What Could Go Wrong Went Wrong

[trogre]

Not a good night at all last night, everything that could go wrong did!!

Had trouble putting up street light shield, it fell apart, got to design a new one.  Got ready to do a 2 star auto align then found I had left the light switch turned on the red dot finder. This is the standard one that comes with the celestron kit and I am beginning to go off it. Changed battery and went to turn on and turned the control that aligns finder with scope so it was now miles out.

Did a Polaris 1^st star then Dubne as 2^nd, aligement failed?? Tried again with Dubne as 1^st then Polaris as second, could not see Polaris as now cloud was covering it, took a guess, aligement failed.

Do not ask me why as it was not till later on I started to bang my head on the wall for being a plonker. I chose Dubne but alignned on Merak. I forgot my finder was out and it just happened to be pointing at Merak which I took for Dubne, I should of known.

Decided then to try the revelation 1.25 focal reducer that came with scope. I knew it is supposed to screw into scope before the diagonal but it was miles too small. The only place it would screw into was the eyepiece which I knew was wrong and could not see a thing.

Took that off and tried for the 1^st time the ES 24mm 68 ° eyepieces. Once it was in the diagonal I could not do diagonal screws up as it hit the eyepiece. Only by pulling it out about 2-3 mm could I tighten the screws.

Decided to give up and unplugged the handset and then I thought I will test 24mm on the moon but slew scope manually. The moon was right in front of me but could I get it in the eyepiece, no sir.

Finally got it in the eyepiece but could not focus it and the same with the 40mm. It was not dew but I think I put the focus so out trying to get focal reducer to work.

All in all not a good night but that is how it goes but still frustrating.

[iapa]

Is that not how things are supposed to happen?

LOL

Sorry, you had a bad night, maybe the weekend?

Let us know.

[Pig]

We have all learned the hard way and have made similar mistakes  at least you know where you went wrong so you can have another shot, as for focal reducers go I gave up on them in the end. A 1.25" diagonal can sometimes help with inward focusing if it is a 2" you are using currently using.

[Skylook123]

It happens.  I spent several years misplacing Castor and Pollux, always having large errors in GOTO or PUSHTO, depending on the scope.  And I left the Telrad on when storing a scope while across the Pacific for three years.  And showed up at a public outreach 70 miles away without a tripod.  Oh, and there was the 380 mile drive to the Grand Canyon for a week and leaving the 18" truss tubes in the garage.  And many others.  After 25 years, usually only do three or four a night nowadays.

[Marky1973]

Happens to us all! I am always leaving the RDF light on.... my best effort so far has been several hours of images and trying to figure out why I was getting trailing where I had never had it before....only took me about an hour to realise I hadn't actually started the guide camera...

[Paul73]

All of the above are why I'm really quite taken with solar observing......

Don't despair.

Paul 

[cotterless45]

You learn by mistakes, hopefully you'll feel pretty silly repeating mistakes ! Best one I had was pointing out the ISS to newbies, shortly before it flashed it's wing lights. There was also the very puzzling missing Polaris. Still half light , kept looking through the polar scope, nothing. Adjusted everything, then saw the semi transparent top polar scope cover still on !

 

Nick.

[Stu]

Very frustrating, but as said, we've all done silly things.

Locking my keys in the boot with all my Astro kit whilst camping, and on the most beautiful clear and transparent night is still the pinnacle of my muppetry career  

[todd8137]

Welcome to amatuer astronomy

Pat 

[Astro Imp]

Sorry to read of your plight, don't worry there are plenty more traps for the unwary

It seems we are one of the few communities to share our clumsiness/stupidity/forgetfulness and just plain uselessness.

Better luck next time.

[Patbloke]

I spent a whole year observing through my first scope with only removing the second little cover on the main telescope cover! It wasn't until I did a mini presentation at a small gathering when my mate said why don't you take the cover off your scope? Time stood still for ages as I thought - shall I blag and say just testing or tell the truth! As always the truth is always the best policy...

Having said that, using only that little opening didn't stop me seeing some of the wonder of the universe

 

[rockystar]

13 hours ago, Patbloke said:

I spent a whole year observing through my first scope with only removing the second little cover on the main telescope cover! It wasn't until I did a mini presentation at a small gathering when my mate said why don't you take the cover off your scope? Time stood still for ages as I thought - shall I blag and say just testing or tell the truth! As always the truth is always the best policy...

Having said that, using only that little opening didn't stop me seeing some of the wonder of the universe

 

I did exactly the same thing, felt really rather stupid when I found it - did the honourable thing though and it was the first thing i mentioned when I passed it on.