From: jrwalliker@gmail.com   
      
   On 27/11/2025 16:21, Martin Brown wrote:   
   > 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   
      
   Preferably coated with something having a high emissivity in the far   
   infra-red.  A small piece of Kapton tape folded over each junction   
   would be fine for initial testing.   
   John   
      
   . Rapid cooling of the skyward one means real   
   > risk of frost.   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)