How's this for a newbie blunder ???

[DarkKnight]

Hi all,

Thought I'd share my latest 'Seniors Moment' with you.

I've recently discovered that the Orion Nebula is visible from my yard for the next week or so, and as that was the target I'd picked for my first light with the modded EQ6 I was rather chuffed. My yard is pretty treed-in but I have a clear window from the SW to NNW. Beauty, thought I'd have to travel.

I've fitted the SynScan upgrade kit to the mount and it's now NEQ6 Pro spec, so I thought I'd better give it all a trial run. Set it up in the lounge room, did a rough polar alignment, as in 'South is thataway' and turned it on.

Went through the initialisation process and decided to do a trial 2 star alignment. Picked the first star and hit 'Enter' and away she went, with a little whine and no grinding of gears, so I must have got the motors fitted right. YeeHaaaa !!!! With a break in the clouds, I'll be outside tonight.

However something didn't look right with where the camera was pointing. I looked at the mount and realised that it was about 45° off where it should have been. I tried about 6 more alignments using different stars and all gave the same result. My camera was pointing South to that blumming big tree in my yard.

I looked at the set-up, looked some more, went and had another look at Stellarium, poured a glass of Chardonnay, had a think, had another look, and another glass of Chardonnay, and the penny dropped.

I had diligently initialised the mount with all the correct data, including the CURRENT TIME, 15.30, however had Stellarium set to 21.30, about 6 hours ahead. Set Stellarium back to the current time and the camera was pointing pretty damn close to where it should be.

Derr, what a dumb mistake to make.

Only a couple of hours of frustration, and I bet I won't make that mistake again.

I'd like to say that skill, intellect, and experience prevailed here, however I believe that the thanks go to McGuiggans Black Label Chardonnay, from one of the Hunter Valleys finest vineyards, for helping me get back on track. 

[jambouk]

That's not so bad, and easy to make. Others have made much dafter, and sometimes very expensive mistakes... You'll make others so rest on your laurels just yet!

James

[wxsatuser]

We await the next one.

[DarkKnight]

Thanks guys.

I'm sure there will be many more as I'm still 90 mins away from mounting the camera.

[Waldemar]

"I'd like to say that skill, intellect, and experience prevailed here, however I believe that the thanks go to McGuiggans Black Label Chardonnay, from one of the Hunter Valleys finest vineyards, for helping me get back on track.  "

Is there any chance, you send me some boxes, to make up for past mistakes and blunders?? 

 

Waldemar

[Peter Drew]

If I remember, I must get in a bottle of that!  

[Grotemobile]

At least U got it all working in the end.

Number of times I have had problems,

& given up,  because I could not figure

out what was wrong. My CG-5 mount ,

gave me nightmares, before I got it working

properly. I use cans of Carling, to sort mine out.

 

Steve.

 

Edited February 28, 2016 by Grotemobile

[DaveS]

Yep, been there, done that in many of its guises, and expect many more D'oh senior moments...

[DarkKnight]

On 2/29/2016 at 00:56, DaveS said:

Yep, been there, done that in many of its guises, and expect many more D'oh senior moments...

Didn't take long.   

Last night I was so worried about getting everything right with the laptop, I forgot to take the lens cover off. 

[Chris Murray]

Hi Kev, i am better now but used to get that a lot, any time i have problems like that now its the first thing i look at, now its pretty easy, cheers

chris 

[Roy Fairlie]

Now that sounds like a bad case of Chardonnay deficiency!

[WobblySkipper]

As a newbie myself, I am expecting to make a lot of mistakes, but hopefully I can avoid this one now that I have read about it - thanks. 

It is said that making mistakes is all about the learning process.....but that doesn't really help!

[Waldemar]

9 hours ago, DarkKnight said:

Didn't take long.   

Last night I was so worried about getting everything right with the laptop, I forgot to take the lens cover off. 

Whoahahahaha.... join the club, you are a real one!!

[ejp1684]

Took some darks the other evening. Had a coffee. Came back and spent the next twenty minutes wondering why I couldn't see anything on SharpCap. Focused in and out. Left the cover on the scope, hadn't I.

But then I am a senior citizen, so I guess I'm allowed one mistake every now and then.

Eric.

[SonnyE]

As long as you can remember to laugh with yourself.....

Welcome to the Human Race.

Here we have this thing call Daylight Savings time. Spring, ahead 1 hour. Fall, back an hour.

So when going through alignment, I kept choosing daylight savings time. And I was consistently off target.

Finally it dawned on me it is regular time here....

Of course, that changes next Sunday, at 2 AM. (02:00 Hrs)

I hope it doesn't take me until Fall to remember the time this time. You can bet I'll be watching to see what the mount offers during alignment next Sunday evening. If it comes up offering daylight savings time automatically, well, it'll be smarter than me, I guess. LOL!

 

PS: Wait until you are doing imaging, and can't understand why everything looks so odd. Then you realize the Bahtinov Mask is still on the telescope.

Oh yeah, there are a LOT of laughs around my telescope.

Edited March 8, 2016 by SonnyE
PS:

[Astro Imp]

I really enjoy these threads, they always make me smile and say a lot about the members that they are willing to admit their mistakes.

Like many I have to admit to leaving the lens cap on and wondering why the stars had disappeared. BTW I am guilty of this more than once.

[roblegion]

Having been off work for a good while, with a BAAAAD back, I actually got a chance to set up few days ago.

Mount set up, level           Check

Scope out nice and early to cool down        Check

Polar Aligned           Check

Dew Strips on and working       Check

Retire to the conservatory, PHD no image, Sharpcap no image. Damn cheap active USB leads that's what it is, both cameras working fine last time.

Back outside in the cold to check connections, after about an hour I gave up, just wasn't getting anywhere apart from cold, tired and teasy.

Next day, set everything up indoors, same problem. (now really teasy).

Had forgotten to migrate camera drivers to new laptop.

Note to self, check it first before setting up in the bloomin' cold.

[SonnyE]

Another of my more common blunders is I leave my flip mirror imaging box in eyepiece mode.

Then blankly stare at my first image which stares back at me blank, because the blanket-blank gate is in the wrong position.

Sometimes I have to do it twice before I get it.

Edited March 8, 2016 by SonnyE

[DarkKnight]

Thanks everyone for sharing your whoopsies.  

I can also claim to be in the 'Seniors Moment' age bracket, although I figure that experience should have taught me better.

I guess when you've finished shaking your head, if you can have a laugh at yourself, and promise not to do it again, it has been a useful (?) exercise.

[Waldemar]

I am really happy to read there are a lot of humans amongst us!!!

I notice, also being a senior, that experience is sometimes in my way... A fresh look on things can makes things clearer.
I am referring to memory loss here...