I arrived at home at about 10:30pm, friday and the sky was fairly clear but it looked a little hazy in spots.
I called George Korody to see what the skies looked like where he lives, and also see if he knew what the forecast would be for the late evening. It was nearing 11pm and the clear sky chart didn't look promising with it's forecast, but sometimes it's wrong.
George directed me to the accu-weather site.
Things would cloud up at midnight according to the clear sky chart which is a separate site and not accuweather's site.
I called one of the other facc members and said I might go to the observatory. Art Parent normally calls when the sky is clear, but he was busy. The satellite on the accu-weather site seemed to show we might have a chance for some viewing for perhaps a few hours.
I grabbed some gear(eyepieces and my laptop) and started toward my car and looked up while on the phone with Art.
A line of cirrus clouds almost like a vapor trail appeared. Clouds were moving in and the sky seemed to be growing worse by the minute, as I headed to the car. The clouds were arriving and they made much of the sky look hazy. I had taken too long to plan. I wasted to much time and missed a short window that I may have had to view.
I settled with a quick view through my 10x50 binoculars. I looked up for less than five minutes and then return to the warmth of my house.
The accuweather satellite maps show good cloud animation and as a plus they work on the iPad.
This is the link I should look at when on the run. Planning is okay for extended open invitations, but sometimes it's better to get out and look while you can and not spend to much time chatting and planning, because you might miss a short viewing opportunity.
As you can see it's cloudy out as I write this.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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