New Forest Observatory ®

As per usual, the skies simply don’t get dark enough this time of year for me to bother imaging deep-sky objects.  I will probably try to get some ultra-wide-field Milky Way shots using the AstroTrac and the DSLR this year – but the deep-sky kit will be mothballed for the month.

So it’s the usual, clean out the observatory, if you have a fibreglass dome wash off the last year’s worth of algae slowly turning the surface green.  Regrease your mount and check all the fastenings are tight.  Maybe give the optical train a good blow if you’ve got any dust bunnies, and check the collimation.  Not a bad time to get the polar alignment really tuned in well, you can spend several nights on this if necessary, you’re not losing good imaging time.

This year I will use this month to really push ahead with the mini-WASP array construction.  I am aiming to have the basic setup installed in a new dome by the end of this month – we’ll see!!

Until July – clear skies, even if they’re not particularly dark ones 🙂