Will I ever see the sky again?

[Joel Shepherd]

Just to stretch the joy further west, Seattle is in the middle of its wettest, dreariest winter since 1998. We got a bit of break over New Year's, but otherwise it's been week after week of rain and cloud with at best one clear night a month. And by "clear", I mean stars visible, not necessarily very good visibility.

Does make me wonder how much longer-term weather patterns are a function of latitude and not longitude.

[Deano666]

Managed to squeeze in another couple of hours last night, The only downsides were moving a 12" dob in and out the house and freezing my derriere off, But with the current weather ill take what i can get. 

[triton1]

I seem to be really proficient with setting up my scope.

1 Pick up mount setup and polar alighn

2 Pick up scope setup on mount

3 Pick up c/ws attach to mount

4 Attach Telrad to scope

5 Setup ep case next to back door

I will then have a Cuppa and decide my targets for the night while scope is cooling down after which I go out to start my observing session which by then I

1 Put ep case back

2 Remove Telrad and put back

3 Remove c/ws and put back

4 Remove scope and put back

5 Pick up mount and put back 

So it works out to be about 10mins setup,8 mins takedown and half an hour for Cuppa and cool down and ZERO observing time at least I'm getting good at it aswell as getting bored with it.

[Gina]

It's clear here tonight but very cold and I just can't seem to get up any enthusiasm to go out in the cold and make another attempt at getting my gear working, that's if I can remember what I'm supposed to be doing I did think of selling off a lot of my astro stuff but I'm hanging on hoping I might get my enthusiasm back.  Maybe the spring, when it comes, will help...

[DaveS]

Ah, but Gina, when it does clear where you are you have lovely dark skies ! When it clears where I am it's still a horrid orange murk 

[Gina]

Thank you Dave - yes, you're right

[Carbon Brush]

Yes Gina. Sell the kit. Who needs a scope?

Last Thursday when I got home from work the sky was clear and it was not quite properly dark.

Orion was on display with Betelgeuse really red. The sword was visible but it wasn't yet dark enough for the nebula. Just above Orion there was a brief dim streak from a meteor. Pleiades was showing obviously more than seven stars.

Then two polar orbit satellites passed overhead in opposite directions - and didn't collide!

Then the ISS came over.

All this while putting the car into the garage and taking out the dustbin.
Multi tasking!

 

[baggywrinkle]

Just come back from Holland, brilliant clear skies.....sadly it was work and nothing I could look upwards with.

Now back in the Fens and there is nothing polite I can say about the weather and it does not look to improve over the next few days.

[GrahamNW]

Well I finally got out and used  my still new smelling kit!

The local forecast pointed to clear skies from 3am. I'm currently off work for half term so the alarm was set for 2.30 am and I was setting my scope up shortly after. I'm so glad I did. With jupiter high in the south I had my best viewing of the planet yet. Very stable seeing and moments of crisp clarity  with the red spot clearly identifiable. I had 4 hours of super clear skies, plenty of time to finally experiment with a few filters to bring out even more detail  in the planet. Even my dew shield, worked well for a few hours before slight misting brought the session to an end with a brief look at Mars.

Well worth the lack of sleep!

 

[Deano666]

Managed to get out for a while and got a few pictures of the Moon,  Hopefully i will soon get some of jupiter now that its rising earlier in the evening. Just need the weather to play ball !

Single shot with dslr

[Paul M]

On 2/14/2016 at 16:00, Stub Mandrel said:

Confession - as a 130PDS didn't turn up in FLO's sale, I gave up and ordered a copy of the new edition of Horowitz and Hill instead ;-)

By 'eck, I remember parting with my old copy some years ago as I drifted away from hobby electronics. Surface mount components  did it to me...

Anyway, after a period of heavy overtime my wife just asked if I was going to treat myself out of the proceeds. Sadly this weather stopped me even considering a grab and go telescope...

[Stub Mandrel]

If you avoid the really small stuff, SMD can actually make it easier to use home made boards (you do need a light box though to get good enough boards).

Don't look TOO close it's more than a bit rough (I use the RABA technique).

[Paul M]

19 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

If you avoid the really small stuff, SMD can actually make it easier to use home made boards (you do need a light box though to get good enough boards).

Don't look TOO close it's more than a bit rough (I use the RABA technique).

Yikes!

It horrifies me to see so many solder joints in so little space. Anyway, give me OC71's with leads long enough to tie knots in on the back of the board to keep them in place until the solder arrives and I'm a happy bunny

Actually, hold the solder:

I have tears of nostalgia just looking at that beauty...

[Stub Mandrel]

Things were better in those days :-)

I've got a pair of boards here that might be the ideal solution for the heart of my new goto setup. Its taken me an hour to find the files for programming the darn things, now I've just got to work out what they can do...

[GrahamNW]

On 20/02/2016 at 13:08, Deano666 said:

Managed to get out for a while and got a few pictures of the Moon,  Hopefully i will soon get some of jupiter now that its rising earlier in the evening. Just need the weather to play ball !

Single shot with dslr

Theophilus and cyrillus?

Nice pic,