From: '''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk   
      
   On 26/11/2025 21:56, Don Y wrote:   
    > On 11/26/2025 2:40 AM, Martin Brown wrote:   
      
    > Stuff left outdoors, here, takes a real beating.  We have over 300   
   "sunny"   
    > days, annually (and perhaps only a dozen truly "overcast" days; the rest   
    > being a mixture).  We have ~60 days above 100F -- though have had as   
    > any as 99 in the years I've been here.   
   Here it is rain and high humidity that kill them by corrosion.   
    >> Edwards Optics might have something suitable but they are a bit pricey.   
    >   
    > "Edwards" or "Edmunds"?  The latter have a design center, here, in town.   
   Edmund. My typo or spell checker altered it for me.   
    > We have REALLY dark skies, here.  It is possible to watch meteor showers,   
    > satellite passages, etc. with the naked eye.  (We do so for most of the   
    > bigger meteor showers)  The biggest offender is light leaking from the   
    > windows in your own home!   
   I remember observing at Zion canyon once and a young deer stumbled into   
   me in the dark. The mountain outline was still visibly darker than the   
   sky but the ribbon of the milkyway was incredible. I live in a darker   
   rural part of the UK where it is visible but never like that.   
      
   We do see meteor showers clearly at least when the clouds permit...   
    > As it is such an arid climate, cloud cover is relatively rare (though we   
    > got screwed last week as we had one of our infrequent storms coincident   
    > with the Leonids).  The huge expanses of "empty" (desert) land also   
    > help maintain that level of darkness.   
   There is a reason why optical observatories like high desert locations.   
    > My intent is just to integrate "light" for some period at some   
   direction at   
    > some time.  And, correlate this with other observations "this date, last   
    > year",   
    > "yesterday", etc. to get a feel for what the skies look like.   
   One thing that may be useful to know is that yesterday 4 minutes later   
   than clock time now the sky should look identical to today (AOTBE).   
   Strictly 3m 56s. Sidereal day is 3m 56s shorter than mean solar time.   
    > Much like a regular Joe would do:  "It's cloudy tonight.  No need to   
    > protect   
    > the cold sensitive plants as it likely won't get very cold."  His   
   knowledge   
    > of the past/future isn't anywhere near as specific as that of a machine   
    > -- yet,   
    > serves him well (enough).   
   For that you probably want windspeed and a simple skyward and ground   
   facing thermocouple pair. Rapid cooling of the skyward one means real   
   risk of frost.   
      
   --   
   Martin Brown   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)