The most frustrating thing in Astronomy ?

[carastro]

In order of annoyance,

1. Clouds and wind

2. Light pollution where I live (Bortle 8 )

3. Unable to see the South due to trees where I live (excluding many targets).

4. On the few occasions I manage to get to a darker location with better horizons and no Moon, the weather doesn't always play ball.

5. USBs  

[jjohnson3803]

I should have included trees in my list.  Anything west of about azimuth 185* is totally blocked and there are two tall trees that obstruct part of my view to the SSE.

And mosquitoes.  Always fun to observe on a warm, humid night while wearing pants, socks, long sleeves, and a hood to keep the filthy things off you.  Plus here they can carry some nasty diseases.  I've started running an electric fan at home to help keep cool and the bugs away, but there's no electric at my dark sites.  I suppose I should check into a rechargeable or battery powered one.

 

[Ags]

Eyepieces with funny focal lengths. 6.7 mm...

[JeremyS]

1. Undercuts 

2. just after I acquire a new piece of astro kit the manufacturer replaces with a newer, better model

[Alan White]

Light Pollution from Insecurity Lighting by far,
followed as per Jeremy, Undercuts.

[DaveS]

Currently my normally uber reliable ASA DDM85 is playing silly whatsits with me, and I don't have enough hair left to be pulling more of it out  

[JeremyS]

24 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Currently my normally uber reliable ASA DDM85 is playing silly whatsits with me, and I don't have enough hair left to be pulling more of it out  

My larf was at the nature of your post, not your predicament 

[DaveS]

TBH it's partly of my own making, but no less frustrating for that.

[Astro Noodles]

In the winter, get all set up, polar align etc.

Go inside to wait for it to get properly dark.

Get all togged up - gloves, hat etc.

Step outside and immediately have an overwhelming desire to answer the call of nature. Happens to me every time. 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Astro Noodles

[saac]

7 minutes ago, Astro Noodles said:

In the winter, get all set up, polar align etc.

Go inside to wait for it to get properly dark.

Get all togged up - gloves, hat etc.

Step outside and immediately have an overwhelming desire to answer the call of nature. Happens to me every time. 

Me too Noodles, I think it is an age thing !

Jim

[saac]

Summer nights - not dark enough 

Winter nights - too cold 

 

Jim 

[Astro Noodles]

Having to wait 60-90 days for my new astrograph is proving quite frustrating.

[saac]

30 minutes ago, Astro Noodles said:

Having to wait 60-90 days for my new astrograph is proving quite frustrating.

Ohh that's a nice frustration  - bittersweet. 

Jim 

[Astro Noodles]

15 minutes ago, saac said:

Ohh that's a nice frustration  - bittersweet. 

Jim 

I'll be foaming at the mouth with frustration when it finally does turn up and I have the guaranteed 3 weeks of cloud before I can use it. 😁

[saac]

1 minute ago, Astro Noodles said:

I'll be foaming at the mouth with frustration when it finally does turn up and I have the guaranteed 3 weeks of cloud before I can use it. 😁

I know the feeling. I'm waiting for some filters but I've resigned myself to not getting to play with them properly until the autumn!

Jim 

[Astro Noodles]

Just now, saac said:

I know the feeling. I'm waiting for some filters but I've resigned myself to not getting to play with them properly until the autumn!

Jim 

Autumn ?!?  I couldn't wait that long for anything. 😄

 

[Astro Noodles]

Another frustration - Not being good enough at image processing.

[Franklin]

Not being able to afford a really good scope, capable of high mag planetary, until later life when my aging eyes are full of floaters!

[cloudsweeper]

Lots of issues as already stated, but in particular, having difficulty "hopping" (without GoTo) due to lack of guide stars or little resemblance between patterns on Stellarium and what's in the EP!

(That's why I love GoTo!  😉)

Doug.

[Franklin]

Glorious sunshine all day long, not a cloud in the sky, put a scope out to cool and then grabbed a bite to eat.

You know the rest.😩

[bosun21]

Getting to a dark site and realizing that you’ve forgotten something 😱

[Ags]

Flying to La Palma and realising you forgot the USB cable for the camera.

[Ratlet]

1 minute ago, Ags said:

Flying to La Palma and realising you forgot the USB cable for the camera.

Oh no.  That's not frustrating.  That's brutal.

Edited May 14, 2022 by Ratlet

[Ratlet]

I'm going to add a couple:

1.  Either nobody in Scotland sells their astronomy stuff or nobody does astronomy.  More likely just lower population density.

2.  Spending creep.  I've gone from looking at a star tracker, to an AZ-GTI, to waiting to get an SA-GTI to now planning a gem28.  All of this is completely natural and normal and justified.

 

[Ags]

25 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Oh no.  That's not frustrating.  That's brutal.

I had an out of body experience when I set up and realized the error! I couldn't source a cable while I was there, but I had some eyepieces and it was a magical visual-only trip.