19.01.2020 Just another sunny Sunday.

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10.30 36-40F with light, northerly winds. Sunday sunshine all day? It can't be true! The shadows from the neighbour's trees are just clearing the dome as the sun climbs inexorably higher. Time to head over to the observatory. I shall have to wrap up warm! Shame I didn't wrap the objectives. It took me ages to demist the rear surfaces. I actually had to remove them both and give them a blast with the hair drier! The dew strap I bought has a phono plug. Which doesn't fit anything I have in the way of a PS! Though I do have lots of adapters and adapter cables.

I have captured a couple of videos and processed them. Not that it was worth it. The seeing is very "thermally."  Right upper west quadrant trying to capture the blemish on the limb showing on Gong Ha. I'll keep trying until called in for lunch.

ZWO ASI174 Mono8 800x600 1.4ms 319fps in SharpCap. 50 frames of 1000 in AS!2 iMPPG + PF7. Using zoom and etalon motor drive to try to squeeze the sharpest image out of the boiling mess. The proms really aren't worth trying for.

Second attempt pushing harder in iMPPG with 100 frames of 2000. Third, pushing even harder. 100 frames of 2000 in AS!2. Not impressed! 4th less aggressive and so on.

All these images are just experimenting with new captures. Just trying to find detail and a natural look where there is precious little to find in the thermal mush. Enlarging them [left click] doesn't help. They look worse!

13:00 Lunch. I wasn't cold today thanks to salopettes, high thermal boots, thicker jumper under a fleece jacket under an old and battered down jacket. Trapper fake lambswool hat over a peaked  baseball cap for a sunshade. I have a pair of fleece gloves with the ends of the fingers cut off for typing. Those came off quite early.

Fortunately the northerly breeze is behind the dome. So it isn't blowing through the slit. Though it is blowing under the floor through the deliberate, 8" deep ventilation gaps between the joists on the south and north sides of the building.

No doubt I shall have to screen these gaps to stop the birds nesting inside the dome in spring. There are already signs of something small perching on the telescopes. The observatory is full of hibernating, green lacewings.  They hide in every crevice but I have no idea how many survive the winter.

I added the 2" 35nm Baader H-a filter in front of the etalon after lunch. Though I saw no difference in the monitor image. It is only intended to protect the etalon from IR heating by the 6" aperture and was recommended on the Solar Chat forum.

It had to be fitted between the first two 2" extenders. This was because the front AOC was pushed too far out of place by the filter. Which would have affected the etalon spacing from the focal plane.

By now, the sun was just above the ridge of the roof on which it had been shining all day. Not only was there a thermal stream flowing visibly across the sun's image all day but high frequency thermal agitation as well. All this was clearly visible on the screen in SharpCap. The usual, solar surface clarity was missing all day.

15.30 Giving up for today as the sun has now been eclipsed by the roof. 40F in the shade and 43F in the open dome where the shutters had been open all day. Still comfortable in my winter clothing.

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