Observing statistics for 2023
According to my records 2023 was another poor year here in South Oxfordshire, the sixth in a pattern of slowly decreasing availability of clear skies. I record the number of nights on which I was able to make at least one photometric observation as a percentage of the number of nights when I was at home and potentially able to observe if sky conditions permitted. I think this is a fair estimate of the percentage of observable nights in the year.
In 2023 that was 86 nights out of 279 = 30.8% (2022 35.8%). This makes 2023 the worst year since I started keeping records in 2005. The best months were January, February and June, the worst March (7%), December (12%) and October (22%). During 2023 I made 206 photometry runs on specific targets comprising 17187 measured images. I also recorded 97 spectroscopy runs with 1424 spectra measured.
David