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Posted by Jeremy at 10:51 on 2014 Jan 01
How was 2013 as an observing year for you? Better or worse than previous years? I found it a reasonable year. So, to get the ball rolling, here are my stats for 2013This year I was able to observe from home in Cheshire on a total of 125 nights, or 34% of all nights, an improvement over 2012s total of 108. (Note that a usable night is when I was able to carry out any CCD imaging: it could be a few fields/frames or it could be many hours). The best month was November with 15 nights, with April and July each yielding 14. March was disappointing with only 3 nights its normally one of the better months for me.I should add that inevitably there were some clear nights that I missed due to holidays, business travel or other commitments, so the totals are underestimates. In fact I was able to observe in my hols in Turkey for each of the 14 nights, when I was also able to estimate the magnitude of Nova Del with my binoculars. Oh, to live in sunnier climes!The total number of individual fields imaged this year was 9296 (one measure per star, as part of a patrol for outbursting cataclysmic variables); this number does not include time series photometry, when I sat on a particular star for hours. Of this number, 1070 observations were made remotely using the Bradford Robotic Telescope on Tenerife.Since my stats began in 2005, the best year was 2006 with usable 41% of nights usable.Clear skies for 2014!
Posted by Gary Poyner at 13:04 on 2014 Jan 01
Slightly better for me in 2013. I had 93 observable nights in 2013 compared to 84 in 2012. I also had a good run on Nova Del where I made 63 observations in the first 100 days, although these were mainly brief holes in cloud where I could use bins or the small 22cm.These 93 nights equate to 191.18 hours of eyepiece time in 2013. 59 of these nights were completely clear, whilst 34 were partially clear (more than 50% cloud and good breaks). Best month was April with 12 nights, and the worst was January with just 3. Of the 93 nights, 37 were under strong Moonlit conditions. I made 6,651 visual observations (my lowest number of observations in a single year by far since 1992) as I was unable to observe on all of the 93 nights due to various reasons. I also accumulated 1,952 CCD observations from BRT and AAVSOnet remote telescopes. All CV’s of course :-)As usual I keep a track on how the weather guys do in their predictions for cloud cover. In 2013 they made incorrect cloud/clear forecasts on 60 occasions.Looking forward to seeing other observers stats.Happy New year!Gary
Posted by M C Butcher at 13:47 on 2014 Jan 04
I had thought that 2012 was not a good year but then 2013 came along and it was much worse!During the year I observed on 9 nights only (for a total of 16 hours 35 minutes). On all other occasions it was either cloudy or too windy or both. My best months were August (2 nights 4 hours 50 minutes) and October (3 nights 8 hours 25 minutes).A very windy year, 2013 saw 2 days with Violent Storm Force 11 winds, 5 days with Storm Force 10 winds, 13 days with Severe Gale Force 9 winds and 43 days with Gale Force winds. Since mid-October it has been too windy to set up a telescope.I missed 14 nights through being absent.Here’s hoping for a better 2014.Martin ButcherIsle of Colonsay
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