Re: Clear Sky Detector Sees Clouds

[Tom Droege <tdroege2@earthlink.net>]

Gary,

10 seconds +/- a factor of 10.  ;^)  Much faster than might be expected for 
a thermal device.  This is because the thermal capacity that matters is 
just the top plate of the TEC.  The thermal resistance to "ground" is the 
thermal resistance of the junctions which is raleatively low.  So you get a 
low RC = relatively short time constant for such things.

Tom Droege

At 10:29 AM 2/8/03 -0700, you wrote:
>Tom, what is your sense of the kind of response time the detector has?
>
>
>Gary Billings
>
>
>
>   Quoting Tom Droege <tdroege2@earthlink.net>:
>
> > As threatened, I have built a Clear Sky Detector and attached it to the
> > Mark IV.  This detector consists of a TEC attached to a plate which is "C"
> > clamped to the frame of the telescope.  The TEC sits at the bottom of a