One of those nights

[bomberbaz]

Decided to have a go out to my local dark site tonight, other than the sub zero temperatures the conditions were very good.  The drive there was uneventful other than the last 5 miles behind the slowest taxi driver in the world.

So got there and it started within minutes, nothing major but a culmination of many little bits.

Lifted the hatch and reached for my bag of bits, grabbed the head torch and my diffuser fell off it onto the frozen floor, could I find it, grrrrr!

Started setting up the dob, missed off one of the key parts of this operation, namely use the level to get it reasonably so, this came back to haunt me later.

Only after setting the dob up did I realise it was doing a passable imitation of a certain building in Pisa. This in turn created havoc with alignment until I got to grips with the adjustment needed to allow for the "tilt" in the scope.

I eventually managed a decent alignment  so onto observing. I wanted to do a shootout comparison with my UHC vs OIII using my new 20mm plossl, only thing was I left the plossl at home along with a zoom I had plans for later.

Also all this additional messing around meant my first DSO's had dropped to low to be available for viewing so that also spoilt part of my plans.

Shortly after this the dob lost balance, I managed to save a wholesale disaster and it only partially fell but the mirror box partly slipped from the rocker.  No major damage but the slider strip on the rocker had a slight crimp in it, it is already nearly gone from use.

But I did have to remove the top secondary box to realign the rocker and primary mirror box. After this I put the secondary box back on, forgot to tighten the bolts up and the box nearly fell off. 

Shortly after an eyeguard extender pinged off an eyepiece and disappeared into the dark. Torch out and I found it, along with the lost diffuser from the start so one ray of light. 

Packing up I lost the cover from the focuser to cap it off, pun intended.

I don't really have anything to report in terms of viewing although I did spot  the galactic wanderer for the first time but nothing much to report about in what I saw, just something I had on my to get list. 

The best thing to report on was my new cold weather gear performed well so through all the strife at least I wasn't cold.  I have been fed up either too cold or barely able to move because of too much gear. So I bought new thermal vest/long johns, a pair of TOG 24 waterproof leggings, heated body warmer and a new TOG24 jacket which is superb.

Anyway, all in, a pretty rubbish night but at least not cold.

 

 

[Nakedgun]

~

You got out there, sometimes that's well enough.

 

 

.

[AstroNebulee]

46 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Decided to have a go out to my local dark site tonight, other than the sub zero temperatures the conditions were very good.  The drive there was uneventful other than the last 5 miles behind the slowest taxi driver in the world.

So got there and it started within minutes, nothing major but a culmination of many little bits.

Lifted the hatch and reached for my bag of bits, grabbed the head torch and my diffuser fell off it onto the frozen floor, could I find it, grrrrr!

Started setting up the dob, missed off one of the key parts of this operation, namely use the level to get it reasonably so, this came back to haunt me later.

Only after setting the dob up did I realise it was doing a passable imitation of a certain building in Pisa. This in turn created havoc with alignment until I got to grips with the adjustment needed to allow for the "tilt" in the scope.

I eventually managed a decent alignment  so onto observing. I wanted to do a shootout comparison with my UHC vs OIII using my new 20mm plossl, only thing was I left the plossl at home along with a zoom I had plans for later.

Also all this additional messing around meant my first DSO's had dropped to low to be available for viewing so that also spoilt part of my plans.

Shortly after this the dob lost balance, I managed to save a wholesale disaster and it only partially fell but the mirror box partly slipped from the rocker.  No major damage but the slider strip on the rocker had a slight crimp in it, it is already nearly gone from use.

But I did have to remove the top secondary box to realign the rocker and primary mirror box. After this I put the secondary box back on, forgot to tighten the bolts up and the box nearly fell off. 

Shortly after an eyeguard extender pinged off an eyepiece and disappeared into the dark. Torch out and I found it, along with the lost diffuser from the start so one ray of light. 

Packing up I lost the cover from the focuser to cap it off, pun intended.

I don't really have anything to report in terms of viewing although I did spot  the galactic wanderer for the first time but nothing much to report about in what I saw, just something I had on my to get list. 

The best thing to report on was my new cold weather gear performed well so through all the strife at least I wasn't cold.  I have been fed up either too cold or barely able to move because of too much gear. So I bought new thermal vest/long johns, a pair of TOG 24 waterproof leggings, heated body warmer and a new TOG24 jacket which is superb.

Anyway, all in, a pretty rubbish night but at least not cold.

 

 

What a night indeed Steve. Hopefully your next night will go without a hitch. The amount of times I've lost ep cap covers and such is immeasurable. Gone back and found them in the daylight. With all your issues tonight, it'll be great next time. 

Lee 

[scarp15]

Frustrating but at least you went. That is quite an accumulation of misshapes on one outing though usually one or two often do occur, particularly dropping black eyepiece caps. Takes quite an effort really to get organised,  get yourself out there then set up and depending on your day it could be quite tiring. Coffee, warm clothing is the tonic. 

At least you glimpsed one new DSO. I had settled into the backyard, got the best view of Orion Nebula I've ever had from home, yet a tinge of regret that I had not made the effort myself to get to a dark sky site (getting lazy).

[teoria_del_big_bang]

That's such bad luck and I really feel your pain.
But I take my hat off to you, and others, that do get out away from what seems to be ever increasing LP ner our homes.
I keep telling myself to get out there with my imaging but apart from a few UK holidays in remote cottages and a washout at Kelling last year have not got off my backside yet 🙂  

I hope that irons out all the mistakes you can make and the next venture is more rewarding, keep trying 🙂 

Steve