Ad Astra Observatory

It has been preternaturally clear in Northern California this winter.

It was cloudy when we returned from Christmas (rained for most of the drive). It stayed cloudy until the Saturday morning when I shipped the NJP to Texas. The skies then cleared that afternoon, and it’s been crisp-to-warm and sunny every day, and clear and cold every night for weeks.

Then I started the Trixie rebuild. Everything stayed clear.

When I finished the scope, literally between the time that I bolted the truss together and the time I finished collimating, the clouds rolled in. I had to wait for them to clear a little before doing Trixie 2011’s first light.

And then it rained last night, and is cloudy this morning.

The “New Telescope Curse”. Believe it.