What a winter, if its not raining, its cloudy, or foggy, or the dew is so heavy you could swim in it, and now that dang moon is ruining everything I had planned.
How much of these winter months are people getting to enjoy observing?
Been alright here in Sydney. You need to pick your spots though. Perhaps, invest in dew reduction equipment to remove that variable from your viewing sessions.
To eliminate dew problems for myself I make an extended dew shield for my 12", my RACI finder and my telrad. Proper extended due shields. Even made one for my secondary mirror for when I'm looking at high angles for extended periods. They have extended my viewing sessions by literally a few hours on nights of heavy dew. Before, I would give up and pack away my equipment after as little as an hour.
I was at first going to use Neoprene. But, when I got my hands on some of the stuff at a Clark Rubber store I couldn't believe how heavy it is. And the lighter variants would just flop about. Next to it however was some stuff called EVA 75. Lightweight, fairly rigid, matte black and well priced. Moisture barely builds up on it at all. At the end of a night with heavy dew there is only a fine mist of water on it.
The moon, fog and clouds however. Is completely out of our control.
Yuo, I use that, too. Highly recomended. There are still some nights, though, when even that isn't enough. I'm looking at dew heaters ... (well, actually, I've decided what I want, but I've put a freeze on all purchases until I decide what, exactly, in the field of astronomy I'm going to continue with ....)
There are still some nights, though, when even that isn't enough. I'm looking at dew heaters ... (well, actually, I've decided what I want, but I've put a freeze on all purchases until I decide what, exactly, in the field of astronomy I'm going to continue with ....)
