My old telescope mount lost tracking during a 3-hour exposure

I was out at Cherry Springs State Park trying to photograph the Andromeda Galaxy, and about 90 minutes in, my mount just started drifting. Turns out the polar alignment got bumped when I tripped over a power cord in the dark, and I had to trash the whole session. Has anyone else had a star tracker fail on them mid-shoot like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

susan_wells23d ago

Oh man, "had to trash the whole session" hits way too close to home. I once spent 4 hours aligning my mount at a dark site, then my cat walked across the patio and bumped the tripod leg right as I started a 2 hour sub. Yeah, I totally get that sick feeling when you review the frames and see everything's just streaky garbage. Honestly, your polar alignment getting knocked by a power cord is almost poetic, like the universe saying "nice try, astronomer." At least you got to 90 minutes before it went south, that's practically a record compared to my usual 20 minute failures. I've started wrapping my power cords in bright tape after the third time I ate dirt in the dark.

wren_smith4422d ago

Bright tape is genius, I'm stealing that idea for sure.