[Dennis]

Well, there I was, all set up with multiple scopes and multiple sensors, tracking Saturn and Venus from around 3:30pm onwards. I even managed to get a few test AVI’s under my belt; experimenting with the DMK and the DBK.

The business end of the session was approaching and pffffsssssst – all the power turns off at my observing hutch, which has 10 sockets for mount, notebook, hutch light, dew heaters, ccd camera(s), Pentax DSLR, Firewire PCMCIA card, light box, ST7, etc.

The notebook is still running (on battery) but the hardware is producing layers of error messages; “lost communications with the telescope”; “camera no longer found”, etc.

Hmm, the house lights are still on…

In the end, I traced the fault to the Residual Circuit Device (RCD) which had been invaded by ants who had tripped it. I reset it but it tripped again. By the time I found a new power board, Saturn and Venus had dipped behind the roof of our house!

Anyhow, here is something of a record taken with the Pentax *istDS on the Mewlon 180 at the F12 prime focus. Even managed a couple of the Saturnian moons!

I can wait 16 years until the next one, I am a patient man.

Cheers

Dennis