My telescope mount gave up right during the Orionid meteor shower peak

I was all set up in my backyard in Tucson last Saturday night, ready to capture the peak of the Orionids. I had my camera on my trusty old Sky-Watcher mount, and I'd just started a 30-second exposure. About 15 seconds in, the mount just... stopped. It made a sad little whirring noise and froze. I spent the next hour trying to reset it, but it was totally dead. I missed the whole best part of the shower because I was wrestling with a paperweight. Has anyone else had a mount just die on them mid-session? What did you end up doing?

2 comments

2 Comments

river_fox1810d ago

Man that's the worst, it's always the most important gear that fails.

samramirez10d ago

Actually, it's usually the gear you ignore that fails. That cheap carabiner you never check, the old rope you meant to replace. Important stuff gets maintained, so it's the forgotten things that bite you.