Thanks Kurt, Ed L --- Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:
--- Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com> wrote:
Kurt, that's really helpful! I've printed it out. In past years I have downloaded tables from the National Observatory in Washington, and noted where the new moons are, to give myself a rough idea of good nights for astronomy. This is much better . . .
Joe,
Your're welcome. The number of hours is approx to the nearest hour. I downloaded the USNO tables for astronomical twilight and moon-rise/set into a spreadsheet and then forced an estimate. But it's sufficient for quick planning purposes.
I've uploaded a beefed-up table that includes average number and percent of cloudy and clear days per month.
http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/plan/2006SLCMoonlessHours.h...
I wanted something simplier than the S&T annual sky calendar that I could throw in a briefcase and that would show me DSO dark sky frames at an glance - and still get me into bed at a reasonable hour. For example, in May, I can forget about DSOs until after May 20; Pioneer Day looks like a good astronomy vacation weekend; July 4 and Labor Day do not.
For lunar observers, I've also prepared and uploaded an inverse table of hours of moonlight before midnight -
http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/plan/2006SLCLunarHours.html
The lunar table is a prelminary version. In the next few months, I intend to throw together some lunar colongitude code and revise the table showing the selenographic longitude of the lunar terminator at 9:00pm on each good "lunar night."
- Canopus56(Kurt)
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