29 replies to this topic

[Whiteduckwagglinginspace]

Today it is June 20 - and tomorrow it is the longest day. Living in South Norway (declination 60°) this means the following:

Last night I was outside at 1 o'clock in the night and saw a dark blue sky (not black at all) Really no need to use a torch to walk outside. It is like a walk in the evening twilight.
I could only see the brigtest stars, like Vega. Looking at Ursa Major, I can only see the brightest stars of this constellation, but only when trying really hard. 

Fortunately this period is going faster than I thought.

Up to 6 weeks ago, I had my last real dark night, where I could see all the different celestial objects. This means a period of 12 weeks in total, where I can't see all the different celestial objects.
Up to 3 weeks ago, it was still possible to split doubles, but couldn't see stars - more than 10 magnitude.The stars were shining not so bright, which is an advantage to split close doubles. In this period, I'm only focussing on splitting doubles.
  
This means a period of 6 (3+3) weeks, where I can only see the Moon, the brightest stars and the planets. Splitting doubles during these weeks is not an option anymore. All the planets are gone. The Moon was very low and behind the mountains.
At the coast - about 10 days ago- I saw this very low standing Moon: if I say it was between orange and red - it really(!) was between orange and red. Never saw such a strong colouring on the Moon before.
Made a picture of it, but the camera turned this beautiful colour just into white. Never understood why photos are almost always different from reality.

Long story short: I'm suffering from too much light. At this very moment, my hobby consists of finding new beautiful objects to add to my lists. Or watching the sun with a filter.

The question: are there more people here on this forum, who suffer from this? Can you - for example - still do some observing during these days? Or do you live even further north or very far south?
   
 

Edited by Whiteduckwagglinginspace, 20 June 2025 - 08:29 AM.

[scottinash]

If I were you, I would be taking full advantage of lunar observing, as much as possible, during these months.  Not just a Quick Look at low powers, but at higher powers to drill down into and study the thousands of features (craters, rilles, domes, mountain ranges, etc...).  

 

June 10 was the "Strawberry Moon", btw.   My wife and I were camping and were able to observe it casting an amazing low angle reflection across the local lake.

[Avocette]

You might be interested to take a look at ClearOutside.com. Living in Switzerland at around 46° North we still have two full hours of ‘astronomical darkness’ per night from about 00:30 to 02:30 local time. Like you, my sister in Oslo, is limited to ‘twilight’ rather then darkness, most of which is ‘civil twilight’ with only perhaps 1 1/2 hours of ‘nautical twilight’ from around 00:30 to 2:00. So your observations last night were in such twilight, and never reached the next darker phase ‘astronomical twilight’. If you look at the website on a PC you can see an image of the pattern of darkness and twilights at your position for the whole year. Here is the one for Oslo:

Edited by Avocette, 20 June 2025 - 07:44 AM.

[weis14]

I live in Midland, Michigan, which is at roughly 44 degrees N.  We have under 4 hours of true darkness this time of year.  Even worse for evening observers like me, due to the U.S. being on daylight savings time in the summer, night starts around 11:45pm and ends around 3:30am.  

 

Due to that, I mostly observe the moon in June and July.  

[Dave Mitsky]

https://earthsky.org...ernmost-sunset/

[12BH7]

This is another reason why I pack up my main scope during June-Sept. Mainly the heat, but the long days sealed the deal.

 

During this time of year I do as much lunar observing as I can. I'm working on my Lunar 100 list and I do a bit of rough sketching to identify features and craters.

 

Also during this time I do maintenance and tweaking. Like I refoamed my EP case, started building a worm gear for my travel scope, etc...

 

I also do a bit of reading on selected DSO that have interested me or some that I plan on viewing soon.

 

Otherwise I just get itchy and dream of being out in the cool dark. 

[payner]

See, the Moon is a friend, and folks in the North can enjoy it to full extent given your conditions provide great contrast. Enjoy and have a great summer.

[moefuzz]

We have not had total darkness since the end of April. It is what it is so enjoy what you can while you can get it.

This time of year the temps are very nice all night so naked eye observing and late evening or early morning walks are the norm. Doesn't phase me one bit. I rather enjoy it.

[csrlice12]

When I was at Thule, Greenland there was nothing like walking out of the bar at 2am with the sun blaring into your eyes....

[grace]

Same boat here 😀 I am in Copenhagen, Denmark, 55N, and there is no astronomical twilight for about 4 weeks on either side of the solstice.
This being my first year into astronomy after a long pause, and being born and raised much more south (Italy), I must admit I was at a loss a few weeks ago. On the contrary, my wife was thrilled, I wonder why…😀
Anyway, the last weeks have turned into a great opportunity to look at the moon beyond the casual look, trying to find craters and other formations following a map. It has been quite enjoyable.
However, I long for the wonders of the summer night sky, but soon we’ll start holidays and we are headed south to Italy and Spain, where I hope I’ll catch up!

