html

Today most USB powered dew heaters in low power mode.

Lars