Last week we had a couple members of the Faac club go out and do some work making the observatory better. They tested a new focusing mask that Tim Campbell donated to HJRO. Tim Dey and Tim Campbell were the testers.
The next evening Tim Campbell worked on the alignment of the mount. Apparently the mount wasn't pointing very well. We need to get a better alignment setup in the mount. This is a software thing, but we have been putting this off because we are going to be getting new telescope rings that hold the c14 more firmly and securely to the mount than our current setup. George Korody is donating these rings from an earlier setup he used to use as he used to own a c14. The ring setup is worth at least $1000. Plus he bought other parts and donated this to help it happen.
This last year seems to be a year of donations with many members of the club and even Leo McMaster making donations to HJRO. These items include:
A new better setup using a Macintosh mini computer. That will allow us to stream video of observing sessions to the school or other places over the Internet. Various computer hardware donated or loaned.
A camera that allows us to auto track on stars. This is necessary to allow long exposure photography of more than a minute. We can take four or five minute exposures now. At least with the testing we've done. This opens up more in the realm of long exposure astrophotography at HJRO.
The focus mask.
Telescope rings.
The telescope rings will mean we have to do an alignment to the telescope mount again. So we haven't done much in worrying about getting a killer alignment because the new rings will require another alignment.
A lot of work has been done by George Korody, Tim Dey, Tim Campbell and others at the observatory. They are just a few of the unsung heroes of the observatory.
I was able to stop by briefly and look at Saturn at HJRO, but we were out for such a short time that I couldn't make the announcement over the blog to the public because I could not guarantee the length of time the observatory will be open.
Unfortunately things are moving slow in the setup and adapting of the home for the latest health crisis at home. It's really an ongoing crisis that my family has been coping with for ten years, but things have evolved where it just requires a lot of attention at home. Part of this may be solved by streamlining our home healthcare setup, but that takes a lot of time and there is no easy way to predict when I'll be able to open ip HJRO and hang around long enough for normal visiting sessions.
Tim Campbell did announce that he would be opening up the observatory last week during one evening to the club members and I was the only member to show up.
There is supposed to be many clear sky nights next week starting on Tuesday. We may have the observatory open one or more of those nights.
Some of the members of the club that can run the observatory have been busy helping others in the club who have had health problems as well. So overall there is a lot of people who have been put on hold now that the weather is breaking. It's difficult to say if many of the core HJRO members will be available to help at HJRO with visitors.
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