Yes, the start time is 4am Pacific / 7am Eastern

  • I’m heading to my remotely operable astronomical observatory ( lovingly called – AstroShed )
  • I have some parts to swap out to help the setup perform better (Specifics below)

NOTE: The stream is only as reliable as my AT&T Cellular internet.

  • Unlike live drive’s with the coach, I won’t have 4 high gain antennas and multiple carriers in aggregate.
  • Thus, the likelihood of lost signal is much higher.
  • Hope you stick around anyway to keep me company!

Travel Vehicle:
2017 Tesla Model X P100D
w/ Full-Self Driving
~285 mile range on a full charge

Travel Details:

Start: 4am Pacific/7am Eastern at Las Vegas, NV
Travel Time: About 11 hrs (with charge stops)
Charge Time: About 1.5 hrs required (adding a big top up at the end for future convenience)
End: 4pm to 5pm Pacific/7pm to 8pm Eastern at Rodeo, NM

Shed Update Specifics:

  • Primary Objective: Swapping my Off-Axis Guider… to an On-Axis Guider
    • Due to the design of the ONAG-XM, I’ll be able to perform continuous auto-focus, saving potentially hours of time per night
    • The ONAG also only sends near infra-red light to the guide camera
    • Since near-IR is much less impacted by atmospheric conditions, my guiding should be more precise
  • Swapping G3 Bullet cameras to G4 Bullet cameras on the outside
    • The G4 line is higher resolution and supports native object identification ( People / Vehicles )
  • Installing foam tile on the floor of the AstroShed
    • In case something (or someone) falls, this will make the landing less likely to sustain damage to said thing/person.
  • Swapping my Roof / South-Flap controllers to my shiny new PCBs
    • no real functional benefit, but it will be a “cleaner” Installing
  • Swapping a ‘too short’ HDMI cable with a longer one to prevent trip hazards

Update – 2021-04-20

Trip complete, Michael made it back home safely – if not a bit frazzled from the 1200 miles of round-trip travel.


Michael

Resident Tesla nut and polymath. Raised in eastern Kentucky, joined the US Navy at 19 to operate a Nuclear Reactor on a Fast-Attack submarine. After finishing his enlistment, Michael has continued to follow his passions in technology, astronomy, and of course, traveling the country.

MastodonLehnanne @ TurtleToot.usMichael @ TurtleToot.us