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I concur, the weather has been uncooperative, curtailing my cherished hobby this year. Living on the east side of the Rockies, one must contend with the occasional inaccuracy of forecasts, brief summer days, and forest fires, which can be disheartening. Before abandoning astrophotography, consider researching and gathering historical data for your region to estimate the number of clear nights annually. Despite the costs associated with this hobby, constructing an observatory, such as a roll-off roof, can be done reasonably. It may be beneficial to invest in a fast-imaging system; I use the Hyperstar, which allows for rapid data acquisition, making it feasible to complete a data set on a target in a single evening. Diversification is key—I've broadened my imaging to encompass deep sky narrowband, planetary, lunar, and soon, solar imaging. I advise the local astronomy club that readiness is crucial for astrophotography in our region, though it can be costly to be realistically prepared at a moment's notice. Set yourself up so you can take advantage of every minute of exposure time available. Clear skies |
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I have my rig setup ready under a cover. If the weather looks favorable, I am ready in 5-10 minutes, depending on the necessity to check and adjust collimation. With this, I use any window of at least 3 hours. That makes quite a lot of imaging nights. Most of the image I publish where capture within the last 16 months. That's much more than the number windy sessions I had for windsurfing. |
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Chris Addison: Imagine how often I can do, just because during the week is impossible for me to move due to my job and family obligations. So, I can only take astrophotos during weekends with good weather. But, that's one of the things that makes me take it easy. If I went out every week 3 nights, maybe I would not be able to follow the rhythm and my body would give me some kind of health warning. Clear skies! |
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Interesting posts. It seems a very large percentage of posters have recently experienced unusually bad imaging weather. I would include myself in that number. In my case I image in two places, Central Oregon and Central California just inland from the coast. It is unsurprising that Oregon weather has been cloudy in the winter - it usually is - but California for the last two years (ironically ever since I set up there) definitely has been worse than the historical average - a quick glance at the news proves that.  I would say that in summer I have 20 out of 30 clear nights in Oregon and about the same in California. In a normal winter that is maybe 2-4 out of 30 in Oregon and about 15+ out of 30 in California. Sadly, this winter California has been more like 5-10 out of 30. OTOH, although summer is almost always clear in Central Oregon, it can get smoky in late summer - sometimes to the point where you could almost do solar imaging w/o a filter! Of course not all clear nights are useful nights. In California the occasional clear night can be gusty which can wreak havoc with a direct drive mount and the moon and seeing are other variables that can make a clear night suitable for less demanding images only. In other words, a clear night may or may not be a productive night, depending on the instrument and the target. |
