I knew today the viewing would be decent

But of course it was so cold and windy out with the winter weather, even an old snowmobile enthusiast like I couldn't muster up enough courage to get out and star gaze.

It gets cold in the observatory and the wind and snow would not have made it a good night to star gaze at HJRO.

I took a quick look at the sky at about 9;30 when I went out for a late night errand. There was some interference in the viewing due to the atmosphere and possibly wind and ice crystals up there. The sky looked clear and the stars bright. It was very cool and very crisp and windy. Subzero wind chills.

The stars twinkled, and that means conditions were not ideal for imaging objects in the sky. It was a good winter night if you were St Nick being pulled in a sleigh. But not the best for star gazing. Astronomers take what they can get sometimes, but I've been out enough to not want to brave frostbite to get in a little more viewing.

A lunar eclipse is going to happen later thus month and I hope it's clear out and I can have the observatory open at that time.

I woke up late at night tonight after getting a few calls about a medical issue and wrote this late night posting at about 3:30am.

I'd look out at the sky tonight. . . Hang on a minute while I peek out of the window.

There's an astronomer who build unusual telescopes one which was a refractor with a flat mirror mounted in a mirror box that fit in a window. The mirror rotates and it movement allowed the fixed refractor to view different objects in the sky. That's the kind if telescope to have in a night like this. Some kind of refractory with a moving flat mirror. There would be some optical sacrifices with the mirror and who knows what kind of thermal problems one would have with a refractor exposed to the cold on one side and the warmth on the eyepiece side. It would probably have to be heated with major dew heaters on the objective side to keep condensation and major dew point problems from happening within it. And perhaps dew heaters on other parts of the PTA as well, which is my guess.


My guess is a nice wide field doublet and a good flat mirror which would be expensive would be a good place to start if you wanted to build one. Maybe.a Williams optics megrez doublet.

Such are the stuff of astronomer dreams as I start to fall asleep again. . . But first to look out of my window.

I can still see stars.

For now the blog readers will have to settle with a photo from my workplace window. It's too cold out there and my ears have a minor ache already.

I'm posting this at 3:45 am outside conditions are clear and bitter cold. I'm heading back under the covers before the inner astronomer decides to run outside.



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