by Paul LeFevre
If TAC does give an optimist award, David Kingsley certainly wins it for Saturday night. He stayed after Phil & I gave up, and got in some more good observing time.
Conditions at Coe Saturday were eerily similar to the Pacheco Marathon last year. Just after a rainstorm, ground fog coming & going, and LOTS of dew. My 12.5" dob mirrors didn't get dewed up -- despite the fact I don't have a shroud yet -- but the SCT lasted only about 20 minutes, even with a large dew shield. Time to head for Radio Shack and build one of Dave's resistor warmers. I just purchased a 17 amp-hour battery last week, so I should have enough juice to run a heater and my scope motors.
(Note to anyone needed a field battery: what I bought was a 17 amp-hour car jump starter from Target, for $69. It has a built-in cig. lighter connector, jump-start cables, an emergency lamp, and AC charger. Target now has them on sale for $44 in their ad from Sunday's paper. Yes, I feel dumb, but I'm going to try to get a $25 credit, and in the meantime, it's a good buy for anyone else!)
Was it worth it to drive 4.5 hours (down & back) for about one hour of observing? Um, yeah, it was. As I showed pictures of my new dob to a co-worker this week, and described how long it took to grind the mirror and build the big guy, he commented, "Boy, you've got it bad for astronomy."
Indeed.
Thanks, Phil & David, for good company Saturday. I cursed myself driving down the hill from Coe as I watched it clear up...:)
Paul (Charter member of the Brotherhood of Astronomical Optimists)