Captain! The Telescope Is Up
Several hours work today by Doug George, Al Seaman, Chris Teron, Tim Cole and
John Douglas got the telescope mounted properly, cabling threaded through the
mount, "park" and "home" checked out, and a first look through the telescope.
Hugh took lots of pictures (you weren't surprised at that, were you?!) and put
on a pot of coffee to go with the cookies he baked this morning as fuel for the
crew.
 The
Meade LX200, with mounting bracket, looking rather forlorn sitting face down
on the floor of the dome. |
 Doug
up the ladder, checking out the Paramount ME, and the mounting plate that Al
modified to make attachment easier, and adjustable. |
 Hoisting
the OTA onto the mount, then deciding which of Al's many mounting holes
would work best! Al spent over 3 hours in the dome, without a break in the
warm room (of course, he DOES live way out in the country, where they really
know about COLD!) |
 Doug
at the computer, setting up to align the mount. Fortunately for us
(unfortunately for Doug!) he had already been through this process with his
own Paramount ME. But he WAS smiling a lot this afternoon! |
 John
is assembling one of the cables he wired up the past two days; he spent a
lot of time getting cabling ready for today. The red colour is from one of
the heat lamps that made a feeble attempt to provide a little heat in the
dome. |
