Can't seem to get ramped up

This weekend would have been perfect for viewing, but I just couldn't get it all together. I had to work on Saturday, and was too tired Saturday night to drag everything out there, and get it all set up. Besides, all of the work I have done on Spring viewing is now 'for not'... it's summer...

So I'll now target the next new moon is July 21st. That should be plenty of time for me to get my observing sessions set up for Summer / Fall.

Until then, wishing you clear, quiet, dark skies.

Finally!

It looks like this will be the weekend to finally get out and peer into the night! I have a nice long three day weekend with no moon and good weather. It doesn't get much better than that. I will probably need to do some updating on my tours, but that will be a pleasure. BRING IT ON!!

Now, if it would just STOP SNOWING!!

In typical but always-surprising-to-me fashion, it's snowing in Central Oregon. There is about an inch of snow left over from yesterday, and it's snowing 'as we speak'. Despite my tendency to complain about it, the variety of meterological experiences is one of the main things I love about living in this area. Of course, that means all of the astronomy projects are on hold, but that's OK. That's just good time to study or work on some projects.

My spring double star tour is all set up, but maybe I'll go ahead and add to it. I only have about 60 stars in it right now, taken from a couple of different sources. I may as well expand it. The other thing I'm doing is plotting everything out on 'The Sky'. Sky by Bisque is nice software, but far too expensive for what it offers. I purchased the Serious Astronomer edition for $100 if I remember correctly, and still have to manually go in and create a viewing list. That's a bit cheap on their part not to offer that rather important feature. In any case, there is a way to enter the RA, DEC and name of each object and plot it out on a sky chart.

Maybe one of my next projects will be to review several of the free or shareware astronomy software programs on line. In hindsight, once of these programs would have been just fine, and I would have an extra $100 to spend on astronomy accessories.

Troubleshooting ETX auto tours

I finally got my first Autostar auto tour program to load. The main problem was that I didn't understand that just because I had an option to add a title or a description, that I HAD to add it. The instructions for the USER line are as follows:

USER ra dec "title string" "description string"
This command line allows you to access a specific object with your own description.
Enter USER, then the RA and DEC of a desired object and its title and description.
Use the format described in the Command Line section.

That means you must enter a title and a description, both of which need to be enclosed in quotation marks. Here is an example of what one line should look like:

AUTO SELECT USER 19:05:00 -07d08m00s "STF 2439" "Mags 8/9 Sep 22 PA 199 Spect B8"

Getting Autostar to accept the program was the first test. The real test, of course, will be to see if that tour will really take me to the stars that I want to visit. Tonight might be a good time to check it out if the weather holds. If not, it will be a while. I'm expecting it to get cloudy again, soon.

I originally thought I would just load one of the pre-existing auto tours that are available, but I'm really glad I decided to program my own. It isn't that hard, and I really like having my own particular list to work with.

Getting back on track

Am finally getting back on track after a brief but intense episode of either allergies or a very bad cold. It was the coughing that about did me in. In any case, it's much better now, so I'm looking forward to getting back on track with my projects. Vera bought us some really nice reclining outdoor chairs... perfect to lay back with the binoculars and study the sky on dark spring evening.

Auto Tours Added

Despite being home with bad allergies today (juniper junk), I managed to update my ETX125 with several of the Eagle Creek Doubles Tours: Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Leo Minor, and Lynx are all ready to go. It was easier than I expected. Maybe spending significant time dusting, polishing, exercising, and speaking gently to the telescope encouraged it to behave. I also cleaned all of my accessory equipment; eyepieces, cases, assorted flashlights, levels, clocks, measuring tapes, gadgets for this and that are all dust free and ready for another season of viewing the heavens. Now I just need some clear, moonless, allergy free, warm(er) nights.

Writing an Auto Tour

• Modify Eagle Creek's auto tours
• Download Saguaro's double star database to include with auto tour: done
• Find out if RA/DEC needs to be updated: no
• Find out if autostar software needs to be updated: do NOT update!!
• Bring out the beast and see if it will cooperate: oh, alright...