September 8, 2017
People: Damian, Sam, Ken
So many problems. Probably the easiest to fix is that the lens of the telescope is kinda dusty. One of the alternative eyepieces has some schmutz on it, I'm gonna make sure I know how to properly clean that before I try anything. Alignment failed in exactly the same way it did every time last year, with the exciting new problems of the gears not sounding right and the telescope no longer returning to the correct park position.
I'm going to look at options for getting somebody up here that's qualified to really fix this thing. Ken 'knows a guy', and it might be worth looking for him. In the meantime, I'm going to do some research into how much a repair guy will cost. Probably a lot. I'm gonna look into asking the college for money (town meeting? maybe a community fundraiser?).
Good things: The dome seems okay, if a little spider-ey. Damian suggested painting the inside of the dome with constellations (as viewed when pointing north). I like this idea a lot, but it wouldn't be accurate year-round. (Maybe do it in inverted colors, so we don't have to paint the whole inside of the dome black? Keep thinking about that) Also, we were able to manually point at Saturn, which Damian had never seen before, so that's pretty cool.
Even if the telescope is broken, I think it would still be cool to do some sort of community events. We can use the binoculars, I can drive back to Maine to get my telescope, and we can also use Sara's. The interest is there, and it would be a shame to deprive people. (It would also help to drudge up some support if we do a fundraiser thing)
