A week of clouds ruined my whole new moon plan

I took three days off work around the new moon in late October, drove 45 minutes out to the dark sky site near Rochelle, and got fog every single night. Not even a hint of the Milky Way, just a gray blanket and a wet lawn chair. My cheap 10x50 binoculars stayed in the case the whole time, which felt like a total waste of gas and PTO. I did catch one brief gap on the third night where Orion's belt popped through for maybe 20 seconds before the clouds rolled back in. Anyone else ever burn vacation days on astronomy and come up completely empty? How do you decide when it's worth the drive vs just checking the forecast from your porch?

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iris_burns1mo ago

Drove four hours to Cherry Springs once and saw nothing but a moonless haze.

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annabennett1mo ago

Man, that's rough. I remember one time we drove up to a spot near Lake Erie for the Perseids, packed snacks and everything, and a giant cloud bank rolled in around sunset. We sat there for two hours watching a fog bank eat the sky, then my buddy realized he left his telescope at home anyway. Ended up just eating all the chips in the dark and listening to the coyotes. Honestly, the coyotes were the best part of the whole trip.

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