Dreaming of a clear nights

Many amateur astronomers are wanting times where there are clear nights. Even I dream of them too. For the past few days or even weeks I was not able to get clear nights. There was too much cloud cover. Though there were times were some parts of the sky was clear, the moving cumulus clouds were disturbing. Sometimes it is impossible to predict weather. We can never tell whether the night will be clear just by looking at the clear afternoon sky. So how do I solve this problem?


I began to reflect upon myself. How many people have got to see the Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons through a telescope? Most stargazing events take these as a featured view.


Even in my Secondary school we do not give importance to deep sky objects. Stargazing is more of tracing constellations rather than spotting an object. A few are vowed by just looking at the moon through the binoculars. So why dream for more than appreciating what you can see?


Since my young age I had avid interest in Astronomy I loved reading about stars and planets. I was interested more about deep sky objects only at the age of 13. This was because nebulae and galaxies are more beautiful than glowing stars. But they not appear like what you see in books through a telescope. For example some deep sky objects appear grey , blue and yellow rather than colourful images. The pillars of creation in eagle nebula has been colourised by the Hubble telescope. So how much does it cost to see one? If you wan really spot one don't waste money on expensive telescopes. They are not going to help much. Why not try astrophotography. You can expose an image for a long to get a detail and crispier. For example you image North American Nebula and nebulosity surrounding Antares (Alpha Scorpi).


Astrophotography is possible when there is a very clear sky. As a matter of fact I have only done it once and found quite tiring especially in place which has a limiting magnitude. I am still a novice in this as the images I caught were blurred. But you can still keep records through sketch books and diary. This will help you in future sightings. For example you can sketch Jupiter and its exact position of the moons at that time. However, if you are using a refractor it important to take note that the images are laterally inverted.







If the image appears like this through a refractor telescope it should be reversed as shown below.

The actual position of Jupiter and its moons.












Sketches of constellations and star clusters (eg: Pleiades) can be made. It is important to keep records so that we do not do not forget them.

Coming back to the problem of clear nights, a lot of planning is needed to be done before deciding a star gazing session. Firstly it is important to weather forecast of that particular day. If the weather is going to be bad postpone the session. There is no point is cancelling at the last minute, or else those who are willing to join might lose interest. On the other it is important to be patient. God does not give us gold coins all the time.

I think it is better to be happy with what we have. Nothing can be gained without effort and patience.