Oh dear - ooopsie

[iapa]

Oh dear?????? 

Oh <insert series of expletives here>

 

 

[Alan White]

I can feel more than a few expletives being used.
Was that blown over in the wind?
Hope not too much damage to the scopes or mount.

 

[wimvb]

Oh no, a stargazers worst nightmare. I hope the gear survived this. It being on grass may have been somewhat of a blessing, hopefully.

[cloudsweeper]

A prime case for collimation?  But what a great location.........is that a castle in the background?

Hope there's no real damage!

Doug.

[spaceboy]

I'd have been WTF.... OMG..... FFS

 

Hope there isn't too much damage. I'm sure we all imagine your heart in your throat pain.

[ian_bird]

Is that a CGEM DX Mount? I have one - I would have laid good money on it being impossible to blow over! They weigh a ton!

You have my commiserations.

[iapa]

17 minutes ago, spaceboy said:

I'd have been WTF.... OMG..... FFS

 

Hope there isn't too much damage. I'm sure we all imagine your heart in your throat pain.

It wasn't the SCT ? Decided not to bring that. With the visibility when it was clouded it would have managed som good stuff I expect - the rig I had did ok

[Ruud]

It reclined for a short nap. It will be up and about in no time.

 

[carastro]

Was that a toilet tent around it?

Must have been a bit of a shock, how your kit survived OK.

Carole 

 

[ChrisLX200]

Blame that tripod - the PCD of the tripod feet is too small, it should be (at least) as wide as it is tall.  (In other words... the feet are not far enough apart for its height)

ChrisH

[Highburymark]

I've read a lot of stories about scope disasters and many have turned out to be less of a disaster than first thought - hope for your sake this is another one

[ollypenrice]

2 hours ago, ChrisLX200 said:

Blame that tripod - the PCD of the tripod feet is too small, it should be (at least) as wide as it is tall.  (In other words... the feet are not far enough apart for its height)

ChrisH

I have the same problem!

Olly

[iapa]

4 hours ago, ian_bird said:

Is that a CGEM DX Mount? I have one - I would have laid good money on it being impossible to blow over! They weigh a ton!

You have my commiserations.

Yup - that is the CGEM-DX, I also thought is would be hard to shift: I've tried moving it fully loaded, the hernia is now sorted ????

Colimation?, I was thinking before that happened that I should collimate - suppose this has accelerated the time line.

it not a castle, only 100-150 feet away - nice renovation prospects.

Funny you should say that - I was thinking it needed done anyway 

TBH not sure which is the more interesting single image; the one above or this ??

Was it a toilet tent?, yes with emphasis on past tense by the time I'd taken a leatherman to it!!!!

 

I 

 

[iapa]

2 hours ago, ChrisLX200 said:

Blame that tripod - the PCD of the tripod feet is too small, it should be (at least) as wide as it is tall.  (In other words... the feet are not far enough apart for its height)

ChrisH

Mm

i'd've though the CGEM Pro mount would be up to the mark...

live and learn 

shame its usually the hard way ????????

[Marky1973]

Worst polar alignment ever....

Seriously though, hope the kit is okay.

[iapa]

58 minutes ago, Marky1973 said:

Worst polar alignment ever....

Seriously though, hope the kit is okay.

You think?

damned thing was still pointing to the north

I don't even have that excuse for poor tracking ??

[SonnyE]

Uh, you are supposed to assemble it upright.

It's really hard to align when laying down.

Although using the tent as a tarp is a good idea. Helps keep grass off the lens.

Live and learn...

[Linda]

Oh dear, oh dear. I hope soo much for you that you are relatively lucky and that collimating the scope is your biggest problem.

This is in fact the second time I have seen such a picture and the first time it was an expensive SCT with a broken Schmidt plate. That was also standing inside a tent while the owner was somewhere else.

We astronomers must obviously be very careful in windy weather. Yes, I realize that wind can suddenly appear very unexpectedly. I can imagine that a high and narrow toilet tent can catch a lot of wind. And this type of tent might not have the best guy ropes. We should think of using extra aids. Maybe laying sandsacks over the tripod legs. I was for a moment thinking about using guy on the tripod legs, which should be very effective in wind. But that is a falling over disaster in the dark. Still, if you leave your scope alone during the night for imaging, then maybe attaching guy ropes to the tripod legs could be the last thing you do before leaving it. Or you could sewing some more, long guy ropes to your tent.

I often set my scope outside to cool. If it is very windy, I dismantle it from the mount, just because I am a bit sceptic of the mount in hard wind, standing beside a big window.

 

[garryblueboy]

Worse case of Southern Hemisphere accidentally entered in the hand set I've seen all aside hope all is well with your kit 

[iapa]

still scared to put it all back together

[iapa]

On 13/10/2016 at 19:27, ChrisLX200 said:

Blame that tripod - the PCD of the tripod feet is too small, it should be (at least) as wide as it is tall.  (In other words... the feet are not far enough apart for its height)

ChrisH

PCD - new term for me in this field, vague memory of over a qtr centruy ago of something to do with wheels, but not sur tho wit applies?

Have you time to do a basic explanatory maths lesson?

[garryblueboy]

I'm sure it be ok it's supprising how robust some equipment is it's usually things like focusers and corecter plates that get it it most but ground looked fairly soft that's a bonus .

[ChrisLX200]

10 minutes ago, iapa said:

PCD - new term for me in this field, vague memory of over a qtr centruy ago of something to do with wheels, but not sur tho wit applies?

Have you time to do a basic explanatory maths lesson?

Pitch Circle Diameter - describes the diameter of a circle that would enclose the extended tripod feet. (possibly not really applicable as it generally applies to gearwheels or circles of holes, but WTH )

ChrisH

[iapa]

A first look at the OTA and the mirror doe snot appear dragged - plus point. Bit of a dent where a piece of kit got embedded in to

Collimation may be necessary - was planning to do that anyway. So, time to read up on that despite the fact I've been reading and watching everything I can about to for the past 2 yrs!!!

Starsense bracket is in several pieces  

Just building up the courage to connect and power no the mount itself.....

Glad wasn't the SCT - doubt it would have survived as well.

[iapa]

4 minutes ago, ChrisLX200 said:

Pitch Circle Diameter - describes the diameter of a circle that would enclose the extended tripod feet. (possibly not really applicable as it generally applies to gearwheels or circles of holes, but WTH )

ChrisH

bleewagh - I knew the tmuch .... memory not as bad as I thought to would be.

So - if I take that simple 2d idea and translate to 3d......

how to calculate the radius us a sphere to encompass a caltrop.....