Hi Brent, On 24 Jul 2009, at 10:47, Brent Johnson wrote:
I have been a lifelong resident of Utah, but until recently paid little attention to the sky. Recently I got my first scope and began noticing how often Utah has horrible skies for astronomy. Cloud cover almost every other day. And on the days the sky is clear, seeing is aweful. Is there no hope?
Well, FWIW, I just checked my observing log and saw I had my observatory open 187 nights in 2008 and 91 nights so far this year. Admittedly the trick is to be able to observe any night the sky is ok (ie. to be retired). And it also helps to live in a place that allows you to observe from your home (having to travel and set up equipment tends to cut back on observing for most folks). So, yes, there is hope. Just get old, retire and live in the boonies. :) patrick