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(meteorobs) Re: Observing Alignment Cords

In a message dated 98-03-31 06:48:13 EST, you write:

Marco<< 
 This is a very good piece of advice! I never have used a device like this 
 myself, except for a long pencil on occasion, but I think shower 
 associations when not plotting the meteors can seriously benefit from 
 this technique. I know some of our Dutch members (have) use(d) a ruler 
 for a similar purpose. Anyhow, if you do use a dark cord, make sure you 
 extend it with a light collored 'something' (e.g. a yellow bead on one 
 end): the reason for this is, that.... it makes it easier to relocate 
 your piece of equipment in the dark in case you accidently drop it!<<

On occasions I will drop my alignment cord, pencil, ruler, flashlight, corn
nuts and cookies....But I seldom have difficulty in finding them again. But if
you repeatedly have this problem, perhaps the use of a small dab of glow in
the dark paint will suffice? I put a small dot of this paint on my observatory
light switch. If you shine a light on it, it will glow somewhat intensely.
After about a half hour, the glow will be barely perceivable if you don't
illuminate it again and your eyes are dark adapted. 

 
 Marco>>-My pencil is painted yellow.
 -Both pencil and ruler are attached to a 10" cord, that in turn are 
 attached to clamps that are clipped to the edge of my board ( I use a 
 plastic board to which I fit my observation sheet and plotting charts). 
 The clamps double-function by holding the plotting chart in place.<<

Usually the pencils I use are white....compliments of the San Miguel Fire
Dept's Prevention Bureau. In the dark no one notices that you are using
children's pencils with Dalmatians stenciled on them. As for my clipboard....I
cut a piece of plywood down to about the size of two standard clipboards side
by side. I took the clips from two standard clipboards and mounted them onto
my board. On the left side I have one copy of all the BRNO charts sequenced
with the one's I most likely will be using during the night on top. I even
keep a copy of the charts I most likely won't be using. I don't know how many
times in the past that I ended up scrambling for a chart that I didn't think I
needed. On the clipboard's right side I have several pages of what I call
"Field Sheets". These are sheets that I custom made for myself to record the
meteor data, camera data etc while observing. Later when I do my reports I
will "clean them up" and transcribe everything to the appropriate forms.  I
also added a clear sheet of thick pliable plastic to cover the entire
clipboard front. This keeps my paper dry from dew or frost. While observing I
keep the clipboard resting across my lap.

 Marco>>I think George's dark 'allignment cord' micht benefit in this sense
too 
 from having e.g. a bright colored tip, like a yellow bead attached or 
 something like that. You 
 can hold that in your handpalm while using the cord, so that it doesn't 
 interfere. It would also provide you a grip on the ends of the cord.<<

Beads, knotted ends will do I'm sure...but I have loops tied on each end big
enough to slip my thumbs thru. I keep my thumbs in the loops while waiting for
a meteor. I usually don't notice they are there since I have about 2 feet to
move my arms around without interfering with each other. Just make sure the
cord isn't too short. If you reached up to scratch your nose with one hand,
the other will unexpectedly follow to give you a punch in the nose. I call
this the idiot punch.

 George Zay
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