3rd September 2019 A full day in the observatory.

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Tuesday is forecast wet until lunchtime. I'd prefer some proper light and fresh air from the open observation slit to do any more painting. The darker it gets in there the more light I need! Finished painting the lower panels in between heavy showers.

It soon became impossible to leave the dome open so I spent time confirming the balance of the OTAs was actually almost perfect. I slacked off the clutch screws each time to provide as much freedom as possible. In fact the telescopes still moved under the drives as if the clutches were tightened solidly. Which is nice check of the overall balance in its own right. Any "uphill" imbalance would demand more torque and the clutches would slip.

Then I set about testing the AWR drives using just the AWR IH2 paddle. A 90° slew in RA from E to the Meridian took 110 seconds. Similarly the reverse. This was equivalent to 1.22 degrees per second. While this looks and feels rather slow the huge time saving from accurate Gotos is well worthwhile. Or would be if only I could guarantee closer targetting of my slews in C-Du-C! Long telescopes really don't want to be racing around inside a tight dome if obstructions might intervene. A complete jam will stall the stepper motors but why take the risk?

I fine adjusted the 90mm and its finder to coincide with the 7" refractor. Every little helps. AWR is now bleeping loudly and saying "timed out." Every other message is "outside perimeters." Neither message is mentioned in the 70 page AWR IDS manual.

I spent the entire day up there in the dome. The wireless internet has become intermittent again! Including in the evening until 8pm, as I tried to capture the low, crescent Moon. The seeing was absolutely awful. With boiling, low contrast due to the light sky and constant cloud crossing. Did I mention the gusty wind making the telescopes nod up down?

It was amazing to see the moon so large on the 27" screen even if it was soft and a bit "wobbly." I tried Registax to see if anything would come out of the mess in the videos. The craters were certainly recognisable as such. Though the background was becoming increasingly visible as I stretched the images in Wavelets. Shortening the exposures and taking more frames helped only a little.

Wednesday 4th Sept. Painted the shutter ribs matt black. To hide the ugly fungus staining more than anything else. Quite a struggle to reach so high via stepladders. So I used a straight ladder to lean on the zenith board. There was only one position for the telescopes to allow such a straight shot. There is no torque applied to the dome so close to the centre of rotation. So I was quite safe.

While I was up there I had a look around outside. The image is looking down on top of the dome. Note how poorly the green paint has adhered to the primed plywood. Though I do think the primer is the weak point. The green paint is supposed to last 15 years!

The inside of the dome looks a lot smarter now but it's a bit like painting the Forth Bridge. Always another bit left to paint. Not easy with the light above and black inside but the results are worthwhile if only for cosmetic reasons. Rain promised for this afternoon and it is getting quite windy and darker already. [12.30]

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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