Waiting for the weather to break

It’s been a while since I posted to the blog because I’ve been so busy with work. My new job is great, and I’m doing more writing than ever before. I never thought I’d land back in journalism, and it’s sure a good feeling.

I took the plunge a couple of weeks ago and ordered a new mount for my telescope. I guess being around those new-fangled “GoTo” setups infected me with “gotta-have-it-itis.” So I placed the order, helped stimulate the economy a little, and finally on Wednesday UPS dropped off a big, heavy box.

I’ve been assembling and tinkering with a new Celestron CG-5GT equatorial mount. I also bought the Celestron GPS device, polar alignment scope and the Losmandy dovetail to adapt my C-8. It’s all hooked up and ready to roll, and I even practiced with it in a bedroom – where the GPS naturally did not work – and confirmed that the mount works.

So what’s the problem? Well, when I finally got everything assembled and ready to go, my part of Florida entered the summer weather pattern of wind and rain in the afternoon and clouds in the evening. I thought Saturday night (May 16) would be a good time for me to align the polar scope and try to go through the hand controller and mount alignment, but Mother Nature had other plans. It rained in the afternoon and when it got dark, there were still plenty of clouds around.

On Sunday night, I tried again and again I had it all set up and ready to roll, and even had neighbors over, but the clouds rolled in again.

I’m kind of anxious to see how it performs, though I know I have plenty of time.

Will I ever see the stars again?