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School Boy Error

stargazerlily

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stargazerlily

stargazerlily

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Tonight went something like this ...

Clear sky ... check

No wind ... check

Time to spare ... check

Out with the tripod ... check

Align and level tripod ... check

Out with the mount and fix to tripod ... check

Begin polar alignment ... check

Switch on battery power pack to power up polar scope ... nothing

Check all connections ... nothing

Check battery pack ... no charge (ARGHHHHHH)

There is a sticky on the site to remind us to charge up the battery pack. Guess who forgot.

Totally Frustrating evening. Never mind ... at least I practiced setting up the tripod and mount.

Pete

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Steve Ward

Steve Ward

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That's why I use a mains supply for mine . . . my small powertank was dreadful in the cold and left me frustrated more than once , I just use it to power the EQ3-2 or Synguider now.

My "error for the day" was setting up for a nice full Lunar mosaic without checking his actual position first , lower than Saturn . . . :rolleyes:

That meant clambering up to the "Eagles Nest" in the dark . . . so I went to bed instead . . . :p

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JamesF

JamesF

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Yes, the problem with seeing the Moon only rarely is that you forget how quickly it "falls behind". I think it rises about 50 minutes later each day, whereas just about everything else rises nearly four minutes earlier every day.

James

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Steve Ward

Steve Ward

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He's looking pretty majestic from here , in and out of a broken cloud bank , with a very pale straw complexion .

Had a good look with the binocular and the seeings pretty ropey so I hope you catch some crisp ones . . . tempted to get the ladder out now . . . :p

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Steve Ward

Steve Ward

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Schoolboy error No. 2 today , getting up on a whim to grab a Moon shot , knew I'd be clouded out after 2 subs but still went ahead anyway . . . :rolleyes:

Two half obscured frames does not a nice result make , but there . . .

post-21219-0-26726500-1367022499_thumb.p

2 x 1/4s @ ISO 800 , not a great combination . . .

Right , back to bed wide awake now . . . :p

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JamesF

JamesF

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Shall I *cough* upload some TIFF files to dropbox for you, Steve? :D

Didn't do a whole pile better myself, to be honest. Managed 85 frames before high cloud drifted over the Moon and seemed to get stuck there. Then some faster-moving lower cloud started drifting in and whilst that seemed to be moving on, some yet lower raincloud was absolutely tearing across the sky until it reached somewhere around Taunton, where it appeared to run out of steam and cause everything else coming over from the north-west to start backing up. I gave it a good twenty minutes but nothing was happening and I could feel the occasional drip of rain, so I abandoned my plans at that point. Tomorrow morning will tell how good those 85 frames actually are. I suspect there's more cloud on them than I realise :(

James

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Steve Ward

Steve Ward

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Well done , that's way better than I could have done without waiting for the next gap in the trees in about two hours.

Going to pop the 3-2 back on the pole tomorrow ready , as he'll be even lower but I've got a good forecast.

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cyborg421

cyborg421

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It's not as bad as having a charged battery, travelling to a dark site, and then finding you've left the battery at home.

I always leave my battery out after observing to remind me to charge it next day. It is good practice to keep the battery charged, it will last much longer. Also you won't have your problem ever again.

I also have an alarm system to remind me to get it charged, my wife, "whats that ******** thing still doing in the kitchen"

Simon

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stargazerlily

stargazerlily

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That's why I use a mains supply for mine . . . my small powertank was dreadful in the cold and left me frustrated more than once

That's very interesting about the mains supply. I might invest in one.

What system do you use? Do you have any web links to suppliers etc. Thanks

Pete

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stargazerlily

stargazerlily

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An update ... following yesterdays schoolboy error, I made sure I charged up the battery pack in case tonight was clear. I left the pack plugged in all day).

Tonight was a great night for observing, however. I managed to get only an hour observing Jupiter before the pack ran down again (low power light flashing on the mount, and the voltage indicator on the battery was very low). This is all very odd because I'm sure I've had longer sessions than that in the past. Another odd thing was that when I tested the pack later in doors the needle went up to 13 volts. If that wasn't bad enough ... the battery for the skywatcher autofocus ran down as well and my blue pen, which I use to write up my notes, also ran out ... :embarassed:

Pete

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