u/Funny-Medium5508

Lovely Spring night. Mosquitos haven't taken over the night skies yet — Cloudless, Astropheric forecasted average to above-average transparency and seeing, and a 5-minute ISS pass over....Why not take the "goto" mount out of its winter Bauer storage box and try for an ISS image with the "new to me" AT70ED?

Last had the iEXOS 100 PMC-Eight out mid-April in Denver, Co. for two visual sessions. All worked fine (well, fine for ExploreStars, the proprietary ES app that you can use with the mount in lieu of ASCOM/Alpaca). Packed carefully away and returned home.

Got it all set up at one of our "darker sky" locations, folding table, chair, camera, laptop, ASCOM Device Hub, SkyTrack, SharpCap, blah, blah, blah....initiate "goto" slew which starts "ok" then ..... "grind, grind, box of rocks sound" and mount isn't moving in one (well two <-- and -->>) directions (same axis it initially appears). Got it to return to Park .... but just wouldn't slew west.

Sigh.

Hoping its just a power issue (sag, etc.)....used a "new over winter" Qunler (previously used more portable TalentCell). But, knowing my luck it's a loose motor, belt, bad stepper motor or something else that will require me to open 'er up and poke around.

Gave up and watched the ISS visually (son tracked it manually with the 12" dob). Venus, Jupiter, M3 and, then, had to pack up to get him home for a reasonable bed time.

I swear, sometimes it feels like I spend 90% of my time "wrentching" my astronomy gear and only 5% of the time observing or imaging. That includes computer time trying to figure out why program "A" won't play nice with program "B".

I can cope with having to input my site co-ordinates for each app/program, my telescope specs, etc. though I will kiss the feet of anyone who creates a one-stop fills in all of that automatically for each astronomy app.

But, getting all set-up and, then, failure is frustrating.

Just came here to vent.

There are times when working on my gear can be enjoyable....basically wasting a perfectly gorgeous evening is NOT one of those times.

What's your latest "fix it" story?

[*"Astronomy Gargage" was already taken by YouTuber "Refractor" - checkout his channel]

In this subreddit, beginners often ask some variation of: “Can this telescope do astrophotography?”

Too often, the answer they get is simply: “No.” Or: “That’s not an astrophotography setup.” Or: “You need to spend thousands more.”

I think those answers — at least when stated categorically — can discourage creativity, experimentation, and learning.

Every telescope setup has limitations. A cheap 130mm Newtonian has limitations. A premium refractor has limitations. A manual Dob has limitations. Even high-end imaging rigs have limitations.

Part of the hobby is learning what those limitations are and figuring out how to work around them.

A personal example: I own an Orion SpaceProbe 130ST. With my ZWO ASI585MC attached at prime focus, I needed just a few more millimeters of inward travel to reach focus. The stock focuser had a collar that prevented enough inward movement.

My solution? I removed the collar and replaced it with a simple pipe-cleaner spacer that still prevented the drawtube from slipping out while allowing a few extra millimeters of travel.

Was it revolutionary? Of course not.

But I encountered a limitation, experimented, and solved the problem with a little “home engineering” that cost essentially nothing.

And even if it hadn’t worked, I still would have learned something.

That’s the point.

Experienced observers and imagers absolutely should explain the limitations of beginner equipment. Sometimes the honest answer really is: “You’ll eventually need a better mount,” or “You’ll probably want a field flattener,” or “This setup will make things harder.”

But I think there’s a very large difference between:

“This setup has limitations”
and
“Don’t even try.”

People learn by trying.

After all, conventional wisdom says manual Dobsonians aren’t for astrophotography. Yet Jim Singh’s “The Untracked Universe” shows what can be accomplished with persistence, experimentation, and skill.

No beginner is going to produce those results on Day 1. But nobody starts there.

Astrophotography is a journey. Different equipment simply changes which limitations you encounter along the way.

All:

Bought a used 2021 Forester this January - our first!!

Skipped all of the extended "after market" warranties from the dealer (not a Subaru dealer) because....well, it's a Subaru.

Last Friday, coming home about 10pm and about 30 miles from home, dash lit up like a Christmas tree, the Eyesight system shut off, no heat in cabin, no anti-collision stuff.

Made it home ok. Googled symptoms = Thermal Control Valve (TCV)

Took it to Subaru dealer next morning, pulled codes, came back TCV, confirmed that for my VIN was covered under the 15year/150k extended warranty. But, couldn't schedule repair until today.

Asked about driving car until then. Service guy said "keep an eye on the coolant temperature."

OK, but....uh....how? There's no coolant temperature gauge. Just, apparently, a "dummy light." As in, "if the coolant light goes on it's too late dummy."

I mean, I can see the tire pressure in each of my tires....but not whether my engine is in danger of overheating??!!??

A bit surprised by this engineering/manufacturing decision to drop a engine temp gauge from the instrumentation.

Hopefully the TCV is all there is. Hopefully it's covered under warranty (as stated when I first took it in for repair). Hopefully this is the only "hitch" with my "new to me" Subaru Forester.

Now, it appears, officially out-of-business.

https://www.cloudynights.com/forums/topic/999741-hello-from-conrad-ursel-and-bill/#comment-14650699