Observing statistics for 2023.
Gary Poyner (Birmingham)
Didn’t beat my record year of clear skies of 2022, but having said that, not too bad from North Birmingham. The year was pretty evenly spread, with 54% of observable skies occuring in the first half of the year. The last three months of 2023 were pretty disappointing though, with December being awful.
2023 (2022 in parentheses)
Clear nights (less than 50% cloud) 29 (41)
Partially clear nights (50% or more cloud) 101 (103)
Totally cloudy nights 235 (221)
Total observable nights 130 (144) with 57 (74) of these nights having Moonlight interference. I made observations
on 123 nights.
Total hours at the telescope 257h (303)
Best month May with 17 nights, 5 clear and 12 partially clear (August – 17)
Worst month December with 3 partially clear nights (November – 8)
Weather predictions from various sources gave incorrect information on cloud cover for 71 nights during 2023 (77).
Total visual VS observations for 2023 is 11,043 (12,005). CCD single measures using remote telescopes COAST, SLOOH and the AAVSO MPO-61 are 3,301 (2,996).
Happy New Year
Gary