how to tell if a certain day will be good for star gazing

BEAT

Is there anyway to know beforehand if a date will be good for star gazing? I am going camping sep 24th and 25th fri and sat. and want to know if anything interesting will be hapening on those dates in the sky. and if I should bother to bring my constellation guide.

thanks!!

mike65

Here's the current sky at night map
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/myspace/nightsky/observingnotes.shtml

http://www.heavens-above.com folow the links and put in your locationand get details of whats to see.

Weather forcast for the next 15 days can be found here -
http://www.onlineweather.com/v4/ireland/overviews/index.html

Mike.

BEAT

thanks so much!

Err..

You could download the evaluation version of SkyMap Pro which can be run for 15 days before being disabled. It will allow you print out maps for the dates & times you want.

albertw

Hi,

How to tell if it will be clear... Given that Met Eireann, regualrly can't get this right 6 hours in advance predicting week in advance is, well, a bit of hit and miss. Especially at this time of year when our weather patterns are strongly influenced by the hurricanes coming up from the Gulf of Mexico.

Having said that,
http://www.metcheck.com and
http://www.wunderground.com
are the best sites for forecasts.

As for what to see, any decent magazine should tell you whats to see for the next month (Arcturus is free! - http://www.irishastronomy.org/user_resources/viewFiles.php?foldler_id=3 ). Softwarewise, there is a free version of sjymap pro available http://www.starrynight.com/digital_download.html also cartes du ciel is free http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/.

Cheers,
~Al

Back from Whirlpool! Only got down last night, but at least got to see the speakers today including Simon Conway Morris and Stephen J O'Meara, both very good and entertaining talks.