Clouds Do Help Sometimes

I'm getting tired of writing about meteor showers that I miss because of cloudy skies. It happened again at 3:30 Tuesday morning when I was expecting to see the Lyrids.

The sky was fairly clear but for wisps of clouds, but that is enough cloud to obscure all but the most blazing bright meteors, of which I saw none. However, I noticed that with only the brightest stars visible, it was easier to pick out the constellations than when the sky glitters with all its jewels.

So, if you're new at naked eye sky watching, you may be better off with thin clouds than a clear sky. Of course, for people who are mainly interested in viewing deep sky objects through a telescope, the opposite is true.