31st December 2019 Waiting for the sun!

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Tuesday 31st 41F. A rare cloud-free start to the day though breezy from the west. As I enjoy morning coffee I am watching the shadows of a neighbour's trees descend slowly down the dome. 10.00am and the shadows are still covering the lower half. The wind is supposed to turn north westwards. So I should be free of the telescopes shaking when I eventually get a clear view of the sun. The trees behind the dome are rocking and my large, but obsolete, Met Office anemometer has just started to twirl. Always a sign of a good breeze. The forecast is for 25mph gusts but falling slowly all day.

10.20. Still a sharp shadow of the top branches on the dome. 10.45 should provide a clear sun. So I had better get set up.

10.50 and still waiting for the sun to clear the top branches.

11.00 Still heavy shadows rocking across the sun's image.

Carried on capturing videos until 12.30 and early lunch. Sharpness is poor as can be seen from the image. Even after beating it to death with iMPPG and PhotoFiltre I couldn't bring out the smudge visible on Gong H-a. 

13.00 Already clouded over! Extended lunch.
14.00 Still clouded over. Doing a meridian flip. Chimney total eclipse of the sun!

14.15 cleared long enough for more captures. Local solar altitude only 7.5°! The roof beckons!
14.50 Sun below roof. 2x Barlow on changed prom on last dregs.

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