Akule's updated cooling fans

 My telescope mirror is 15lbs of Pyrex glass and retains too much heat, so it has a custom TEC cooling system with fans, no big deal…( https://maphilli14.webs.com/apps/blog/show/21342955-akule-s-cooling )

The original fans are in the blog entry from the original creation of Akule in 2011 and I upgraded them in 2015 to these fans.

 

 

 

 

 

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO!  But, sadly it's 2021 and I did this upgrade back in 2015 when one of the fans stopped working and I couldn't get a Rosewill replacement and I wanted the same CFM for balance across the plate.  I upgraded them all and while it's a bit heavier and I'm past the 65lbs limit of my CGE by far it's not been a terrible experience!

 

Here's a shot with old fan on Right and new on Left

 

 

Here's a close up of the bottom where the TEC cooler recesses into the plexiglass.

 

Why cool the heavy mirror?  It's #4 on my basics of high res planetary imaging - https://astromaphilli14.blogspot.com/p/seeing-collimation-and-focusing.html

 

"This means having no heat plumes inside your OTA that cause locally significant seeing issues.  It may be as simple as setting your scope outside a few hours before hand to help cool it.  The larger your mirror and the more closed your tube design the more help you'll need"

 

Next up in this multipart series is monitoring the temperature of the mirror relative to the air.  I used to use a nice indoor / outdoor thermometer but it broke!

 

First Saturn and Jupiter of 2021

 So, yes, they've moved further from each other compared to the Great Conjunction of 2020!  It's also one of the first times I've gotten up early in some years I think!  I had setup the perfect spot to dodge all the tree gaps and shot well into sunrise as you can see here.  On screen is Jupiter and the sun is also hitting the trees in the background!

Here's the mostly Average Saturn

Jupiter had some slightly better conditions and I did 4x DeRotate in WinJUPOS.  I processed with and without the sky background colors.

Thanks for reading!

Blog of pollen

 I live in Central North Carolina on the east coast of the USA at 35°N latitude.  In my portion of this world there's lots of trees!  LOTS of 🌳🌲🌲them!  Every year since I got my scope in 2006 and I've noticed it, but it wasn't until 2009-2014 (I can't find the original photo seen below) that I noticed how much collects on the tube and optics for even a few hours long session.  It's kept me indoor for 6+ weeks around this time of year.

Basically one year around the time I got my CGE in the background, I had the Orange C8 out for a while and it wasn't until the next day did I realize it was ALL over the tube and sadly the corrector plate as well!!!!  I was horrified and I'm so gun shy about it happening again!

Here's a good discussion about this topic on my FB from years later - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208538664082341&set=pb.1180477400.-2207520000..&type=3 

Also I had a bit of fun this year!

 

via - https://www.instagram.com/p/CNTFMOHJN4i/

 

So how to beat it?  I keep track of forecasts and keep my own tables. 

 Here's some other resources I found interesting and useful:

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article250526719.html

When is pollen the worst?

 

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality measures pollen at the Nature Research Center in Downtown Raleigh. Typically, the highest counts are recorded between the last week of March and the second week of April, Zaynab Nasif, a DEQ spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

 

Predictions

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/raleigh/27601/allergies-weather/329823?name=tree-pollen

3-5 showing in VISIBLY worst portions!

https://www.pollen.com/forecast/current/pollen/27604

 

 

I've also been keeping a chart that's mostly ambiguous but some form of a guide to go back out when it's safe again!

 

Year	Light Start	Heavy Start	Heavy End	Light End
2021	20210303	20210325
2020	20200302	20200309-16
2019	20190316	20190330
2018	20180329			20190519

Hope you have clear and steady skies!

Mike