November and December tend to have the most cloudy nights here in Minnesota. Stinks for getting out to do any stargazing or getting railfan pics.
Railfanning isn't affected to much, the hustle of the end of the year and being in work during the duration of daylight hours doesn't allow for much time to get out and explore trackside.
The long nights are good for getting in some stargazing/observing at night. When the sun sets, the summer constellations are hanging low in the west. Winter's stars are staged to the east ready to make their trek across the night sky. By the time dawn rolls around, the sky looks like it would on a clear April evening, giving hope that the cold will eventually break.
This down time with the clouds has given me a little time to get the scope set back up after a fall camping trip. Their is also time for some maintenance, like making the sure the collimation, or alignment, of the mirrors in the relflector is up to snuff. Also I may get some white lithium grease to relube the focuser. The scope shipped from the factory in China with a "grease" that is more glue than grease. In warm weather this isn't much of a problem. In a norther winter though, when we get clear skies, it get's cold in a hurry. At -10 that grease nearly solidifies, making precision focusing a fools errand.
These are a couple of quick chores that'll get things ready for when the veil of clouds lifts around here...
No comments:
Post a Comment