Some notes about our visit to Stony Ridge on 11/11/05 - http://stony-ridge.org/index.html

Sky too bright for deep sky work, and seeing not good enough for Mars or moon.

Reticle batteries dead - Energizer 357 Button Cell Battery ?

Clear, accurate moon data is at below site:
Sun and Moon Data, Stony Ridge - and synthetic image of the Moon ("on following day")
http://cleardarksky.com/cgi-bin/sunmoondata.py?id=SROCA&tz=-8.0


The Stony Ridge telescope was running about 10% slow Friday eve, seemed less severe late in the evening. Could be case of "GLUE GREASE", like I had two years ago, picture at: http://flickr.com/photos/edhiker/62552953/

Would be nice to find a lubricant that is longer lasting, maybe:

MOLYDUVAL Soraja C 402 Synthetic Oil (PAO) Based
Transparent grease for lubrication of bearings, valves and taps. Very tacky. Strong adhesiveness. MOLYDUVAL Soraja C402 is a long-life lubricant with excellent adhesive properties.
* for lubrication of sliding surfaces in food Industry
* for slow running bearings in food Industry
* for lubrication if extreme cleanness is desired
* for packing machinery in the food Industry
-35°C up to 160°C, shortly +200°C http://www.mos2.com/data/cat/doc/en/soraja.doc.
Soraja C 403 Same as Soraja C 402, but harder, NLGI 3

.... but a nice setup, sure nicer than being outdoors in the winter.

Geostationary Satellites - this photo from Los Angeles, five marked in red

Geostationary Satellites - this photo from Los Angeles, five marked in red
Originally uploaded by edhiker.

Geostationary Satellites -
The invention of the geostationary satellite has revolutionised global communications. Geostationary satellites orbit at an altitude of 36000 km (22300 miles)

Some background on these satellites can be found at Arthur C. Clarke
The geostationary orbit is now sometimes known as the Clarke orbit in his honor.

I aimed for a group of satellites near 101° west for this first shot and got five in this 1/2 degree wide field.
The bright one could be seen with a small telescope.
The motor drive that normally follows the stars was turned off for these photos, causing the stars to leave trails, the stationary satellites to show as points. See a photo with motor turned on at: flickr.com/photos/edhiker/50627960/in/photostream/

For the mathamtically inclined, there are 700 pixels between the end red marks. Photo taken with 25 inch FL lens. Rebel has 3072 pixels, and an effective sensor size of 22.7 x 15.1mm Exposure: 91 sec
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101.1W = DirecTV 4S
101.0W = GE 4
100.9W = AMSC 1
100.9W = Direct TV1
100.6W = DirecTV 2/DBS 2

GE-4, a hybrid C-/Ku-band satellite, will serve North and South America from its orbital location at 101 degrees west. Launch Weight 5,500 lbs

A series of five photographs were published on Flickr.....
IMG_4585CrSC_GeoSat_101W_Marked