The value of preparation (and what happens when there’s a lack of it!)

A tale of expectation, apparent disaster, elation, more expectation, annoyance, disappointment…

Saturday

(expectation)

Evening was looking promising for so astronomy/astrophotography, so once it was dark enough for me to see Vega, Deneb, Altair and Polaris with the naked eye I started setting up.  I spent about 30 mins getting the tripod level and pointing North then attached EQ5 mount and got that polar aligned.  For some bizarre reason I’d decided not to extend the tripod legs, so kneeling down to peer through the polarscope made the old knees creak a bit. Anyway, I digress. Once the mount was aligned, I hooked up the controls and connected to my 88Ah leisure battery.  I then attached the telescope to the mount, fitted a 20mm eyepiece, removed the end cap from the ‘scope and was ready to go…or so I thought!

(apparent disaster)

I switched on and went through the setup procedure then decided to use Caph (for those of you who don’t know, Caph is the top right hand star in the W of Cassiopeia) hit Enter and…horrible screeching sound accompanied by the scope moving in the wrong direction!  Pressed ESC to stop the movement and checked that I hadn’t got cables mixed up (unlikely as I normally leave them connected when the mount’s not in use).  Nope, cables OK so try moving the mount with the direction keys. Movement OK in Right Ascention (RA) but attempts to move in Declination (DEC) produce the screeching noise.   Time to do a bit of fault finding…

• Removed cover from DEC motor and tried movement…SCREECH
• Remove motor from mount and try movement…SCREECH
• Remove transfer gears and try…no SCREECH but motor shaft oscillating back and forth.
• As RA movement was OK I then connected the cable from the motor control box (which normally connects to RA IN on the mount) to the motor and tried the RA keys….Motor works fine!
• Reconnect the cables in their normal positions and try DEC movement…oscillating motor.

Time to think… What was different compared to when the mount was last used about 10 days previously?  The only difference I could think of was that I hadn’t put the MC box and Hand Controller back in the large plastic box they’re usually kept in with a bag of silica gel.  Could a bit of dampness have crept in and affected the circuitry (it having been quite humid)?  Possibly.  Anyway, nothing for it but to pack up for the night and take a look on Sunday..

Sunday (afternoon)

(elation)

Got the MC box and Hand Controller out of their box and connected everything up.  Applied power, went through setup and tried movement….

and…..

IT WORKED!

Huge sigh of relief as I’d had visions of going through a process of elimination and possibly having to return the mount to retailer.  I can only assume that damp had somehow played a part.  My elation was tempered somewhat when I checked the weather app on my phone and it indicated it’d be a cloudy night 😦

(more expectation)

Kept a watchful eye on the sky and by 9pm it was looking good, so off I go again…

I double check that mount is working OK before taking it outside…Yes, so set up everything as before.  Apply power and go through setup no problem.  Select Caph as alignment star and the mount slews in the right direction. Now, I normally expect the first alignment to be off-target unless I’ve got very good polar alignment.  The trouble is, although Caph is a bright enough star, when looking through the telescope with the 20mm eyepiece I don’t have a wide field of view, so the alignment doesn’t have to be off by much for the target star to not be in view.  After I spent a few minutes trying to find Caph I decided to try for Vega on account of it being so bright and easier to find.  Finally got Vega in the centre of view then went back to Caph, which appeared almost dead centre in the field of view.  A few minor adjustments then time to get everything else set up: finder/guider (a webcam attached to a finderscope), DSLR and laptop.

(annoyance)

This was the first time I’d used the laptop with mount etc. since re-configuring it earlier in the week.  I thought I’d re-installed all drivers and software but it turned out I hadn’t.  First off the webcam wasn’t recognised so I ended up installing the driver for the camera again (on reflection I may have tried installing the wrong driver previously).  Loaded up PHD (guiding software available from  http://www.stark-labs.com/phdguiding.html) and selected the camera. No error this time and I could see some stars in the image.  I then tried getting PHD to select “EQMOD ASCOM EQ5/6” from the ASCOM telescope chooser but whenever I did so, the OK button was greyed out.  Re-installed ASCOM and tried again.  Eventually got it to work.  Next up the DSLR.  Connected the USB cable and tried opening EOS Utility – camera not found.  Try Backyard EOS – same result.  Change cable to the one supplied with the camera , SUCCESS!  I’m sure I’ve  used the other cable before now without a problem but it did only cost £1 so I shouldn’t expect too much!  Finally I’m ready to go…

Webcam working?  Check
DSLR switched on?  Check
Software running? Check

Right, just need to get focus sorted out…

(disappointment)

Put bahtinov mask on front of scope and looked at Backyard EOS.  Select Frame & Focus…nothing on screen.  “That’s odd.  I should at least see something” Then I look up….complete cloud cover!  I’d spent so much time resolving issues with software/hardware setup I hadn’t paid attention to the sky which obviously had other ideas!  So that was a second night ruined.  Time to pack up and wait for the next clear night (whenever that might be).

Epilogue

All of the above just goes to show how important preparation can be.  Having re-installed the laptop I should’ve taken time (in daylight) to check out all the components.  That way I’d have been able to at least get some images.  The events of Saturday night have shown me (assuming that damp/moisture/humidity was the cause) the importance of taking care of the equipment.  There’s still room for improvement and there are probably ways I can make things easier by adopting a set routine.  Though not mentioned above, my initial photographic target was the ISS as that was due over at 22:09, so once the mount was set up I attached a Vanguard ball head to a small dovetail bar and attached it to the mount then attached the DSLR.  Unfortunately, next door’s conservatory was lit up and causing me problems so I spent time positioning the camera to minimise the effects of light cast.  Time of ISS pass was fast approaching so I set the camera to continuous mode shooting, ISO1600, wide aperture, 10s and waited.  Checked app on phone which showed the pass had started, so I went down the garden to look out for it (garden faces roughly ENE).  Eventually it appeared.  Unfortunately, had I checked the path the ISS was going to take I would’ve found out that, from where I was set up, the pass would be completely obscured by my house and next door’s house.  Had I noticed that I’d have set the camera up on my camera tripod further down the garden – preparation again!

New shiny

I finally gave in to temptation this week and purchased a digital SLR camera. Something I’ve wanted for a long time is a “proper” camera with which to take pictures. All I have to do now is get used to all the different settings! Fortunately it has a fully automatic mode which I’ll probably use for starters.

I seem to be developing a keen interest in astronomy these days and hope to use the camera for astrophotography so will hopefully one day be able to post some pics.

This week has been quite eventful with an Icelandic volcano sending up a huge cloud of ash resulting in UK airspace being closed for some 48 hours. Who knows? I may be able to snap a spectacular sunset or two, which we might have, apparently.

Earlier this week I met up with a local astronomical society and was immediately made to feel welcome. This was a relief as I normally steer clear of clubs. Far too many times in the past have I read of a group/club breaking up as a result of personality clashes or petty politics. I have a good feeling about the AS though.

Tomorrow evening should see another first: my first star party. Indications are that the weather will be good and we’ll hopefully get a reasonably clear sky.

Well that’s enough rambling for now..til next time..