Friday, January 08, 2021

nothing done (Bradford)

Back inside after an attempt at astronomy. Cold, very cold, breezy. Bad target selection where all the double star targets I tried were too tight and/or too faint for the little Meade ETX 90.

After a warm-up break, I found everything frosted. Pisces, Eridanus, and Cetus targets were now too low.

Unfortunately, Sirius was not clear of the big tree to the south. So my particular location in the backyard proved unfavourable for my Sirius B split attempt. Tried the new diffraction mask but it was for naught.

As well, the eyepieces immediately fogged when I tried to use them. High humidity now? I considered the dew heating gear or quitting. I quit.

Actually, it was good timing. Clouds moving in. Really cold: -16 with the wind chill.

Motor note was different. And I could see it jumping. Very distracting at medium power, to the point where I turned off the motor. Will have to open it up. Again!

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