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That and the cable will stretch out after some use.KathyNS wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 10:41 pm We had a warm(ish) day yesterday, so I rigged the replacement cable. It is hard getting the tension adjusted with the Exploradome setup. I have it close, but it may need some tweaking. I ran the shutter through several cycles successfully. I might still supervise it next time, just to avoid unpleasant surprises, like a shutter that fails to close.
nice iglooKathyNS wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:54 pm With several new-moon clear nights forecast this week, I thought it would be a good idea to clear the snow off the dome.
P1160122-1000px.JPG
That turned out to be harder than it looked. Not only is the top of the dome impossible to reach, but the recent cycle of storms started with an ice storm, so the base layer was frozen solid. I managed to chip away enough snow and ice to rotate the dome, with manual assistance. (The rotation motor was trying, but I had to haul the dome around by hand to keep it moving.) That allowed my to reach all azimuths of the dome from the front deck. I paid extra attention to the shutter track, clearing as much of the snow and ice as possible from it.
So the final step was to try the shutter. It has a very powerful geared DC motor, so I was optimistic that it could break the remaining ice free. Nope! The motor is indeed powerful, though: the aircraft-grade stainless steel cable snapped! I guess the ice was stronger.
So, with no way to open the shutter until I can do repairs, the observatory is out of commission for a while.
I tend to go after targets that are high in the sky, but sometimes mother nature doesn't give you a choice. The doors are automated, and I can't open one without opening the other: the sequencing is automatic. So I don't pay much attention to whether the scope is looking out the upper part of theJohn Fitzgerald wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:52 pm Kathy,
On your Exploradome, do you use the lower door at all?
It wasn't until I got home from the theatre at 22:00 that I realized nothing was happening. I did manage to get it started and it got a few frames, but an hour later, the target was in the trees. 
