Utter Disaster

[Stub Mandrel]

The car was all loaded up from the night before. Despite the full moon I WAS going to get a night's imaging.

Found a slightly different part of my site, it's a nature reserve with public access so no risk of going where I shouldn't yet I shouldn't be disturbed.

Hauled everything about 50-60 meters from the car and set up in twightlight, my eyes adapting as fast as it got 'dark'. In fact once the moon was above the trees I could read the writing on eyepieces etc.

Decide to image near Ursa Major, because I can't see that part of the sky from home. Discovered taht cooler now on wrong side of camera so clash with mount motor, decide to go back to scope on west.

Had to spot stars through gaps in the cloud, so I aligned and focused on Vega which seemed a bit low down. Couldn't get it pin sharp, but the bahtinov mask gave an excellent image.

Cloud parted and got a bit darker, so I realised Vega was really Jupiter... so repeat the exercise on Deneb.

Hmm some problems with DEC, after all my adjustments the backlash is gone but the nose heavy cooled camera seems to mean the stepper is stalling. No, it's slipping out of engagement, I didn't screw the mounting plate on tight enough. Fiddle and get it almost reliable.

Takes three tries to find the Pelican and NAN. Subs not showing much Ha (doing RGB) probably swamped by moonlight.

I'll try Heart and Soul.

Can't risk a big slew, realign on Navi. Darn,, heart and soul will be behind a big tree for nearly an hour.

I'll try Iris nebula. Big DEC slip. Relaign on a star in Cepheus. Several tries, no sign of any nebulas...

Stuff this, Andromeda is up, align on Mirach, almost gets to M31 on second try, align with it manually.

OK lets get guiding going. First lets see if we can get DEC motor set right.

Oh poo... give up on guiding after half an hour when realise problems are because fixing knob keeps coming loose, can't guide with a camera that moves round like a Dalek's eyestalk.

Still, despite all the faff, still PA seems to be good, just take manual subs of Andromeda. Switch on cooling. Darn, connector has gone intermittent. Fiddle with it, loose pin just needs pushing back into connector.

Take a few subs, realise 5 minutes won't work with guide camera switched off.

Change to 30- second subs.

Now 50% cloud. Andromeda disappears but clear sky on way. Moon visible in gaps.

Put computer and bahtinov masks in car.

Get other tripod and C90 out, set up to try some visual.

Stock eyepiece and moon fills view. As it snaps into focus (hmm focus knob not super smooth) it's almost all worthwhile. Then cloud swings in... Play for a while, can't get 4mm ep to focus (300x probably way too extreme?) Hard to track manually.

Swap to 10mm and get some really great views before cloud takes over. Discover how hard it is to keep eye in right place.

Clear to north. Let's see if I can find M101. There's Mizar and Alcor. Wow! Mizar itself is a double star!

No chance of finding M101, tripoid seems to have a mind of its own.

OK let's try double double. Ages trying to point scope right way. Confused. Ah! North leg is pointing south... no wonder. Use stock 32mm ep.

Find double double, looks good,, switch to shorter EP... but cloud rolls in.

Check on camera. Every sub frosted up. Heater not working well enough.

No point trying uncooled - sensor will not unfreeze and dry out.

Put camera away and stick it and 130P-DS in car.

Swap C90 onto EQ3.

OK no cloud low down, lets try Jupiter. Surely it should have moved further than that. Hmm, looks tiny. Switch eps, try 10mm, hmm still tiny, try 4mm - can't get focus (Just worked out this 'Jupiter' was Arcturus...)

Can't focus anything now, must be way out, go to moon, find focus.

Let's try Saturn. Still a tiny dot, ah! pointing at nearby star. Try again cool! Tiny though. Switch to 10mm, good view of rings but no cassini division, it is very low though - less than five degrees. Try 4mm and it just becomes a fuzzball.

Switch back to 10mm, fiddle with focus.

Hear loud chomping and breathing sounds.

Oh dear, about 10 feet away is a large animal. Looks very bullish, but a bit small. Thinks, if its on it's own it may be a bull... As it looks at me and I look at all my stuff I wonder if I can fend off a bull with a tripod.

Spot a dark shape about 100 meters away. Ah, two of them, hopefully a pair of bullocks, not aggressive but inquisitive. This one is very inquisitive, now only about six feet away. Decide to risk walking partly behind it (it's more interested in tripod) use maglite to confirm it is a bullock, and probably only 3/4 grown too. Still it is very interested in astronomy. Seems to be attracted by the whine of the stepper motor.

Can't carry on with this thing lurking next to me. Decide to pack up. Somehow ferry everything back to gate, last is big tripod with EPs still in tray. This isn't working, take out EPs then return for tripod. Bullock now between tripod and gate. Shoo it, and it retreats a bit.

Can't get big tripod and mount through kissing gate. Now have four bullocks watching me as I pack car. Talk continually to them as I break down tripod. Right everything in car, not sure if I picked up my green moon filter. Damn, that cost me about £4 on the bay!

Stuff this, I go back into field and walk towards lead bullock waving arms. One of his smaller friends breaks and they all start walking down hill. The rightful place of H. sapiens restored I gently encourage them to retreat down the slope then head for my setup point. Despite a search with the maglite, no sign of a jewel box with green filter, perhaps I packed it. At least I know I haven't left any big items.

Realise I am now under cloudless skies, but drive home - I could have driven without the headlights, I could actually see the road better by moonlight.

 

Well I have a lot to learn about preparation, and its clear my strategy for sensor heating/cooling isn't working.

