There's a good chance I would have been successful with tonight's asteroid occultation, 95 Arethusa. But the 18mm eyepiece started to dew up leading up to the 2:55 prediction. And I didn't know what to do...
Guy was successful. I phoned him on his mobile. I could tell by his tone that he had nailed it. He captured good video of an 8 second event.
He said that I fell victim to Murphy's Law. But again, I'm not as inclined to say that. My 2" Kendrick eyepiece dew heater failed some time ago. I've been trying to make a replacement. But I still don't have the correct bits. The new nichrome wire I most recently purchased is not the correct resistance.
This just shows that I should have escalated this job. I should have replaced, or bought new, the dew heater by now.
It's a critical piece of equipment in these activities.
Lessons learned:
- have all dew prevention gear installed and ready
- have an eyepiece in a pocket, warmed
- have an eyeglasses microfiber cloth at the ready
- have a completed, working "anti-dew pad" built, tested, plugged in!
- if near an AC power source, have a hair dryer handy
- have a medium-sized cloth that the radio and recorder can both sit on and be covered by
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