Clouds again

Saturday, August 06, 2005, 23:40:10 LT

The atmosphere is very dynamic again. Mostly cloudy during the daytime, seriously clearing just before sunset, but thin middle altitude cloud cover again when the sky had become dark enough for photography. Tried to catch USA 129 but failed due to the cloud cover.

Currently the thin middle altitude clouds seem to be gone again, but low altitude cumuli abound. I am going to give it one last try in about 10 minutes from now and if that fails I am going to call it a day.

For the visual element: here's a picture of Lacrosse 5 obtained a few days ago:



(for a larger image click here).

Lacrosse 5 is a radar spy satellite operated by the US NRO.

Dutch weather sucks! (05-06 Aug 2005 run)

It rained all day on the 5th, but the sky rather unexpectedly cleared in the evening.

When I returned from an evening with friends at about 00:30 am local time, I had some hopes I might be able to do some imagery. Back home on the lap-top I found out that I already had missed a good pass of IGS 1A, but might be able to catch Lacrosse 2 and one of the NOSS rockets later on in the night. So I set the alarm clock.

When I woke up at 3 am, the sky conditions were very dynamic. It changed from completely clear to overcast and back again in a matter of minutes. It was clear imaging would become a gamble.

I lost the gamble: cloud fields passing by just at the moments the satellites made their passes...

Weather prospects for the week to come do not look good. Dutch Weather realy sucks.....