Storage area insulation

Today makes the finish of the insulation project. We finally did the roof area of the entrance and storage area. It now has pink batts insulation R2.6 rating so we should be warm at night during this years Microlensing season. Gone are the days of sleeping inside at 2 deg centigrade above the outdoor temperature! I can't believe the difference compared to what the place looked like when we started going there. Once again Peter our neighbour came to the rescue with a trailer to get the materials to site and a electric screw gun. He also suggested using a gib lifter which lifts sheets of gib board to allow installation on the ceiling, the kitchen area we did by hand, it took three of us and was a real mission, this became a simple one man job, thanks Peter.

Network and weather station problems fixed.

Fixed the network connection to from the Dome to Steves house, 200 meters away. The post on which a repeater was on had been removed! A few screws and cable ties and its fixed. Also the remote sensor for the external wind vane and rain gauge stopped talking wirelessly to the inside unit. Ran a wire between the two, seems to be working fine now. Manual says this will reduce battery life so have to watch that.

New bunks!

The new bunks. We now have a set of King Single bunks to replace the old wire frame singles we had before. They are wooden and very sturdy from 'The Bunk House' in Manakau cost about $800 mostly donated by Guy Thornley. Bad nights sleeps are going to be a thing of the past.

Kitchen Insulation and cleanup

Just spent three days working to insulate the remaining walls and the ceiling of the downstairs kitchen and sleeping area. We had to remove the large shelf unit above the window. This was cut in half while on the wall to be able get it down safely. Found out how the rats were getting into the wall by the window, there was a huge hole near the flashing at the top of the window. Put up six sheets of gib with insulation on these walls. The ceiling took five sheets of gib and one bag of insulation. Took one trailer load of rubbish to the dump. Cleaned the floor in the wasp and gave the place a good once over. Shelves are back up, one in kitchen and the other half near the doorway to the dome.

Wratten #12 yellow filter

Just recieved an ASTRONZ #12 Wratten to try this season on the C14. We are going to also use the Ted Argos focal reducer this season. We are hoping to get improved FWHM with the optics working at their designed spacing and also the reduced scpectrum will help as well. Testing as soon as we get a fine evening.

MOA 2009-BLG-137

MOA 2009-BLG-137
RA: 17:51:37.95
Dec: -29:32:43.23
Optics: Celestron C14
Focal length: 2634mm
Pixel Scale; 0.70"/pixel
Camera: SBIG ST7 XME Deluxe
CCD: KAF-0402ME class 1
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec
Observers: David Moorhouse

MOA 2009-BLG-387

MOA 2009-BLG-387
RA: 17:53:50.79
Dec: -33:59:25.20
Optics: Celestron C14
Focal length: 2634mm
Pixel Scale; 0.70"/pixel
Camera: SBIG ST7 XME Deluxe
CCD: KAF-0402ME class 1
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec
Observers: David Moorhouse, Guy Thornley
3rd Aug Target very faint, resonable run for about one hour till cloud came
4th Aug much brighter however much passing cloud and worse seeing
5th Aug Guy got the evening started about 0900UT and went until about 1530UT clear skies and good seeing, moon although full was further away from target.

MOA 2009-BLG-406

MOA 2009-BLG-406
RA: 17:59:17.61
Dec: -28:26:35.52
Optics: Celestron C14
Focal length: 2634mm
Pixel Scale; 0.70"/pixel
Camera: SBIG ST7 XME Deluxe
CCD: KAF-0402ME class 1
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec
Observers: David Moorhouse
Got a few images starting at 1100UT then nothing till 1330 when I got a break until about 1530 when the cloud came back again. Seeing good early falling off later. Transparency was fantastic however. Looks like it may be a binary now though.

MOA 2009-BLG-365

MOA 2009-BLG-365
RA: 17:58:47.32
Dec: -30:42:54.42
Optics: Celestron C14
Focal length: 2634mm
Pixel Scale; 0.70"/pixel
Camera: SBIG ST7 XME Deluxe
CCD: KAF-0402ME class 1
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec
Observers: Guy Thornley, Steve Calveley, David Moorhouse

MOA 2009-BLG-259

MOA 2009-BLG-259
RA: 17:57:57.51
Dec: -29:11:39.39
Optics: Celestron C14
Focal length: 2634mm
Pixel Scale; 0.70"/pixel
Camera: SBIG ST7 XME Deluxe
CCD: KAF-0402ME class 1
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec
Observers: Guy Thornley, Steve Calveley, David Moorhouse

New Observing Report

A new observing report from Paul Kemp for observing conducted Saturday 20th June is now available at;

http://southernsentinel.co.nz/Observing/Observations/OB-09-06-20.htm

MOA 2009-BLG-319

MOA 2009-BLG-319
RA: 18:06:58.13
Dec: -26:49:10.89
Optics: Celestron C14
Focal length: 2634mm
Pixel Scale; 0.70"/pixel
Camera: SBIG ST7 XME Deluxe
CCD: KAF-0402ME class 1
Filters: No filter
Exposure: 300 sec

Observers: Guy Thornley, David Moorhouse
Tried and failed to get even a single exposure, the clear patch was seen ten km or so to the east so Jennie was getting clear skies.