Well... that was a waste of time

Well that was a waste of time

So on the hottest week of the year, the famalam and I went on a staycation to Scarborough and then away to the folks in the North East for the week. I had a gander at the old MET Office for the weather during the eclipse and lo and behold, 3 clear nights over the week!

Now at this point I should explain that my parents live in a Bortle 4 zone and are very close to a UK dark site in the North Yorkshire Moors and sit about 100m higher in elevation than the mothership in the North West. So I decided to bring the scope with me.

So, the first thing I want to say is never trust a weatherman. But in particular, never trust the bloody MET Office. A more incompetent bunch of “scientists” that have ever graced the earth doesn’t exist.

So let me tell you about my failures (or learning points).

Night 1

It started ever so hopeful.

So, the set-up wasn’t too hard. I had recently bought the SV241, which is essentially a power box that can fit onto the telescope. This made the set-up a lot easier and avoids cable drag on the rig. However, the technical side of things…. I despaired.

In order to “tell” the scope where it is, you have to access the mount settings. This always gives me the heebee-jeebees following a previous torrid 3 months of getting the thing to work when I first got the mount.

To explain, inside the settings (called EQMOD) you have to input the coordinates of where you are and then, once you have done this, you do the same in NINA (the observatory software which connects all the gear together). The only issue, however, is that one is in degrees whilst the other is in minutes/seconds. You can see the issue here. However, this time it was blissfully easy with the help of AI.

So the next issue was polar alignment. As soon as I started, I knew it was going awry. The declination arm of the mount, (the bit that moves the scope left and right) started moving… it’s not supposed to do that. My words exactly.

After a lot of rage, spitting feathers and being a general moody bugger, I finally sussed out that EQMOD thought it was locked to the home position… from the North West. To fix this I needed to reallocate the home position to the North East. An easy job… when you know how.

Then started the connection problems.

One of the many difficulties with a computer with no mouse, screen or keyboard is that you cannot access it apart from through my usual method, which is through Google Remote Desktop. Of course, to do this you need to be on the same connection… I think... (I need to experiment with this). But as far as I am aware this is the case.

I had foreseen this before I left home and had added my phone’s hotspot to the computer. However, I was having big problems. If I tried to access my parents' internet, it kicked me off the hotspot… before I could put in the password… hours! I kid you not! Hours figuring it out.

It turns out you can add a network with a password without logging in. And it worked! Until it didn’t! The Wi-Fi didn’t reach and was intermittent at best. It kept kicking me off the network.

It finally started working at 2am.

Only to discover the reason for hating the MET Office.

Clear skies? Yes!

But with 25mph winds.

My pictures looked streaked with stars… remember this. Its important for Night 3!

And so it ended. With me in a strop, I went to bed at 3am.

Night 2

Night 2 was also a failure. But this time it wasn’t technical issues; it was the wind again. I didn’t even stick around, as the forecast was that the winds were horrific.

However, there were still connection issues to keep me “entertained”. There was light at the end of the tunnel (there wasn’t), as the next night was supposedly clear and the winds were supposed to drop to 5mph.

Night 3

Oh! Suits you sir!

8pm — clear weather. Wind dropped! Rig set up and collimated. So far, so good.

10pm — connection working. I’m seeing stars! Literally.

But a bit too light yet to start three-star alignment.

10:45pm — we’ve got stars… but it’s a bit hazy. We start alignment.

11pm — clouds… this wasn’t forecasted. It’ll probably go in a bit…..

11:30pm — it didn’t go. In fact, the bugger stayed all night.

However, alignment was managed in a brief window of cloudlessness.

I tried several targets and ended up settling on the Veil, as it was the only clear bit. But here we get a new problem.

The guidance system (remember Night 1?).

On top of the telescope there is a smaller telescope and a camera. Its job is to lock on to stars and, if they move from their position, it sends a signal to my mount to move it back into position.

Not bad for software called “Push Here Dummy 2” or PHD2.

However, this time it wasn’t working. Stars were drifting and the pictures had a weird zigzag quality.

Given the last 72 hours, I flipped my popcorn, took a wobbly and packed up.

So I am leaving it for when I get home. I have a couple of suspects though.

1) The sidereal wasn’t clicked on (the sideways movement). It still didn’t work when I clicked it, but I did for a few minutes. I have a feeling it’s a “turn it off, turn it on again” situation.

2) Calibration. It tried that hard to counteract the wind in the previous two sessions, it buggered up the calibration.

3) The surface. I had it on decking, which is apparently god awful due to it transmitting vibrations. I think I will try it on a better surface next time.

Anyway, that’s my failure and story.

Learned a lot, but by God, it was frustrating.