[Illinois]

I don’t do astronomy much during the summer.  I enjoy in early morning from September to April. Evening from October to April. One time I went on cruise and stop by Iceland.  Wow! Sunset at about 11:45 am and Sunrise at about 1:45 am.  In winter I wear proper clothes and stay warm for a few hours to look at deep sky objects and planets.   No bugs and no mosquitoes in Fall to early Spring.  

Edited by Illinois, 21 June 2025 - 05:52 AM.

[Alex65]

I live at 57° North and it is much the same here. I do not undertake any star gazing in June or July due to the brightness of the night skies up here. I only observe the Moon, if I can get a chance, or any planets visible during this period. 

 

However, I watch out for Noctilucent Cloud displays and there are usually some very good displays on show up here from late May to late July. 

 

I won't be star gazing again until mid to late July.

[Tony Flanders]

At latitude 42.5N I'm not nearly as badly off as you guys. I did in fact observe last night, the shortest night of the year. Astronomical twilight ended at 10:50, which doesn't sound so bad. But my customary sleep hours are 10 to 5, with an hour nap around noon. Last night I did pretty well by lying quietly with my eyes closed from 9 to 10 before going outside to set up. I ended up coming in at 2 a.m. after a fine night of observing. The transparency wasn't great, but it was much better than it usually is at this time of year. The Milky Way actually looked pretty good when I came back in. And with temps in the upper 50s (F), the biting bugs were relatively tame.

 

And I even managed to sleep in this morning! The bad news is that for me "sleeping in" means getting up at 6:30. So I'm running a bit of a sleep deficit ...

[skysurfer]

Here in the Netherlands at "only" 52N (comparted to the almost arctic latitudes of other posters here), the light pollution and often hazy air is more a nuisance than astronomical twilight. Here, we never get real dark nights as I live in Bortle 5 and many places are even worse.

[Rustler46]

We all observe under a wide variety of circumstances. Among these are:

• Latitude - which affects nighttime dark sky hours available throughout the year. Another consequence is how much of the sky in the opposite hemisphere is not visible. That is what is the farthest one can see down in the southern horizon (or northern horizon for those "down under").
• Light pollution regime
• Weather patterns - always changing, but different locations present some semblance of average conditions as to cloudiness.
• Air quality - this relates to transparency, seeing, smoke etc.
• Observer factors - age, other obligations (work, family, etc.)
• Local horizon - mountains, vegetation blocking the sky in certain directions
• Other factors - insects, prevalence of crime, etc.

Personally I've had a wide variety of the above factors. Now nearing the age of 80 it has been my pleasure to have been an amateur astronomer for over 60 years. My signature tells the story about what equipment is at my disposal. But conditions are what they are. While I do have some negatives, for the most part I focus on the positives:

• I'm still getting older (i.e. not dead). Yet advancing age does affect my motivation to observe, particularly if other daytime activities have sapped my strength.
• At latitude 43 degrees my dark nights are at least 4 hours. Objects with a south declination larger than 47 degrees are not visible.
• Weather in the Pacific northwest is quite variable as to periods of clear skies. Often on clear days the sky clouds up after sunset as prevailing winds bring in marine fog with falling temperatures.
• Living in a small, rural town, light pollution is mainly from unshielded local lights like streetlights, neighbor porch lights and other "security" lights. Bortle 2-3 skies are around 1/2 to 1 hour driving time from home.
  I have been privileged to observe for some 15 years at Bortle 1 on the Klamath River in far northern California.
  Also lived for around 2 years near Frankfurt, Germany at perhaps Bortle 8-9.
  Now my environment at Ocean Observatory on the Oregon coast is around Bortle 5.
• Air quality (aside from seeing) is often very good. Being 4000 miles downwind from Siberia means smoke is a rarity. Transparency is variable depending mostly of moisture content of the air and the spread between ambient temperature and dewpoint temperature. Seeing is what it is from night to night.
• Crime and insects are not much of a problem where I live. While wind can be a problem at times, it does blow mosquitos away. So insects are very seldom a problem.

So there are varying circumstances we all face. Best to just make the best of what you have and enjoy the ride. The alternative is to take up a different hobby. Even stamp-collecting is getting more difficult in the era of e-mail. Coin collecting has its negatives as well with mostly electronic forms of payment. But you get the point I'm sure.

 

Best Regards,

Russ

Edited by Rustler46, 21 June 2025 - 05:09 PM.

[Illinois]

Here’s idea how many hours where you live.  Farther the north get more sun but opposite in winter.  Equator is stay the same 12 hours of Sun and 12 hours of dark. Warm all year around. 

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[Whiteduckwagglinginspace]

Here’s idea how many hours where you live.  Farther the north get more sun but opposite in winter.  Equator is stay the same 12 hours of Sun and 12 hours of dark. Warm all year around. 

....And we can see the northern and(!) southern celestial objects from there. 

[NinePlanets]

I lived at 63* north for a few years. Yes, in the winter there was some darkness, but that darkness was often ruined by auroras. In fact, more often than not, if memory serves. I got to where auroras and clouds were in the same category.

