11.02.2022 Snow dome + imaging.

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Friday 11th. 36F, heavy overcast with snow at 10.30am. Expected to brighten later.

It was interesting to see that the snow pitched immediately on the fibreglass dome. Even when everything else was clear it grew steadily thicker on the dome. My uneducated guess would be that the GRP is at air temperature or below. So that the snow has no reason to melt on contact. While the top of the new dome is thick with snow the plywood dome has hardly a dusting. The same is true for the shed alongside. Which has a corrugated, paper reinforced, tar-felt roof at 45° facing E-W. The new GRP dome is acting more like a metal. Wheelbarrows and similar, metal items are well coated too.

11.00. 34F. It has already stopped snowing and the sky is brightening.

It looks as if I shall have to wait until next week for the small, telescope parts I ordered from Germany. 

I have never been able to align the Cheshire, collimation eyepiece properly because the body was so undersized. So I have ordered a self-centering 2:1.25" collet style, compression fitting, adapter.
Hopefully I shall then be able to collimate my refractor objectives properly. It was infuriating seeing the cross-hairs move across the full diameter of the objective. Just by bringing my eye to the [supposed] collimator. 

15.00 Tried imaging but there is a lot of cloud coming from the NW. Seeing conditions a bit soft. Dewing of the D-ERF despite the hairdrier and dew bands.

16.00 Trees intervened.

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