On 27.12.04 at 22:00, owing to providential clearings but also to the help of H. Ruland and S. Boxdörfer, my T450 became operational in its 'Albert II' i.e. goto version. Tracking is already acceptable; accuracy will be perfected in the days to come. Immediately before, I observed Comet Machholz, M31 and M45 with O. Wijthoff, and, before closing the dome, Saturn's satellites and the full Moon, definitely painful to the eye!

Jean-Luc Dighaye

The next step in the installation of the LAC Albert was the coming of the telescope, now provided with motors and a controller, into the clamshell dome. For safety reasons, there are a lock and an alarm (and cats, see image #1) at the entrance door. The dome, when empty (except yours truly, image #2) looks quite huge, but the Albert scope hardly fits in (image #3 with Hugo Ruland and Didier Keus). The day after the Joyeuse Entrée, the primary mirror was cleaned (image #4) and observations could begin (image #5).

Jean-Luc Dighaye