Over the past 4-6 months, my passion and enthusiasm for astronomy and astrophotography has been on a definite decline. I found myself hoping it would be cloudy when I stepped outside. I found excuse after excuse not to setup my gear. I found myself being pickier and pickier with the conditions and wouldn’t bother to image Jupiter unless the seeing was well above average (which this year, has been very rare indeed).

What is seeing? Seeing refers to the level of turbulence in the atmosphere, caused by local conditions and high altitude winds (called the jetstream). If the seeing is very good, the image is very steady and sharp. If the seeing is bad, the image is a wobbly mess of jello with no sharp features and makes it impossible to get a good, sharp image. 

I found I wasn’t reading many threads on IceInSpace or other astronomy forums. I’d also been lifting my level of interest and enjoyment in my other hobbies, including Karate and World War 2 history, and astronomy had certainly been taking a back seat. 

I was conscious of what was happening but what I could I do about it? I just wasn’t getting the enjoyment from astronomy that I had in the past. 

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