Check the Weather for your Session
The type of weather required for astronomy is no less than a clear sky, which is a higher requirement than most outdoor events.
This just won’t do.
If the day is pleasant with lots of nice puffy white clouds in the sky, even with a good bit of blue sky, that won’t do for celestial viewing, since those nice puffy clouds will obscure our targets in the sky!
The worst thing we can have is an apparently clear sky, but with lots of wispy high clouds. This is very misleading to some, as the sky looks mostly blue, but the wispy clouds would completely ruin the viewable image through the telescope.
Now we’re talkin’!
A sky like this will let us view deep sky objects all evening, without constantly being interrupted by clouds.
This type of sky will let us see fainter stars, and will reflect light pollution less.
This is the kind of sky that is required for astrophotography.
This weather situation makes us happy. 🙂
So, if we have weather issues, we may need to reschedule your session. This is a very common occurrence.
As we get further into Observing season, the frequency of clear nights generally increases. Usually by November we are seeing more stars at night, and by April things start to deteriorate as the temperatures rise and trigger afternoon clouds and evening rains.
This Week’s Astronomical Weather Forecast
Here’s where you can check the Weather for your Observing Session this week.
If for your scheduled date below, you see:
Here is the forecasted astronomical weather:
Weather data courtesy of the ScopeNights iOS app.