Wednesday evening I went over to try and capture Jupiter again. The seeing was even worse than last night! Absolutely hopeless results. Mind you, Jupiter was cruising along just above the ridge of the house and about to be eclipsed by the chimney. No heating on, of course at this time of year, but the sun had been shining on the roof for most of the day.
Thursday: The sky is very milky with high and low cloud. The forecast is for more cloud than sun. I had better do some work on the electrics instead of wasting my time on the
Trenching a narrow groove for the conduit took an hour or so. Best achieved with a nail lifting crowbar to cut down through the gravel. Followed by a narrow garden trowel to avoid widening the trench.
I have two 10m draw cords but it is impossible to push both through in one long length. 10m is about the limit when the conduit is pulled perfectly straight. So I had to do the conduit in two halves and pull half the cable through at a time. Then there was new light in the observatory if not the first. Now I need a main switch so I can put the lights and power on from downstairs as I go in.
I need to isolate the telescope drive with a local switch. Just in case it starts tracking without my going up to check. I don't want to find the telescopes and cables wrapped several around the pier. The horizontal parking allows maximum clearance as only the PA rotates. The Dec cable is the main problem and would soon run out of slack. It isn't a problem provided I stay in a southerly arc. Next time I make a mounting I'm having a hollow PA for the Dec cable!
Friday: Improved the security of the main doors to the observatory building.
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