Joel Shepherd

Could it be true? Possibly 3 1/2 clear nights forecast for this week?

Second try at autoguiding: a little clumsy but ... success! Twenty-four 5-minute exposures of Triangulum with nary a wobble. Very excited.

So-so seeing? Check. Passing clouds? Check. Clearest night in a month? Check. Going to take a first crack at autoguiding? Checkity check check.

The dismal realization that the one thing you can't order from any astronomy supplier is a clear night.

Saw my first sunspots today (thanks, SGL, for the Baader film recommendations!). Very cool. Looking forward to getting more solar observing experience.

First clear night in almost three weeks and calling it quits early because I'm tired and impatient. Hard call but getting mad at the scope is a sure sign it's time for sleep.

Tonight was the first really clear night we've had in Seattle in over a month. Took full advantage of it, photographing two galaxies (including one that I couldn't see even with the telescope but the camera, happily, could), a nebula and a cluster of a half-million stars elsewhere in the Milky Way. Going to bed now but looking forward to lots of image processing over the next few nights (when it's expected to be raining again!).

Have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the "clear sky chart" is fantastically accurate ... except when it's not, which is about 50% of the time. #weatherishard

After close to a month of rain and cloud it finally cleared up enough tonight to be worth dragging the scope out. Despite the near-full moon and lots of ambient light, managed to track down M94 and M3, both firsts (for me). Looking forward to the weekend now.

Me: I'm torn between trying to take pictures or just looking at things. Wife: Well, that's why you [should] get two telescopes. ... I'm a lucky guy.

Tore open my CG-4's declination gearing only to discover that most of the roughness is coming from an over-tightened sealed bearing on the fine adjustment shaft. Otherwise, pleasantly surprised by the quantity and quality of lube inside.

Moon, fog, city lights ... My friend Jupiter is still shining through (with 5 moons?!).

First attempt at drift aligning, on a cranky CG-4 mount. Not perfect but good enough for 10-15 second exposures. Happy, :-)

Beautiful clear day: check. Clear sky chart shows an hour of cloudiness but otherwise fine: check. Telescope out: check. Clouds overhead: check. Clear sky chart now says 4 hours of overcast: check. This weather is making me sad.

Finally got my secondary back into position, with the milk-bottle washer trick. Never tinkering with that mirror again!

Exactly a month since the last clear night. Quite willing to share it with the moon!

Hmm. Is this thing a light bucket or a rain bucket? I forget.

Collimation: The process by which one takes a well-adjusted reflector and, via a lengthy and delicate process, succeeds in misaligning on virtually every dimension possible.

First clear night in almost three weeks. Move along, moon, move along ...

Bright moon. Good night for a new open cluster: NGC 663 in Cassiopeia. M92 was also looking sharp tonight, despite a lot of ambient light.

"Three pairs" last night: two doubles (Alberio and Rho Hercules), two clusters (M13 and M92) and two nebula (M57 and M27). Finally learning how to aim this thing ... ;-)