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The Astro Gods have a perverse sense of humour
How many of us have had the experience of setting out on a project/challenge/DIY only to find at the end of the process, when the work is done and all the bells light up as required, that the one final piece of the puzzle - perhaps the one piece you took for granted - decides to go belly-up.
An example - I have struggled with the collimation of my GSO RC8 for a long time. I made the mistake of attempting to adjust the primary as well as the secondary. Not a good move. But, after two months with a borrowed Tak Collimating Scope (thanks again Rick) and more patience that I thought I had, I managed to get it pretty darned right.
In the meanwhile, I dived into the world of Arduino and stepper motor controls and (with the help of RobC) managed to get a PC controlled stepper focuser controller working properly, mounted on the scope and all set to resume imaging with my trusty "old faithful" StarlightXpress CCD (a SXVR_H16).
You know what's coming, don't you? Yep, sure enough, I had no sooner pointed the scope at a target to begin the first imaging run in 6 months when the CCD went to it's own moment with destiny. It's cooling fan failed, and all the rest followed as you would expect - it overheated quickly, the electronics ceased to record any photons and to all intents and purposes, it was dead. So now it's on its way home to the big CCD repair shop in the sky for another couple of months.
It isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened to me. Have you got a similar sad story?
Peter
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