clear tonight

[Fay]

Just wandered up the garden to see the situation after the deluge today. it is far too muddy and wet for me tonight. bit fedup about it. it will be a good night if no wind

[Carole]

Robert and I decided not to go to Cairds because of the wind.  Though annoyingly it doesn't seem so bad now.

Carole

[MarkS]

Yes the wind finally dropped but the sky quality was not very good - hovering around 20.5  (typically I get 20.8 before midnight and 21.0 after midnight)

Mark

[JohnP]

Mark does 0.3 really make all that difference...? (whatever 0.3 is...)

[Carole]

Stayed up to 3.30 am, it was still clear but had had enough by then as I started at 6pm. 

I did something I've never done before, in-so-much as my grandson has been in Farnborough Hospital this week having had an appendicectomy, and because of the dreadful parking costs etc my daughter hasn't been taking her car there to stay with him.  So I left the imaging running while I went to Farnborough to pick them both up after having checked Sat24.

Did consider showing my husband how to close the dome in an emergency, but decided it was unlikely to rain (he doesn't drive in case you're wondering).   

Carole

[Fay]

Adrian may not have been a good dome closer, Carole!   

[Carole]

Yes, I thought "what is the lesser of two evils", Adrian bumping into my kit while he is trying to close the dome and damaging/moving cameras etc, or taking a chance on the weather which did look as though it would be OK.

Carole

[The Thing]

I was out last night, had a lovely sky from 11:30 (10:30 in english). It was still good while I refined my polar alignment (0.01 armins off now according to PHD2 drift align ) and focused, reset up the sky model. Then it all started getting fuzzy up there. I persevered until 03:30am (OK I fell asleep) and was woken by PHD beeping it had lost the guidestar. Not surprising considering the murk that had rolled in. But the time I had the obsy roof locked down it was completed clouded. Bang goes another opportunity to see comet Catalina

[RobertM]

Finally got out at about 7pm and found I couldn't connect to the Obs computer; spent the next 40 mins rolling back and reapplying updates including camera drivers (the camera wouldn't connect) - not happy ! The sky wasn't the best but you have to take what you can.  At least I have a few hours of OIII now; only 3 more to go.  One last issue was that in the cold weather something either expands or shrinks and prevents the motor from closing the roof, a bit annoying at 2:30am.  Oh and the lodestar driver decided to stop downloading subs requiring a reboot plus I forgot to turn the dew heater on but luckily the wind kept the optics clear (phew).

Robert

[JohnP]

Blimey Robert gonna have to start calling you 'Fay'

[Carole]

Finally got out at about 7pm and found I couldn't connect to the Obs computer; spent the next 40 mins rolling back and reapplying updates including camera drivers (the camera wouldn't connect) - not happy ! The sky wasn't the best but you have to take what you can.  At least I have a few hours of OIII now; only 3 more to go.  One last issue was that in the cold weather something either expands or shrinks and prevents the motor from closing the roof, a bit annoying at 2:30am.  Oh and the lodestar driver decided to stop downloading subs requiring a reboot plus I forgot to turn the dew heater on but luckily the wind kept the optics clear (phew).

Otherwise OK?   

Carole

[Carole]

Just joking, - what a catastrophe of problems Robert, so annoying when you only get rare clear nights.

prevents the motor from closing the roof

Now it has a motor, can it still be closed manually? 

Duncan:

was woken by PHD beeping it had lost the guidestar

Did you drop off to sleep in the obsy, or by your remote computer?

Carole

[Ivor]

The sky stayed pretty clear all night in Tunbridge Wells, I was fairly successful and managed to get 25 x 600 Ha of IC410. No idea when I'll get the other channels though.

[Carole]

When I set up my dual rig I usually try to align & orientate the cameras in the daylight/dusk, and point at a ground based object like a distant aerial or something, well at home I have to make use of the chimney pots at the end of our road.

It was gradually getting dark while I was doing it last night, and suddenly a neighbour 3 doors away leaned out of the Dormer window and took a photo of me in the obsy.   I bet she thought I was being a peeping Tom or something with my scopes pointing towards houses.  Was waiting for the police to arrive all evening.  Lol.

Must get to know these relatively new neighbours and talk about what I do.

Carole

[Fay]

Hope your picture is not distributed throughout the area!!!