 

 

 

[kirkster501]

Don't feel bad about it, at least you got out there and tried.  Our lack of being able to do this regularly due to our cimate means we cant get into a routine.

[Gina]

Amen to that - with knobs on!!!

[John]

12 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

....  Our lack of being able to do this regularly due to our cimate means we cant get into a routine.

Spot on, sadly

Having the 4 bullocks breathing down you neck was not going to aid your calmness and concentration though, I'm sure

I do some outreach events and have found that setting up and finding targets well before the "audience" arrive is very important. messing around with kit and trying to find a shy target with half a dozen non-astronomers looking on is almost as nerve wracking as bovine company I reckon

[Paul73]

It's nice to see that, through all of your setbacks, you maintained your sense of humour.

I'm still grinning at the thought of you with your torch, checking that the beasts were indeed Bullocks rather than anything more 'complete'!???

Better luck next time.

Paul

[MarsG76]

Ah mate, feel for ya... if it's not one thing its another.. better luck next time... 

look at the bright side, can't get much worse.... perhaps torrential rain, hurricane, or a meteorite slamming through the kit.

 

[Stu]

I do enjoy reports which show what life is really like some of the time! Well done for persevering Neil, we all have disasters every now and then! Better luck next time.

I have managed to travel to a dark site over an hour away, get setup and then find I am missing one vital cable so my expensive goto mount became a cumbersome manual EQ! Not the easiest, but not as bad as when I locked my car keys in the boot, with all my kit inside  

[RayD]

Admire your perseverance.  I've never come face to face with a Bullock, and not sure I want to!  Shame about the problems but hopefully it hasn't dampened your spirits too much.

It was a great story to read though if that's any consolation.

[carastro]

OMG what a night!  Makes you wonder why we do all this stuff.  The bullocks must have been a bit scarey, but hats off to you for determination.  

Thanks for posting made amusing reading as I have had a few "events" myself over the years.

Carole 

[Stub Mandrel]

On the positive side, I think the issue with the mount was just poor adjustment made worse by the imbalance, it's running smoothly now but I'll move the rings to allow better balance and do a test.

Also, I was impressed by the C90, I think Saturn was too low down to be a fair comparison but the moon and stars looked great at both 39x and 125x, very bright contrasty view.

I found it a bit tricky to get my eye in the right place with the enormous eye relief of the 32mm plossl, feels odd not having my eye right up to the EP. I'm sure that the correcting diagonal (its sold as a spotting scope) made observing a lot more natural for me too - I struggle with eyepieces.

[Astro Imp]

That was a great read, thanks for posting Neil.

We all have nights when the Astro gods are against us but we just need to keep things in perspective and hope for better next time.

Good luck.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Glad to hear the story didn't end with a telescope (or an astronomer) impaled on a bull's horn. A bull-in-a-china shop is famously unwelcome, but thinking about it an observatory or astro-party would be an even worse place to let one loose.

Think we all have these nights sometime when nothing goes to plan.

[MarsG76]

So, we're you really fuming at any stage? Like thoughts of a hammer to the scope angry?

[Gasman]

I think you should write a novel ?

Steve

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, MarsG76 said:

So, we're you really fuming at any stage? Like thoughts of a hammer to the scope angry?

No, I'd got to the point where I was just wondering what the point was. Almost exactly two years earlier I'd been trying to photograph perseids with a Canon 10D on an ordinary tripod with a wide angle lens, everything rally simple. Now I was looking at wires, computer, two batteries, guidescopes, goto box and thinking all I've done is make it far too complicated.

Truth is I need a decent run of clear nights so I can just sit in the garden within  a few feet of my workshop, wifi connection and a power point and just debug everything.

That's said I did wave a tripod at the ringleader bullock at one point.

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Gasman said:

I think you should write a novel

I probably should.

[rl]

Very funny!

http://www.gutenberg.us/articles/7_ps_(military_adage)

I remember driving into the Omani desert in 1986 to look a Halley's comet with a borrowed 60mm refractor...it was the only clear night in weeks and I managed to leave the diagonal behind.....

 

RL

[MarsG76]

7 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

No, I'd got to the point where I was just wondering what the point was. Almost exactly two years earlier I'd been trying to photograph perseids with a Canon 10D on an ordinary tripod with a wide angle lens, everything rally simple. Now I was looking at wires, computer, two batteries, guidescopes, goto box and thinking all I've done is make it far too complicated.

Truth is I need a decent run of clear nights so I can just sit in the garden within  a few feet of my workshop, wifi connection and a power point and just debug everything.

That's said I did wave a tripod at the ringleader bullock at one point.

Sometimes I wonder how it get so complicated too... I guess it's human nature to try and get even more out of everything... in this case AP... but than things get overly complicated and frustrating.... big part of why I'm building a permanent hut for my AP in the backyard... took too long to setup and pack away, with a observatory it should take the edge off the frustration due to seeing or clouds turning up, etc, plus on top the PA can be fine tuned to zero in on the celestial pole.

Good on you for keeping your cool...

[Paz]

Sory to hear of your misfortune but thanks for posting, this probably makes most of us feel better about the occasions where we have mishaps or less productive outings!

[RobertI]

Well, I always find that the disasters are the things that create the great stories for years to come. I could almost feel the hot breath of the bullocks  snuffling round my ankles....  

[triton1]

All I can say is?to situations like this and they will happen again but be thankful no bodily harm was involved.If the sky gods hate you hat'um back?⛈⚡️??

 

[Ruud]

A lovely story and a real adventure!