That one perfect night in March ruined me for astro stuff

I went out to Cherry Springs with my old Dobsonian last spring, first clear Friday after like two weeks of rain. The seeing was unreal, I caught the Veil Nebula with just an OIII filter and my jaw actually dropped, something I'd only ever seen in long exposure photos online. Then a satellite crossed right through the eyepiece view of M13 and a friend shouted out the ISS pass time on his phone, so we tracked that too. I've had maybe a dozen clear nights since then and none of them came close, just haze or moonlight or dew wrecking every session by 11pm. Is it normal to chase one specific night's conditions and get bummed when nothing matches? How do you guys reset expectations after a killer observing session?

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jake_wilson1228d ago

Wait, you saw the Veil with just an OIII filter?? I've never gotten anything but a faint smudge even on good nights. Twelve sessions since and nothing close is brutal, but man that March night sounds worth the letdown.

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