weekend small enhancements

I made small enhancements over the last few days...



glass cut

I cut the sheet of glass with chipped corners forming an irregular octagon.

Mom suggested I tape the edges. Good plan.

This will be used for the "cover" plate for the star charts on the light box. It will hold down the chart sheet or pieces of paper when it is a bit windy. It should offer a bit of dew protection as well.



reflective tape

While driving on Saturday morning from my place to Mom's I cut through Aylmer, Ontario. The Canadian Tire store in town caught my eye so I popped in. Among other things, I picked up some red reflective tape. This was the second store where I unsuccessfully began my search in the bicycle department. No red... Strange. This time, in a moment of inspiration, I went to the trailer section (you know, a trailer towed behind a car). And finally found red reflective tape (by Avery no less).

Today I put small bits of tape on my tripods, step ladder, astronomy box, and portable table.

Hopefully this will improve visibility on dark nights. People shining a flash light around will see the legs and edges of my gear.

I didn't intend this safety feature but it occurred to me if I'm somewhere where vehicles are driven about, they will see me from a distance.



foam

I also found some (dark grey) closed cell foam padding at Canadian Tire. This was in the form of a roll used for camping or hiking, or rather, what you might put under your sleeping bag.

I cut 3 small circles for each leg of the heavy Edmund tripod and glued them together.

Later I put these under the tripod feet. All this to lessen the vibration and shock going into the telescope when we roll it around on the dolly.



table secured

While moving the new wooden TV table to and fro, I found it kept wanting to flop open. Conversely, when opened and unladen and if jarred, it would close up and collapse.

Inspired by the Velcro fabric tab on Dave Getgood's astronomy chair, I decided to mount a couple of Velcro bits onto the table's underside.

I asked Mom for some help. She directed me into her crafts room and the "Velcro" drawer where I found self-adhesive and fabric pieces. In fact, I discovered that she had red pieces! Perfect.

Now the table stays closed when closed and open when open.



override switch

When I had rigged up the astronomy box with its own internal LED lights, I had incorporated a microswitch in the lid. When you open the lid, the close circuit activates, and you can see the materials and gear within. What I did not initially account for was that at other times, say at home, after a session, I'd want to open the box for a while, to move things around, tidy, etc. All the while, the lights would be running.

Last week, I desoldered the original AA battery box. The replacement AA battery box, from The Source (nee Radio Shack), has a small integrated toggle switch. This now allows me to override the lights when the case remains open for an extended time.

I got to test drive this at Mom's. And of course it worked fine.

Mom was impressed by the lights.



front porch AC source

Since I had planned Mom's and my Saturday night observing session from the end of the driveway (for good planetary sight lines), we needed to power her clock drive with a long (grounded) extension cord.

I plugged into the porch socket that I had used before, the east one, which was closest to the driveway—all seemed well. But later, when the light sensor in her street lamp triggered on, we realised that if we tripped the breaker on the ground-fault, it would knock out the clock drive.

Mom directed me to another socket, on the west end of the porch, hidden behind a table. I didn't even know this one was there! And, happily, we discovered it worked independently of the other socket. So we were able to shut off the street lamp but keep the clock drive running.



drive drifting

Speaking of the clock drive... Even though we had it running and properly engaged, the 'scope was not properly tracking the planets we were viewing.

At first I thought it because we did not know where north was. I guessed at the location and aligned to a spot from memory. Mom said she thought north was further to the east. So, we re-aimed the mount. Later when the Ursas appeared, I saw we were far from Polaris; I moved back to the west.

Still, after aiming to the North Star, we experienced drift.

It looked like the geometric mount of Mom's telescope was not right. It seemed too low, like around 30°, versus the 45° (plus or minus), that it should be. I made a mental note to check it.

(Maybe this is why I lost Venus before while trying to track it into daylight...)

Sunday afternoon, I built an inverted protractor (in AppleWorks), mounted it to the 'scope, and plumbed it. Yep: way off. With help, I got it between 42 and 43°.

In adjusting the mount, at one point, the telescope "fell," and crushed the Bakelite setting circle. It snapped into 3 pieces. A new item for the to-do list...



desiccant for binos

While stowing my binoculars on Sunday, I noticed there was something missing.

When I got home, I put a large sachet of desiccant into the binos case.



updated Newtonian notes

With one session under her belt, I adjusted the quick reference notes for Mom. I had first written these simplified notes in January so to let Mom set up the Edmund 'scope on her own. After our Saturday night session, I added a section about using the clock drive.