Solar Observing
I started off the day hoping to get enough accomplished today to check a few things off my absurdly long to-do list. First, I did some spraying painting... that went well. Then I pulled out a can of white paint, a stirrer, a screwdriver and a ladder so I could put a second coat of paint on a few windows I started a couple of weeks ago. That didn't go so well.
I couldn't seem to hold onto anything. I dropped the paint can lid into leaves and pine needles so I then had to stop to clean it up. Then I dropped the screwdriver into the paint covering me and the screwdriver in paint. Then I dropped the brush to the ground into the pine needles and leaves. At that point, I was just finishing up a sloppy second coat of paint and decided to call it a day.
It is a bit of a hazy, partly cloudy day but I decided to try out my newly built telescope pier anyway. Crystal clear skies would have been far better but the last time I saw crystal clear skies here is one night late last summer. If I wait for ideal conditions, I'll never get to see anything in the sky. Sky conditions are absolutely abysmal in the last year or two.
Nighttime astronomy hasn't been something I've wanted to do in the past couple of years due to bear activity. We again have bears being seen by our neighbors every day or night so I'm staying indoors at night. Until I finish the little fenced-in area around this telescope pier, I'll be sticking to solar astronomy.
I brought my telescope mount out and then mounted it on the pier. Then I went in to retrieve a counterweight. I slid the counterweight on the counterweight shaft. Then I went back inside to retrieve one of my telescope... brought it outside and mounted one of my telescopes... added some solar filters... added an eyepiece... so far, so good. Then I observed a featureless sun for a little bit.
Notice that counterweight in the above photo almost pointing for the sky? It is higher than the mount which isn't normal and a bit of a no-no. After I finished observing and while I went back inside to retrieve a camera, the sun had crossed the meridian and I should have flipped the telescope around to the opposite side of the mount but I didn't bother for these photos.
In the photo below, you can see the green sun on the back of my solar wedge diagonal. This means that the telescope is pointing at the sun and the light is entering my telescope. It is green because the light entering the telescope is being filtered to a narrow bandwidth in the green wavelength allowing for more contrast. This filter is a Solar Continuum filter.
There are no sunspots right now... no features whatsoever. The sun is just a rather boring, featureless sphere. Regardless, it was nice to test out my newly built telescope pier.
I couldn't seem to hold onto anything. I dropped the paint can lid into leaves and pine needles so I then had to stop to clean it up. Then I dropped the screwdriver into the paint covering me and the screwdriver in paint. Then I dropped the brush to the ground into the pine needles and leaves. At that point, I was just finishing up a sloppy second coat of paint and decided to call it a day.
Nighttime astronomy hasn't been something I've wanted to do in the past couple of years due to bear activity. We again have bears being seen by our neighbors every day or night so I'm staying indoors at night. Until I finish the little fenced-in area around this telescope pier, I'll be sticking to solar astronomy.
I brought my telescope mount out and then mounted it on the pier. Then I went in to retrieve a counterweight. I slid the counterweight on the counterweight shaft. Then I went back inside to retrieve one of my telescope... brought it outside and mounted one of my telescopes... added some solar filters... added an eyepiece... so far, so good. Then I observed a featureless sun for a little bit.
Notice that counterweight in the above photo almost pointing for the sky? It is higher than the mount which isn't normal and a bit of a no-no. After I finished observing and while I went back inside to retrieve a camera, the sun had crossed the meridian and I should have flipped the telescope around to the opposite side of the mount but I didn't bother for these photos.
In the photo below, you can see the green sun on the back of my solar wedge diagonal. This means that the telescope is pointing at the sun and the light is entering my telescope. It is green because the light entering the telescope is being filtered to a narrow bandwidth in the green wavelength allowing for more contrast. This filter is a Solar Continuum filter.
There are no sunspots right now... no features whatsoever. The sun is just a rather boring, featureless sphere. Regardless, it was nice to test out my newly built telescope pier.
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