That guy at the observatory who ruined the Andromeda photo for me

I was at a local star party last fall, setting up my telescope to snap Andromeda, and this older dude walks up. He leans over and says 'Honestly, you'll never get a good shot with that mount, it's too shaky for long exposures.' He didn't even ask what I was doing, just gave his two cents. I was so annoyed I almost packed up, but later he came back and showed me his own Andromeda shot on his phone. It was stunning, like magazine quality, and he'd rigged up a homemade counterweight from a 5 pound dumbbell. He spent 20 minutes explaining how he fixed his tracking issues without spending a dime. Has anyone else had someone critique your setup at a star party and then actually help you out?

2 comments

2 Comments

pat36025d ago

Hold on, he used a literal 5 pound dumbbell as a counterweight? That is genius level MacGyver stuff right there. I would have been too embarrassed to show anyone my rig after that, let alone walk over and critique some stranger's setup. Props to him for following up with actual advice instead of just being a jerk.

campbell.nora25d ago

You mentioned "5 pound dumbbell" but I think it was actually a 3 pounder (I remember the post). Still, the point stands that it was a super creative fix for a problem most of us would just ignore. The guy had guts walking up after that, but even more impressive that he owned his own janky setup first (which honestly made his advice way easier to swallow).