As promised this is the place to vent about your worst Astro experience of 2024!
I’ll start !
After carefully planning and packing a nice portable full Astro rig (ZS61 and mini guide scope/camera, SW GTi mount and tripod, ASI294MC Pro, ASI AIR, filters etc.) and giving up packing space in order to take it all on our annual family trip to Australia AND looking forward to some great southern targets … (I’m sure that you’ve all guessed already!) it was cloudy every single night !
Misery loves company ! let the venting begin !
Pete
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Having planned and arriving to the perfect location to view the total solar eclipse from San Antonio, only to be completely clouded over. Not sure I will ever view one in my lifetime at this point.
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Ashraf AbuSara:
Having planned and arriving to the perfect location to view the total solar eclipse from San Antonio, only to be completely clouded over. Not sure I will ever view one in my lifetime at this point. I almost forgot about the eclipse ! I was also at the perfect spot with a rig all set to go and presto!; clouds !
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Two major fires that came within a few miles of the little town and my remote observatory, if the wind hadn't changed it would have burned... there were several thousand firefighters on it for several weeks. Calfire what fantastic people!!! The Trout Fire a few miles away  the Long Fire a few miles away  Help begins to arrive... CALFIRE... the best!!  |
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Great Anti-Topic to my forum post!  For me, it was completely missing the October Aurora. I completely slept through it, only to discover that some people got amazing cellphone pictures from my neighbourhood. My consolation is that I got some good photos of the May Aurora. Still, when people who know me asked if I seen it and I didn't (knowing how I am into astronomy), it was somewhat embarrassing.
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I couldn't do any imaging  (excep 2 times this year with friend/brother lent camera) this year (and in the previous too) because the journey what I started 2 years ago to build(well the current one is not exactly my build, at least the mirror is not) my own ( high end or something like that but on really tight budget) imaging rig-for lucky imaging- is not finished yet. It will probably take a few months to get it up and running (so the best times of the year will be lost).
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Going remote in February 2024 has left me with both best and worst astro memories of the year 😅 Best because I haven't imaged so much in my entire life before that. Worst because I've had so many issues that I had to deal with: - Hitting the pier and thinking my rig was done, turned out not to be that serious. - Failing to meridian flip and doing almost full RA rotation, luckily without hitting the pier or tearing the cables - Bricked pegasus power box with seemingly no reason. Had to drive again to the remote site to replace it along with the mini pc. - DEC backlash so strong that I had to fork PHD Guiding software to support guiding in one direction after the meridian flip- Failed EAF cable, also out of nowhere. I'm sure 2025 will bring me even more unexpected issues with my remote rig! 😂
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Just recently i went for a 90 minutes drive for capturing a widefield mosaic, above the fog. It was freezing cold, sitting in my car and waiting for the capture to complete.
When i arrived home shortly before dawn, and couldnt resist to have a look on my PC, i found i messed up the focus quite massively.
I must have been touching the lens during setup. I did focus, im sure. Now i have to wait for another opportunity :/
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As promised this is the place to vent about your worst Astro experience of 2024!
I’ll start !
After carefully planning and packing a nice portable full Astro rig (ZS61 and mini guide scope/camera, SW GTi mount and tripod, ASI294MC Pro, ASI AIR, filters etc.) and giving up packing space in order to take it all on our annual family trip to Australia AND looking forward to some great southern targets … (I’m sure that you’ve all guessed already!) it was cloudy every single night !
Misery loves company ! let the venting begin !
Pete ouch!
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30 minutes between the two pictures... This was infuriating. It was December 25, and the sky was completely clear when I came home after family dinner. Finally, a clear night after months of clouds! I did set up and align the telescope, and for some reason, I could not achieve focus. When I looked up, I saw the clouds. Ultimately, I removed the image train and tried to image Jupiter with my Canon as it was visible through the clouds. No luck either...  |
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I don't have pictures of it but after moving into a B3 with an acre of land I have a permanent spot for both of my mounts now. This summer right before I got concrete piers dug there was a wind storm and knocked over one of the telescopes. Luckily it landed on a bush right next to it so no damage but it was still enough to scare me half to death!
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I had a scare when my remote observatory got stuck open and the roof wasn't responding. The weather was clear all night but rain was forecasted to come in just before lunch. Frantically got some local support to go out and sort things out.
