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Sunday 6th October 11am. 45/48F [Outside/Inside the dome]
Bright start but cloud coming over from the east.
No wind so far. Set up for H-alpha. Reloaded SharpCap 3.2. Camera seems fine today.
Goto slew to the sun complete crap despite syncing and setting the parking place as usual.
Checked time against US Naval Observatory. AWR is about 3 seconds fast. Not sure about latency for the considerable distances involved.
Local Apparent Sidereal Time
AWR is about 10 seconds fast of the popular LST online Calculator.
Local Sidereal Time Clock
I am scribbling this while a heavy grey overcast slides over my entire sky.
It really looks as if it might rain though none is forecast.
Just an occasional hint of brightness on the eastern horizon.
I have my old, black, down jacket on. Along with a double weight, fleece cap with "Foreign Legion" style fleece fringe around the back of my neck and over the ears. A peak on a hat is important for solar work. I tried looking for the correct name of the neck protection but haven't found one yet.
Sitting in the dome is really little different from sitting outside with only a 3F degrees differential between the outdoor shade temperature and inside the dome. The sun usually provides extra warmth. Up to 10F differential on a warm, sunny, summer's day. Less in other seasons.
My hands are fine without gloves but at 45F it can feel chilly in a breeze due to wind chill. I have dug out an old pair of fur lined ankle boots to keep my feet warm. Insulated Moon Boots might be better. Designed for after ski warmth. Thin polyester Long johns under my fleece trousers are only just marginal. I have my old ski salopettes if it gets any colder.
As usual, all my cold weather gear is courtesy of charity [thrift] shops. It all gets so little used [in the past] that there was no point in making the heavy investment in buying new, quality gear. Hidden away at home [particularly in a dome] nobody is ever going to see any of it. So why worry about a perfect fit or minor "cosmetic issues?"
11.40am. Still solid grey! I'm going back indoors! The forecast was continuous sunny periods all day! Fortunately, thanks to the dome, I only have to close the shutters, shut down and walk away. The telescope parked itself correctly despite missing the sun by a mile.
14.00 49/53F. Back in the dome. I made a fascinating discovery about the drives. If the focusers would hit the projecting computer monitor [mounted on the pier] I can steer them away with the AWR Simple Handset [paddle] in RA. Provided I have used the drive motors the system can remember my changes. Then send the telescope back on target when the nominal slew ends. I should really move the monitor to the right to avoid these potential collisions due to the post lunch, Meridian Flip. Normally I would stop the slew with a button on the IH2 handset. Monitor moved 2" /50mm to the right. This will provide greater clearance for slews to objects near to the Meridian.
As soon as I had the sun centred the cloud returned. It is going to be one of those days! I had better make the most of it by doing all the chores and homework I don't normally do while I am imaging. I was hoping to use the sun for checking mounting alignment.
Bright start but cloud coming over from the east.
No wind so far. Set up for H-alpha. Reloaded SharpCap 3.2. Camera seems fine today.
Goto slew to the sun complete crap despite syncing and setting the parking place as usual.
Checked time against US Naval Observatory. AWR is about 3 seconds fast. Not sure about latency for the considerable distances involved.
Local Apparent Sidereal Time
AWR is about 10 seconds fast of the popular LST online Calculator.
Local Sidereal Time Clock
I am scribbling this while a heavy grey overcast slides over my entire sky.
It really looks as if it might rain though none is forecast.
Just an occasional hint of brightness on the eastern horizon.
I have my old, black, down jacket on. Along with a double weight, fleece cap with "Foreign Legion" style fleece fringe around the back of my neck and over the ears. A peak on a hat is important for solar work. I tried looking for the correct name of the neck protection but haven't found one yet.
Sitting in the dome is really little different from sitting outside with only a 3F degrees differential between the outdoor shade temperature and inside the dome. The sun usually provides extra warmth. Up to 10F differential on a warm, sunny, summer's day. Less in other seasons.
My hands are fine without gloves but at 45F it can feel chilly in a breeze due to wind chill. I have dug out an old pair of fur lined ankle boots to keep my feet warm. Insulated Moon Boots might be better. Designed for after ski warmth. Thin polyester Long johns under my fleece trousers are only just marginal. I have my old ski salopettes if it gets any colder.
As usual, all my cold weather gear is courtesy of charity [thrift] shops. It all gets so little used [in the past] that there was no point in making the heavy investment in buying new, quality gear. Hidden away at home [particularly in a dome] nobody is ever going to see any of it. So why worry about a perfect fit or minor "cosmetic issues?"
11.40am. Still solid grey! I'm going back indoors! The forecast was continuous sunny periods all day! Fortunately, thanks to the dome, I only have to close the shutters, shut down and walk away. The telescope parked itself correctly despite missing the sun by a mile.
14.00 49/53F. Back in the dome. I made a fascinating discovery about the drives. If the focusers would hit the projecting computer monitor [mounted on the pier] I can steer them away with the AWR Simple Handset [paddle] in RA. Provided I have used the drive motors the system can remember my changes. Then send the telescope back on target when the nominal slew ends. I should really move the monitor to the right to avoid these potential collisions due to the post lunch, Meridian Flip. Normally I would stop the slew with a button on the IH2 handset. Monitor moved 2" /50mm to the right. This will provide greater clearance for slews to objects near to the Meridian.
As soon as I had the sun centred the cloud returned. It is going to be one of those days! I had better make the most of it by doing all the chores and homework I don't normally do while I am imaging. I was hoping to use the sun for checking mounting alignment.
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