[jcj380]

Fired up my az-gti last night since I don’t use it very often and I wanted to refamiliarize myself with it.  Put my AT50 on it for some widefield views and went out about 2130 in twilight. Mount worked well and I bagged a couple objects I hadn’t viewed before once it got dark.  Called it quits at midnight - rare for me since I go to bed early and I was tired from a 7-hour Amtrak trip on Friday.  Unfortunately, my internal clock had me wide awake at 0400 as usual this morning.

 

My initial impulse was to not go out at all since the night was so short, but I’m glad I did.  If I’m not a total zombie later, I might go to a dark site tonight with a bigger scope.  No need to be awake at work tomorrow, right?  

Edited by jcj380, 22 June 2025 - 08:42 AM.

[12BH7]

I've been trying to get a night out this week.

 

The ONE good thing about having to go out later is that there is less activity in town. The later it gets the quieter it gets. So there's at least one good thing to say about that. 

 

Going to try and bag some GC's in Ophiuchus. 

[Whiteduckwagglinginspace]

I lived at 63* north for a few years. Yes, in the winter there was some darkness, but that darkness was often ruined by auroras. In fact, more often than not, if memory serves. I got to where auroras and clouds were in the same category.

Living at 60 degrees I only saw this aurora twice, of which 1 time very clearly. Living here for about 10 years.  

Edited by Whiteduckwagglinginspace, 22 June 2025 - 10:35 AM.

[NinePlanets]

Sometimes aurora isn't really obvious. At times it can cover most or the whole sky as a whitish/grayish or slightly pinkish glow that sometimes will rapidly pulsate. Kiss all your galaxies goodbye. Planets are often so low in altitude that, well... I liked it up there, but astronomy has more to offer down here.

[Marcin_78]

I think about Scandinavia when I get too depressed about my latitude of 52 degrees north.

 

Even though I have recently stopped worrying about the lack of astronomical night, my biggest problem remains – during the longest day nautical twilight ends around 11:30pm and it starts around 2:30am local time. And it's not much better for almost a month (2 weeks before and two weeks after summer solstice).

 

I want proper/winter time all year long!

[Whiteduckwagglinginspace]

I think about Scandinavia when I get too depressed about my latitude of 52 degrees north.

 

 

[Jenny112]

We all observe under a wide variety of circumstances. Among these are:

• Latitude - which affects nighttime dark sky hours available throughout the year. Another consequence is how much of the sky in the opposite hemisphere is not visible. That is what is the farthest one can see down in the southern horizon (or northern horizon for those "down under").
• Light pollution regime
• Weather patterns - always changing, but different locations present some semblance of average conditions as to cloudiness.
• Air quality - this relates to transparency, seeing, smoke etc.
• Observer factors - age, other obligations (work, family, etc.)
• Local horizon - mountains, vegetation blocking the sky in certain directions
• Other factors - insects, prevalence of crime, etc.

Personally I've had a wide variety of the above factors. Now nearing the age of 80 it has been my pleasure to have been an amateur astronomer for over 60 years. My signature tells the story about what equipment is at my disposal. But conditions are what they are. While I do have some negatives, for the most part I focus on the positives:

• I'm still getting older (i.e. not dead). Yet advancing age does affect my motivation to observe, particularly if other daytime activities have sapped my strength.
• At latitude 43 degrees my dark nights are at least 4 hours. Objects with a south declination larger than 47 degrees are not visible.
• Weather in the Pacific northwest is quite variable as to periods of clear skies. Often on clear days the sky clouds up after sunset as prevailing winds bring in marine fog with falling temperatures.
• Living in a small, rural town, light pollution is mainly from unshielded local lights like streetlights, neighbor porch lights and other "security" lights. Bortle 2-3 skies are around 1/2 to 1 hour driving time from home.
  I have been privileged to observe for some 15 years at Bortle 1 on the Klamath River in far northern California.
  Also lived for around 2 years near Frankfurt, Germany at perhaps Bortle 8-9.
  Now my environment at Ocean Observatory on the Oregon coast is around Bortle 5.
• Air quality (aside from seeing) is often very good. Being 4000 miles downwind from Siberia means smoke is a rarity. Transparency is variable depending mostly of moisture content of the air and the spread between ambient temperature and dewpoint temperature. Seeing is what it is from night to night.
• Crime and insects are not much of a problem where I live. While wind can be a problem at times, it does blow mosquitos away. So insects are very seldom a problem.

So there are varying circumstances we all face. Best to just make the best of what you have and enjoy the ride. The alternative is to take up a different hobby. Even stamp-collecting is getting more difficult in the era of e-mail. Coin collecting has its negatives as well with mostly electronic forms of payment. But you get the point I'm sure.

 

Best Regards,

Russ

You shared such a rich and sincere experience, and I can see that your love for astronomy runs through your life. Although your observation conditions are not perfect, you still persist and do not give up, which touched me. It is true that everyone's environment and resources are different, but you have used decades of enthusiasm to tell us that as long as you have the starry sky in your heart, there will always be a reason to look up. Your words make me more determined to cherish and use everything I have, and also make me look forward to the future. I hope you can continue to enjoy every clear night and leave light and warmth in the world.