Also, although not a bad thing, my remote observatory was down from July to early Sept when my mount was back at the manufacturer for a rebuild. Just sad missing out on a lot of time for the summer targets.
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Thomas:
I had a scare when my remote observatory got stuck open and the roof wasn't responding. The weather was clear all night but rain was forecasted to come in just before lunch. Frantically got some local support to go out and sort things out. if it was a real nightmare, this is how your situation would end: (calling local support)
You: "hello?"
Local support: yas?
You: "uhh, could you fix the roof on the observatory? it's not closing"
LS: "no rush"
You: "no, there is a rush, the rain will come soon!"
LS: "wat rain? I'm hungry, I need to eat lunch first"
You: "NO, the rain will come before lunch!"
LS: "just, chillllll"
(LS hangs up)
(you frantically try to dial the number again, but you cannot remember what the number was, you don't have the number saved anywhere, and you don't remember what was the name of the observatory, so you can't look for a phone number online either)
(5 hours pass, but it feels like 50 seconds; lunchtime is over)
(LS calls back)
LS: "Something has happened to the telescopes, somethin' about rain, I dunno exactly, we just could not fix the roof in time because lunch was just too good, it was lamb with gravy sauce and rice, and biscuits and Swiss cheese, and... (licks lips loudly on phone)"
You: "What disaster?"
LS: "ohh, nothing worth mentioning, just, Nature gave your telescope a good ol' wash"
You: "What?! Wash? Was the dust cap on the telescope?"
LS: "Oh no, don't worry, we made sure to leave it off; I know you wanted the telescope to get washed by us, because that's why you called before, but, the rain did that just as good! Strangely, some phenomena has occurred: after the astro rigs were washed, they stopped working properly, but that's not a big deal, we can fix them up with some of our sledgehammers."
(LS suddenly hangs up again) |
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Oscar:
Thomas:
I had a scare when my remote observatory got stuck open and the roof wasn't responding. The weather was clear all night but rain was forecasted to come in just before lunch. Frantically got some local support to go out and sort things out.
if it was a real nightmare, this is how your situation would end:
(calling local support)
You: "hello?"
Local support: yas?
You: "uhh, could you fix the roof on the observatory? it's not closing"
LS: "no rush"
You: "no, there is a rush, the rain will come soon!"
LS: "wat rain? I'm hungry, I need to eat lunch first"
You: "NO, the rain will come before lunch!"
LS: "just, chillllll"
(LS hangs up)
(you frantically try to dial the number again, but you cannot remember what the number was, you don't have the number saved anywhere, and you don't remember what was the name of the observatory, so you can't look for a phone number online either)
(5 hours pass, but it feels like 50 seconds; lunchtime is over)
(LS calls back)
LS: "Something has happened to the telescopes, somethin' about rain, I dunno exactly, we just could not fix the roof in time because lunch was just too good, it was lamb with gravy sauce and rice, and biscuits and Swiss cheese, and... (licks lips loudly on phone)"
You: "What disaster?"
LS: "ohh, nothing worth mentioning, just, Nature gave your telescope a good ol' wash"
You: "What?! Wash? Was the dust cap on the telescope?"
LS: "Oh no, don't worry, we made sure to leave it off; I know you wanted the telescope to get washed by us, because that's why you called before, but, the rain did that just as good! Strangely, some phenomena has occurred: after the astro rigs were washed, they stopped working properly, but that's not a big deal, we can fix them up with some of our sledgehammers."
(LS suddenly hangs up again)  |
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6 Months of clouds nonstop, then just crappy rain for months. Some clear sky, and full moon……but heyy its 2025 now happy new year all !!!!!
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Hitched a ride with a buddy to a remote site, Bortle 2 and a 90min drive. After setting up I realized I left my counterweights at home. No imaging for me that night.
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After about a month and a half of clouds a got 4 night in a row of clear skies, close to the new moon too! Setup the telescope just for the learn that the remote PC attached to my scope died. Couldn't get a replacement on time.
I got lucky as it was still under warranty, but it was discontinued so got a free upgrade… Which draw just a bit over what my power supply can give.
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2024 looked something like this: January: University  February: University March: University April: HOLY SWEET LORD LOOK AT THAT ECLIPSEMay: Clouds June: Clouds July: Smoke August: Smoke September: Clouds October: Clouds November: Clouds December: Clouds |
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