I'm starting to run low on sauna-wood, and now that's warmer, the inadequate warmth doesn't feel that bad. Brought some beer and sausages in foil to be heated on the stove - a tradition from the 50's (I think). Half fried, half steamed.
At around 9 PM I brought my sauna-telescope out and did some checks, now that it was clear and the moon was well visible. I just had to try, because this is the last night with astro dark
this spring - generous 37 minutes of it. Tomorrow night, no more astro dark.
First I used 20 mm super-what to get the moon to the view. Then I changed to Radian 3 mm. Pretty
sharp image, although not much contrast - probably, because the sun was still up.
Tried with 3 mm Radian and the lighter moon filter (ND96-03), but that just made the contrast a little bit worse.
Then I tried the 4 mm Radian. Pretty much the same than with the 3 mm except slightly bigger part of the moon with shrunken details.
This is the first time I got to try the Radians. Good, but heavy lumps of glass. The friction based altitude-holding gave up a bit as the draw tube came out of the focuser. Well they are heavy (~300g) compared to the other eyepieces (~50g) selected for use this time.
The 3 mm Radian proved, that the mount is quite good (regardless...). The vibrations from touching the focuser, died almost immediately.
It has been exceptionally warm day, so the sauna got ready exceptionally fast.
At 10 PM it was ready. I was not in hurry, because the moon would have been the only thing visible. The civil twilight started at 9:45 PM and the nautical at 10:48 PM. The astro dark started at 01:04 AM.
At 10:15 PM, after I put some goodies for the dog to have something to do while I'm in sauna, I was ready to go.
The first löylys were warmer than I expected. This time my old 10.5 kW Harvia electric stove did better than I expected.
Then cooling-off. There was still nothing to see in the sky, except the moon.
Back to löyly.
During the next cooling-off, still not dark enough. Went to the house and got my camera. Took a couple of pictures.
My cool-off place:
Now I was getting cold. Back to löyly.
I could smell that the sausages were ready. It's not that precise, 10 minutes more or less doesn't really mean anything when it comes to sausages on a stove. Some good löylys and out to dressing room with the sausages. Sausages, mustard and beer - nice snack. Back to löyly.
At the beginning of the next cool-off I realized, that it had become darker. I could spot Leo immediately. Many other stars had emerged and the big dipper was right above. I decided to have another look to Leo's neck (Algieba) again. With 6 mm BCO I saw a brighter star and a dimmer star to the east (FOW-wise) from the brighter. But considering that Leo was already diving behind trees in, maybe, 40° angle, that makes the dimmer to the NE (
Had to take a bush-pee before going to löyly (yes, it's possible here), and on my way I saw that a rowan had started to make leaves. Maybe the summer will come after all.
Back to löyly. The stove had had enough time to get itself together again, so I got quite nice löyly again. The stove was doing amazingly well considering how underpowered it is. The sauna of this size would need an electric stove of around 25 kW, but that would mean changing the stove and all the electrics between it and the delivery lines, including the underground cable between the main building and the auxiliary building.
During the next cool-off I had to go to the house again - I run out of note paper. The good side in the light nights is that you don't need any artificial light for walking.
Back to löyly.
During the next cool-off I tried to find the M51. It's hard because the handle of big dipper is so close to the zenith. And due to the light night, I couldn't see any "guide stars" with naked eyes.
I replaced the red dot finder with the straight 6 x 30 finder that I replaced with a 9 x 50
During the next cool-off, tried M51 again, and failed. Just too close to zenith, and too light night. The handle of the big dipper pointed to a bright star. Didn't see enough stars to figure out the constellation, but decided to have a look - I suspected it to be Arcturus.
Started with 20 mm "super-what", then 6 mm BCO. Only the 3 mm Radian gave out that the diffraction pattern looked suspicious. It looked like a close double - too close to actually split, but obviously the Airy-disk was elongated, like two merged Airy-disks, but I couldn't quite be sure.
Getting cold again - back to löyly.
During the next cool-off I looked to the east and saw Cygnus lying on its side, but from Lyra I only saw Vega, Sulafat and Sheliak. Just sat and listened to nothing. No birds no cars no other people. Back to löyly.
When I stepped out to cool off again, I realized that the night is over. Even the big dipper had disappeared. A couple of stars here and there but too sparse to tell the constellations. Brought the scope and optics in the house, and went back for last löyly. Then washed, and as the tradition requires, threw a good löyly and left a can of beer for the sauna-elf. (You don't want to piss-off your sauna-elf, believe me!) And that's it. It was 2:55 when I got in. Still a quick walk with the dog and then to bed.
The sauna stories are evoking reminiscing about hot springs in Japan.
