Walter's LogBook
	November 2003

Overview

The highlights of this month were a nice total lunar eclipse, an all-sky auroral display, and lots of clear sky! On the automation front, the USB to serial converters continue to give trouble, but I did get an SXV-H9 hooked up to my P4 machine.

The MX916 is the imaging camera, with exposures for variable stars of 30 seconds at 2x2 binning (unguided). This month's session notes are below the overview section.

Session Notes

Thu/Fri, November 6/7, 2003

Session from 19:35 to 20:35. It cleared briefly and I was able to image V503 and V516 Cygni, but it clouded over while on EY Cygni. Temperature was +5C, with lots of moisture.

Sat/Sun, Nov 8/9, 2003

Session from 16:45 to 05:45. I did 60 flat frames at sunset, followed by bias and dark frames. There was a very nice total lunar eclipse tonight and various relatives & neighbours came over to watch it with my C8 in the back yard. I imaged variables before, partly during, and after the eclipse. To finish of the morning, I saw ISS pass by from NW to SE at ~05:35!

Sun/Mon, November 9/10, 2003

Session from 19:30 to 05:30. It was overcast at 18:00, but cleared during supper.

Mon/Tue, November 10/11, 2003

Session from 17:30 to 18:30. It was clear at 17:30, so I started a session. While I had supper and watched the news, the observatory imaged V503 Cyg. When I returned to the observatory, I discovered that clouds had moved in. The forecast was for detiorating conditions, so I closed up. Temperature was +6C.

Sat/Sun, November 15/16, 2003

Session from 19:30 to 05:30. It was overcast at 18:00, but cleared during supper.

Thu/Fri, November 20/21, 2003

Session from 23:00 to 06:00. There was a big all-sky coronal aurora tonight as darkness fell (initially I thought it was still cloudy!). I was tired, so I had a long nap. By 23:00 I was imaging variables and there was no aurora to interfere.

Then just after 01:00 I noticed a brighter sky in the images -- the aurora was back. I left a long image sequence running and went out to photograph the aurora on P1600 film. While I was photographing, I heard the dome close itself! I forgot that the DDW software had a 4 hour autoclose setting on it! Fortunately the image sequence had been completed by that time.

Also during this outdoor interlude, I did a couple of visual variable star estimates (wow, just like the pioneers did it!) in MGRO (my first MGRO session!) which was moved to Winchester last weekend.

Variable imaging resumed in the dome at 03:30 and the aurora didn't interfere again for the rest of the night.

Fri/Sat, November 21/22, 2003

Session from 17:00 to 06:00. A clear night! It was a warm day today, so lots of moisture. The transparency was good initially but deteriorated by the middle of the night, culminating in foggy conditions (& lots of dew/frost). The fog dissapated by 05:00.

I retrained the dome in the evening and so it is no longer 10 degrees off in azimuth (relative to the scope). I used DDW to slave the scope-dome for auto tracking a few times so I could take a few short naps through the night. Not as good as full automation, but I'm getting closer.

Also on the automation front, I got the SXV-H9 talking to my P4 machine this week. Unfortunately, my P4 has started locking up if I try to use both USB-serial converters. So, just one final hurdle to overcome and I'll finally be automated!

Sat/Sun, November 22/23, 2003

Session from 18:00 to 02:00. A clear night until cloud rolled just after 01:15. I was really tired, so the cloud was welcome. I caught TY Psc in outburst: an animated GIF is shown below.

TY Psc in Outburst	10 x 2 min
Scope: 10" f/6.3 LX200 | Camera: MX916 binned 2x2.

Mon/Tue, November 24/25, 2003

Session from 02:45 to 06:30. The South Mountain Clear Sky Clock was calling for clear skies from 3am to dawn, and that's what happened! I did 5 dark frames at 03:00 and 5 more at 06:15. The total temperature change during the session was only 1.5C. At 06:00 a huge bank of cloud was seen in the north and it was overcast within half an hour!

Wed/Thu, November 26/27, 2003

Session from 17:10 to 06:05. This has been the clearest November ever for southern/eastern Ontario, with yet another good night!