Botched batteries break binary bewinderment

[2Karl]

So not a great night here. Lots of cloud. Anyway, I set to and get my NexStar aligned. Batteries are pretty dead so I opened a new pack and put them in, started the alignment process again. Slew speed didn't really seem much better. Well, I thought, I DID get the batteries from Aldi...

Anyway, I decide that as the clouds are not my friends, tonight's goal should be some double stars. First up is Polaris (because how can you not?) Despite the cloud, I could easily resolve Polaris B. As always, a nice sight. Next I decided to have a look through the NexStar's "named star" lists and noticed "Arrakis". Well, being a HUGE fan of Dune, I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to see the most important place in the known universe. I hit the enter key and waited.

I think I need to adjust the slew limits on my tripod because the tube was very close to the leg - I couldn't tell if it was touching or not. Anyway, the scope ended up pointing at... nothing much. Clouds? Or just not well aligned? I DID manage to find a faint double star. Whether this was the aforementioned Arrakis (also known as Mu Draconis).... well I'll have to get out tomorrow and verify.

Next up, Mizar, rapidly becoming one of my favourite stars to view. I just love the fact that resolving Mizar and Alcor with the naked eye is actually pretty easy, but then when you look through the scope and realise that there's TWO stars in Mizar... It's a great feeling.

I figured at this point that double stars aren't the only doubles and decided to try and find the double cluster. Now, halfway through the slew there was a loud POP and a horrible bubbling sound coming from my mount! I decided that it was best to shut it off and have a look. When I opened the case, one of my aldi batteries had exploded. I was about to curse the cheap goods when I realised that I'd actually inserted it backwards. Despite what John Pertwee would have you believe, inverting the polarity of the neutron flow doesn't fix all time-travel related sci-fi problems, it just makes your equipment malfunction and then the batteries to explode. After a bit of careful cleaning I was able to replace with fresh batteries and everything's working fine again.

Note to self (and anyone else as stupid as me): don't replace your batteries in the dark!

[Littleguy80]

Despite some challenges it sounds like a nice session. Mizar was my first double. It’s one of my go to targets when showing friends and family the scope. There’s something about “See that star, it’s actually two stars...” that really captures people’s imagination. 

[Demonperformer]

I'm glad it didn't do any damage to the internal electronics. Still, at least you have proved that batteries don't work properly backwards.

[rockystar]

It's not a proper experiment until you've repeated the results though

Nice report,  I love Mizar/Alcor. 

 

[2Karl]

5 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

I'm glad it didn't do any damage to the internal electronics. Still, at least you have proved that batteries don't work properly backwards.

FOR SCIENCE!

[2Karl]

After carefully cleaning the battery cartridges and inserting fresh batteries everything's motoring along nicely. Just the sound of the azimuth slewing is much nicer, like you can hear it's working properly. 

[Ouroboros]

The dilithium batteries canna take it, Captain.