Re: [APML] So, what have you forgot to take?

[Michael Gartland <mgartlan@iconn.net>]

As I was posting last night...I just wanted 2 more Rosetta negs before I yank my
last roll of PPF from the body and get it devloped...it has been bell clear here
for several days...it was predicted to be clear thru most of the night...last
night was the first time the moon was rising at a decent time (10:55 local), I
came home from work....sky was bell clear....fed the dog, ate a pizza...got
everything out, set up and polar alignment finished right around
7:45pm...neighbors shut off their lights...Orion was clearing the lower
horizon....it was going to be great..plenty of time to get (3) 50 min. shots
in.....right when I looked up from getting my autoguider integrated I saw some
wispy clouds in the area...I went in the house for a few min....came back
out...more wispy clouds....back in...back out...almost clouded over.....back
in...got online...checked Satllite IR and visible...30 min. stale data showed
clear...checked forcast...forecast clear...hit APML...a few messages...back
out....now completely clouded out........back in...watched Bill
O'Reilly...9pm..back out...still clouded out with a few gaps...back in...started
on Hannity and combs...9:30....still clouded with gaps...I finally said scew
this.....disconnected the autoguider, removed the camera.....put back in the
diagonal ....got some eyepieces and spent an hour staring at Jupiter which was
very clear thru the high cumulus overcast...only thing shining in the
sky....thinking that now I'll have to get those shots in next week after this
storm comes thru and dumps 1/2 a foot of snow in my driveway.

What did I forget to take? Nothing...but clear skies...I'll forget something the
next time...when the skies are clear.
m.


Jeff Ball wrote:

> I know, imaging last night wasn't a great idea.  The Moon rise was around
> 11:50 p.m. local time in West Virginia.  But I wanted to try out a TV101.
> Setup went fine and the sky looked great.  Started to get ready to polar
> align and whoops.  Has anyone else forgotten the most insignificant piece of
> equipment that can nearly shut down your entire night of imaging?  This
> night I forgot to pack my 2" to 1.25" converter for eyepieces!  I have two
> of them you know, but they are with other scopes.  This would not allow me
> to drift align with my illuminated reticle and barlow.
>
> So, I innovated.  Don't know how well yet.  I used the STV in Efinder mode.
> I had synced up the Efinder well with the main tube optics.  The mount had
> been polar aligned with the AP polar scope.  I did a calibrate routine and
> the x/y angles looked perfect.  So, I found the x axis to correlate with the
> N/S movement and drift aligning I went.  I made corrections to the alt/az
> until the adjustments were so minor that the star would exhibit drift if I
> made any other counter move.  This is not exactly scientific on my part, but
> I hope it was correct intuition.  I used both "fast" and "slow" monitor
> modes with the Efinder.  I checked both meridian and east.  The guiding
> seemed to go OK- 2 arcsecond error and the x corrections not favoring any
> one direction.
>
> Oh, did I mention that it clouded over around 10:00 p.m.?;-(  Transparency
> went to pot.  Oh well.  It was another night in the old Astronomy 101
> classroom.
> Jeff Ball
> www.astro-photography.com
> Ohio Valley Astronomical Society
> www.ovas.org
>
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--
Have a Nice Day!
m

Email:   mgartlan@iconn.net

Astro Web Site:   http://members.iconn.net/mgartlan/Index.html



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