by Paul Sterngold
I thoroughly enjoyed the night at Coe despite the wind and cold and dew. In partcicular, the comraderie was great.
My card table's plastic top (nylon?) is my canary in the coal mine. It begins collecting dew before there's any hint of it elsewhere. Last night, there was a heavy coating of moisture on it within five minutes of opening it up. Definitely a portent of things to come.
Despite the dew, I was able to accomplish a couple of things. First, I confirmed the proper procedures for using my DSCs and also verified their accuracy. I'm really pleased because the consistently put objects on my CCD camera's chip last night. Three out of three attempts!
Secondly, I was able to grab some quick and dirty test CCD images. This was the first time with the recently acquired, secondhand AP900 mount. Despite ongoing anomalies with the mount's tracking, the test images were successful.
Thirdly, the STV's e-finder/e-guider proved itself capable last night.
Finally, it was the first time I'd been under reasonably dark skies since mid-April. Seeing the summer Milky Way was deeply satisfying, even though the little cats swallowed it completely in short order around midnight.
Big thanks to Richard Navarrete for loaning me his anti-dew gun. There's no way my objective would have survived without it! <g>