Phew, Disaster Narrowly Averted

[AdeKing]

On Saturday I had the Starwave Classic 102 f/11 set up on my GPD2 mount during the day as it was on WL solar duty all day, without a hitch I hasten to add.

After the sun disappeared behind the trees to the west I retracted the dewshield and covered everything up as I wanted an evening session observing doubles in Leo but knew that it would be a good few hours before I was outside again and whilst I wanted everything cooled, I didn't want everything dripping in dew before I'd even started.

So I came out of the house at about 21:30 and removed the cover, all good so far.

Next I slide up the dewshield and it comes away in my hand.  Its never done this before and as I wasn't expecting it I lost my grip and dropped the whole lot.  Thankfully there was a dew heater attached with the cable routed along the OTA with velcro straps so it didn't fall far though it did slam against the pillar extension that the GPD2 sits on.

I investigate a bit further and find that the objective cell has unscrewed from the tube and is still sliding up and down inside the dewshield.

All I can say is thank goodness the dew heater was attached around the objective end of the dewshield and secured to the OTA.  If this hadn't have been the case there is a good chance that the dewshield and objective would have hit the north facing foot of my Skywatcher Pillar Mount.  Murphy's law would have most likely dictated that the objective cell would have been at the end of the dewshield that came into contact with the chunky chromed adjustment bolt on the north foot accompanied by a chorus of shattering, glass, so I count myself very lucky.

Re-attaching the cell to the end of the OTA in the dark was an interesting challenge, but I eventually got everything back together without crossing threads and performed a quick star test on Capella which thankfully presented me with a series of concentric rings so no real harm done and the rest of the session went to plan, though it took a while for my heartrate to drop back to normal.

I have since checked the tightness of the objective cells on all of my other OTAs and thankfully found them nice and tight.  The f/11 hasn't had a lot of use and I've never removed the objective cell so I can only assume that it has been slightly loose since I've owned it.

Needless too say this is another check that I've added to my pre-observing checklist. 

Edited April 19, 2021 by AdeKing

[scotty38]

Good news in the end but amazing how many different things can materialise to mess things up in this hobby....

[AdeKing]

3 hours ago, scotty38 said:

Good news in the end but amazing how many different things can materialise to mess things up in this hobby....

Yes indeed.  It's something that I never thought about checking before given that I've never had cause to fiddle with the objective cell.

That has certainly changed now.

[Telescope40]

Woah Ade.  Scary times but good you caught the issue, so to speak. 
Is that AZ 100 getting close ?? Bit of itchy trigger finger. 
John 

[AdeKing]

3 hours ago, Telescope40 said:

Woah Ade.  Scary times but good you caught the issue, so to speak. 
Is that AZ 100 getting close ?? Bit of itchy trigger finger. 
John 

Hi John, yes, a very lucky escape by all accounts.

Yes, the AZ100 is getting ever closer, just want a bit more of a buffer in the astro fund before I click buy.

An order has been placed for the iOptron pier adaptor for the EQ6 so I can use it on the Uni18, but no idea on when it'll arrive. 

Still waiting for some Vortex Optics 10x50s ordered towards the end of Feb to arrive so fingers crossed it won't be too long.