I really don’t know how I managed to get a slightly out-of-focus picture with the Nikon, obviously a bad shutter / aperture combination.
Anyhow, this is where Heath Robinson paid a visit today. The picture shows my attempt to get a kind of Head-up Display. On the phone, the plan is to have Stellarium running, and held in such a position that I can glimpse at the phone to see what we are pointing at and then raise my eyes to see the sky.
Of course, it hasn’t worked. Even with a fairly solid tripod like mine, the use of the articulating arm to hold the phone over the chair throws the centre of gravity of the arrangement way off so that even with only a gentle touch, it topples.
I’ve been having a fairly extensive discussion with ChatGPT about various options, which right at the end comes up with a suggestion which, the more I think about it seems to be the most practical. I am now eager to try it out, and of course at the moment, we are having another run of cloudy nights (I’ve only been able to observe 4 out of the last 14 nights, including tonight).
Part of the problem is that I have decided that it would be quite nice to have access to a pair of binoculars as well as Stellarium. Well, I can get over that one easily – if I look at the picture, the horizontal bar that is attached to the tripod can take up to four attachments.
All I have to do is move the bar to the monopod, and that’s it. the monopod will give me support and all I have to do is lifft it when I swivel. So obvious, why didn’t I see it?
Anyhow, the first clear night, I shall be out with the monopod. Not tonight, 8/8 cover here in Gosport.
Bills Posts 