summaries after marathon (Union)

During the marathon astronomy weekend at Mom's with the visiting relatives, I saw, in addition to Neptune in the wee hours and Venus in day light, many meteors and accumulated many to-do items.

meteors
Sat 12:58am - from Cygnus to north-west
Sat 3:15am - east to west through Cygnus
Sat 3:43am - a Perseid heading south-west
Sat 3:54am - short one, east to west
Sat 4:02am - bright Perseid falling into the south-east
Sat 4:29am - Taurus to Auriga, exploded! Sat 4:30am - short one falling due south

to dos
It would be good to have star hops planned out more. In particular, when searching for elusive planets. Literally, I think it might be good to make a road map. Maybe even a circular eyepiece series...

I did not prepare a light table. I had Mom's card table and I had Donna's light box. But I never used them. That said, it might have been frustrating with Donna's setup given the tall, small stature of the box. And I did not have red cel or red paper at the ready. But I really think I need to have something like this, which I can leave on continuously, under key charts.

Get a local copy of the SEDS Messier catalog onto the laptop.

Put mole skin and bandaids on packing list for astronomy. For some weird reason, I developed a blister on one toe from my sandals (even though I've been wearing them since May!).

Put sweaters (already there), pants (added zip and ski), toques (already there), long underwear, blankets (already there), on packing list for astronomy. I got chilled in the damp early morning hours.

Make an updated prep checklist for an observing session.

Have some Jolt cola or caffeinated beverage on hand for the all-nighter. Added to packing list.

Once again, I feel I need to confirm eyepiece orientations. What I was seeing in the eyepiece of the binos, finder scope, and cat was not exactly what I was expecting.

How do you heat binos? There are 4 elements! Need to research this...

Make an arch for bino clamp. Current design makes eyepieces too far apart.

I could have really used a height-adjustable stool (it's already on my wish list). In the future at Mom's, simply have a lot of different chairs and stools (and boxes) handy.

I should keep an easily-accessed pen on my person at all times. I can use one of my extra lanyards. It's already on packing list. Since put one in gear.

I thought of a great gift idea for David...

If intending to track Venus or Mercury into daylight, remember to, in darkness, perfectly polar align the 'scope. Consider marking Mom's deck for a quick realignment of her 'scope.

Pay attention to dew point more in future.

Consider a small sticker near eyepieces of telescopes which shows the view, either inverted or mirrored... A reminder to me; an FYI to other users.