Observing calculations

[Mark Wagner]

If one were to observe every expected available night a year, what could/would the total number of nights be?

That would take into account an estimate of winter months having a lower %

How many each month.

There's an actual purpose to this.

[Paul Alsing]

Jimi Lowrey once told me that he observes up to 17 nights a month, weather permitting. As Always, YMMV.

\Paul

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From: sf-ba...@googlegroups.com <sf-ba...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2026 4:14 PM
To: The Astronomy Connection (TAC) <sf-ba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [TAC] Observing calculations

 

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[Akarsh Simha]

You still wouldn’t catch up with Steve Gottlieb!

That’s because Gottlieb can observe even during the daytime! 🤣

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/DSVPR20MB99469950FC975BDD87C681C5F3FD3C2%40DSVPR20MB994699.namprd20.prod.outlook.com.

[Jay Freeman]

That depends on what you call an "available night". I can contribute a little data here. I once drove up to the old (1980s) Loma Prieta site in a substantial storm, to see who was fool enough to come to the star party scheduled for that evening.

No one was there but me ...

-- Jay Reynolds Freeman, Deep-Sky Wet Weasel
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Jay_Reynol...@mac.com
http://JayReynoldsFreeman.com (personal web site)

[Steve Gottlieb]

Essential that’s what William Herschel did for over 10 years in a poor location. Even though the weather in England was often cloudy and damp, he observed from an hour to 10-12 hours (from twilight to dawn) on a remarkably large number of nights.  I might be able to check the total number of nights. 

-- Steve

On May 6, 2026, at 4:14 PM, Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:

If one were to observe every expected available night a year, what could/would the total number of nights be?

That would take into account an estimate of winter months having a lower %

How many each month.

There's an actual purpose to this.