DeepskyWim

For my birthday, I got the R-Sky Hooded Observing Vest as a present from my fantastic wife.  The weather has been very bad for observing since my birthday, so I could try out the vest only once.  I have to say that I'm very happy with the vest.  There are a lot of very large pockets where even heavy eyepieces (like the Televue 31mm Nagler) can be stored.  There is more than enough space for my eyepieces and extra accessories, like my red flashlight, pencils and the SQM-meter.  The size of the vest is large enough to put the vest over a winter jacket or my very old red ski suit (for the people who ever went observing together with me: yes, I still have that same old ski vest and I still use it for observing). The R-sky Hooded Observing Vest: Side view However, the most interesting part about the vest is the hood.  It is possible to hide deep inside the hood, removing al the background light from the surroundings (and from my backyard, there really is a lot of disturbing light).  Th

Step 1: The focuser I changed the focuser on my 18" Obsession last year from the standard JMI NGF-DX3 focuser to a Starlight Instrument Feather Touch focuser.  I never really checked if the focuser was mounted correctly, so this was the first thing I did. Remove the secondary mirror holder from the upper cage. Put the Howie Glatter laser collimator (with the standard aperture stop) in the focuser. Use a steel square to measure the distance from the bottom of the upper cage to the laser beam (close to the laser). Make sure the distance at the overlying side of the upper cage is the same, by adjusting the base of the focuser. Make sure the distance from the bottom of the upper cage to the laser beam at the overlying side does not change when turning the focuser in and out. Insert the secondary mirror holder again in the upper cage. Measuring the distance from the bottom of the upper cage to the laser beam. I checked everything and I could see that my focuser was perfectly aligned.

The weather is very unstable the last (and probably also the coming) week.  This results in heavy rain, followed by a nice sunny periods.  The ideal weather to spot some rainbows.  To be able to see a rainbow, the sun must be lower than 42°. During this time of the year, the best time to spot a rainbow is in the mornings or in the evenings.  A nice rainbow could be seen this afternoon.

 Another nice halo display today, before the clouds were too thick and the sun disappeared altogether.

 This morning, a nice halo was visible before the weather turned bad.  

There were a lot of clouds and there was even some rain during the whole day.  However, all weather sites predicted a clear evening.  And indeed, in the evening, the clouds parted and it became clear.  I started observing around 23:30 and I stopped at 0:50.  The temperature dropped from 2.6 (82%) to 0.7 (89%).  The SQM value was quite good for our garden and varied between 20.07 and 20.15.  My hands were really cold! I observed using my 18" Obsession, but I had some new stuff to test this evening: - I could use my Howie Glatter laser collimator for the first time.  It is very easy to do the collimation myself now, thanks to the TuBLUG.   - For my birthday, I got a R-Sky Hooded Observing Vest.  The vest itself is very useful with a lot of pockets.  Very easy to put some eyepieces (and the SQM-meter) there.  The hood itself is also very nice.  It is possible to remove all the background light.  This was very relaxing and helped me to see the faintest details in the objects. I mainl