new home

I was anxious to try the telescope on the new pier.

After finding the proper hex key (9/64" I believe), I removed the equatorial mount from the battleship-grey tripod pier.

And then grew more anxious. What if the new pier is the wrong diameter?! If it was larger, we'd be screwed. If smaller, still not trivial...

I loosened the three little grubs in the mount and then slipped the heavy mount atop the new green post. It felt good. The cap nestled around the pier without a lot of slop. I tighten the two north grubs, eyeballed north over Mom's house, and then tightened the southern grub. It snugged up in short order. I breathed a sigh of relief: the new steel pier was the perfect size!



In the dark, I'd be able to get a better alignment, of course. Good enough for now.

I installed the OTA in the cradle. Wow! She's in her new home! This is going to be fantastic.



I moved the telescope into various orientations again, to review logistics, where the planned protective box could fit around the 'scope, taking into account prevailing wind direction, how I wanted to angle the roof, etc.

I also noted that the OTA was now 7" about the ground (er, deck). So the new pier is effectively 4" taller. This is good, I think. Does not require any change. This is really good! I wouldn't want to cut that steel.

(I peaked at the mirror at one point. Very clean. That was good news. I had experienced a panic attack that after my cleaning exercise it had tarnished... The thing looks new!)

Now I just have to wait until dark. Then I can do a better alignment of the mount. And we can test the views with people moving about...