I’m back again after yet another long break, but honestly I haven’t done anything much astronomy related since my last post in 2020; the only observing I’ve done has been two minor solar eclipses I think. Still, I have to admit that I’ve enjoyed the extra sleep that the lack of observing has provided. The reasons for my lack of progress are broadly the same as last time, except that the health issues have taken the headlines.

When we imagine early astronomy from ancient times to the medieval we assume that lacking optical devices they would see only pinpoints of light fixed in their place all eternity. Sure they would have noticed that the Sun and Moon moved across that backdrop, and these stars would make interesting patterns, but that’s about all the naked eye could show you, after all we wouldn’t see much more today. Then I realised that until relatively recently the skies were really dark.

I think it’s fair to say that I was more active on the blogging front in 2017. Unfortunately I appear to have fallen off the wagon again, so I’ll try to get things rolling with my traditional summary of the last year. I’ve a few more ideas after that so who knows? The results for 2017 Going back over the diary for 2017 shows about a third of the nights to be observable based on my loose definition.

Since I last posted the rest of February 2017 has happened… there’s not a whole lot more to say than that. Last month wasn’t quite as bad as last June, but it came perilously close for a while. It’s been cloudy and wet most of the time, but I’ve managed to grab a handful of brief sessions with my smaller scopes. The fact that the Moon is lovely and high at this time of year has been helpful, though many of the best opportunities have been around New Moon ironically.

On Monday night I took part in one of my Society’s outreach events for local Cub Scouts. These are a challenge. The Cubs meet around 18:00 and go home to bed before most astronomers would be getting started. It’s a very small window for clear skies in the cloudy and damp UK climate. We aim for around the first quarter Moon since it’s there in the very early evening, it can take light cloud and the kids love to look at the Moon.

I guess it’s obvious that I wasn’t blogging much in 2016, but I have been writing for my local astronomy society newsletter which has obviously drained my creative well… that’s my excuse anyway. I have be observing and probably more intensively than ever. Having posted a real article I thought I’d do a round up of my rough and ready observing statistics for 2016. If you haven’t seen 2015’s and feel you need some context then “Observing Patterns” is the place to go.

I’m alive, well and still observing… I’m just not writing about it much. We’re halfway through the observing season and the weather in the UK hasn’t been helpful. I’ve still managed to clock some hours under the night sky, and I’m finding it useful to keep a record. Keeping track of observing data. In February last year I decided to start keeping track of my observing activities and the weather that sometimes kept me from doing so.

I’ve been wondering about this one recently. Observing is a generally solitary, dark, cold and occasionally damp experience in the UK, so why would you do it? The funny thing is that I look forward to observing sessions because of the fabulous objects I’ve put in my plans – and I have detailed plans. It’s the chance to make progress on those paper-bound ideas that makes me want to do it.