Random News about the RMS Observatory

This page is for random news, updates, or thoughts about my observatory. I don’t expect to post very often, really only when I feel there is something interesting to share. 

7.24.25

My first, and maybe last, post. Something very unusual tonight - a first in all my 50+ years of observing. 

A popup thunderstorm suddenly appeared about 20 min after I got setup. I was trying to focus the scope (remotely,  from inside my house) but the stars got fainter and fainter, then disappeared. Hmmm... I turned off my noisy window AC and that's when I heard it... a hard rain on the roof, then a clap of thunder. One of the worst things that has happened to me - astronomically. I race outside and see all my equipment in a downpour. When I got inside the observatory I was soaking wet, standing in a puddle of water on the observatory floor and trying not to panic.  I grabbed the C14 hand controller - not even thinking about getting electrocuted - and started slewing the scope out of the way so I could close the roof. The roof won, meaning I jammed the roof on the scope because I hadn’t gotten it out of the way enough. As I pushed the roof back to free up the scope there was stored tension in the motors, so the scope sprang to life instantly, with a whrrrrrr… sound from the motors. By now it was almost impossible to see through my glasses, but  I took my time and made sure the scope was out of the way, then closed the roof. The instant the roof was closed the electric went out. What a coincidence...? The observatory's ground fault circuit breaker tripped, so perfect timing at the end, and perfect luck I didn’t get zapped. Sigh. One and done with that experience.

This is a radar loop, updating every 5 minutes. You can see the popup storm suddenly appear right on top of my stuff,  then suddenly disappear. I was all setup and almost ready to start a third night on a couple of new asteroid targets, but obviously one of them had something it wanted to hide.  

🤔