Always check everything, twice before leaving. And then check everything again... Observing report (kind of).

[ONIKKINEN]

It looked like i was blessed with stable skies, clouds in the far south but should not interfere with Jupiter, Saturn and the lovely orange full Moon. Of course i packed everything i should need in to my car and set off for an observing location better than the 16, something SQM skies i live under. Everything is FINE.

I arrive on site, see that the skies are favourable and the seeing would appear to be average or better than average, judging from how much the stars appear to twinkle. Jupiter is obscenely bright and Saturn is clearly a naked eye object, which is a nice turn of events after the Finnish summer. First things first, i plug in my power supply to my OOUK VX8 mirorr fan. Plugging the fan in as soon as i arrive on site is usually good enough to equalize the mirror to ambient temperatures. I polar align with a smartphone app to a reasonable degree. I dont plan on doing long exposure ( not that i could, with the July skies) so i am fine with a "good enough" type of very fast polarscope alignment. I spent more time than usually for balancing my OTA as i found previously that fighting backlash is really annoying, and if i have to spend 5 more minutes to make it even a bit easier, i will.

After this i aligned my finder red-dot with my optical train using a 19mm eyepiece and a street light a bit of a distance away, all good for now.

Then obviously its time to plug all the cables and power on the mount to start my night! Of course it would be easier to do if i had packed everything i needed. I had not.

Only then i found out that i packed everything except the synscan hand controller...

 

So, the observing report for today is: Moon looked nice and orange, Jupiter and Saturn looked like stars.

[Nik271]

I have been tempted by  the GoTO mounts but what always puts me off is that you can't operate them manually for precisely such eventualities or when you want a quick visual session and can't be bothered with the electronics. I have EQ5 and I wish to get something a bit sturdier and professional in the future, but they all seem to be motor driven only. 

[ONIKKINEN]

7 hours ago, Nik271 said:

I have been tempted by  the GoTO mounts but what always puts me off is that you can't operate them manually for precisely such eventualities or when you want a quick visual session and can't be bothered with the electronics. I have EQ5 and I wish to get something a bit sturdier and professional in the future, but they all seem to be motor driven only. 

the EQM35 PRO can be used manually, if you have slow motion control knobs. The opposite to the motor side of the worms are free and the motors spin freely but with a bit of gearbox resistance if they are unpowered.

 

I use manual knobs when adjusting backlash, much easier when you feel it. Of course i left them at home though.

[Gfamily]

Did that at a star party once, but fortunately only for the second scope.

I can recommend the SynScan WiFi dongle, as you can run that from a phone, or a tablet if you've forgotten your phone, and if you've forgotten both you could probably borrow one (people are more likely to have a spare phone than a spare SynScan handset ! ).

[Jiggy 67]

29 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

Did that at a star party once, but fortunately only for the second scope.

I can recommend the SynScan WiFi dongle, as you can run that from a phone, or a tablet if you've forgotten your phone, and if you've forgotten both you could probably borrow one (people are more likely to have a spare phone than a spare SynScan handset ! ).

If you’ve forgotten your handset, tablet…..and phone, it maybe time to see a doctor 😂🤣

[powerlord]

Haha. That was like me 2 weeks ago.. Motorhome away for 2 nights to do some AP. everything Inc kitchen sink packed, tripods. Filters, psus, asiair, dslr. Got there and realised I'd forgot the telescope.

[Chefgage]

On 25/07/2021 at 17:23, powerlord said:

Haha. That was like me 2 weeks ago.. Motorhome away for 2 nights to do some AP. everything Inc kitchen sink packed, tripods. Filters, psus, asiair, dslr. Got there and realised I'd forgot the telescope.

I am off on a long journey to the other end of the country to some nice dark skies. I plan on making a list of everything and ticking it off as I put it in the van. If something is to be forgotten it would bound to be something like you said, the scope!

 

[rl]

In 1986 I was working in Oman, when Halley's comet was making its last appearance. Beautiful clear night, took a bunch of friends 25 miles into the desert at 3am to view the much heralded apparition with my 60mm refractor. Got to site, only to find I'd left the diagonal behind...

It was some time before I was allowed to live that one down!