Nothing makes you pay attention to the sky like getting a scope. To your question: Yes, Utah doesn't have the best skies for astronomy, despite the fact Utah is a desert state the skies are often cloudy and un-stable. The Astronomer’s Handbook publishes cloud cover data for North America and I am surprised every time I look at it at how cloudy Utah really is. My copy is in storage; maybe some one can give the numbers for northern Utah ? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brent Johnson" <mitaccio@hotmail.com> To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 10:47:03 AM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Starting to notice how horrible Utah skies are 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? _________________________________________________________________ NEW mobile Hotmail. Optimized for YOUR phone. Click here. http://windowslive.com/Mobile?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_CS_MB_new_hotmail_072009 _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com