Clear and Above Freezing

I have had a couple occasions when I have started the clock drive on Big Bertha and instead of tracking correctly, it seemed to be going off at 90 degrees.  The answer is that my driveway is oddly shaped to drain water away so I have to position Big Bertha to be level.  This explains the 90 degree misdirection.   Tracking speed is also not quite right.  The voltage at the motor needs to be 5.11 volts.  I will check and adjust rheostat in the morning.   Also, the altitude bearings need waxing.  Somewhere,  I have some paraffin candles that I use for this.  It gets the motion smoother and better controlled. 

Nonetheless,  a nice evening.   I bought a 2" Moon filter for my 2" OD eyepieces.   Not for the Moon, but Venus.   It is so bright that you cannot easily make out the crescent right now.  M42 was nice.  Jupiter at 222x was crisp and lots of cloud band contrast.