Waiting for the sky to clear.

Waiting for the sky to clear...

These past couple of weeks have been terrible for viewing here in south Pembrokeshire. 

There has been almost constant cloud cover on practically every night for the last fortnight.  

I haven't been able to make observations with the big Dobsonian since June 8th. 

Though, due to some strained abdomen muscles, followed by shingles I reckon I wouldn't have been able to observe, even if the weather had been kind..!! 

Over the next week I hope to at least observe Saturn, which will be near due south at around 11.00pm for the next week...

Thanks to the nearby ash trees 11.00pm is perfect for Saturn watching in our garden....  

View southwards from our garden. photo: Stellarium

The above photo is a screen shot from the excellent Stellarium astronomy program.

It just happens that the "trees" template in that program looks exactly like the south side of our garden...

At this time of year the gap in our southerly tree line allows maybe half an hour of planetary observing.

As you can see I have to time my southerly observing  precisely...!

Maybe I should try my hand at mobile astronomy.


Clear skies

Mark.