How much pain have you endured to see the stars???

[coldlegs (Stephen)]

Between my obs and my shed there is a one metre gap with a small 10cm drop that I mistimed the other night and spectacularly head butted the side of the shed. Now I pride myself in being a quiet backyard astronomer but the neighbours heard me that night and my language was somewhat primitive. It got me thinking about how many of us have stumbled around in the dark and almost killed ourselves in pursuit of it. I did a little tally of my escapades and was surprised.

QTY EVENT
1 Head butted the shed wall
3+ twisted/sprained ankles
7+ tripped over cables and went for a gutsa
20+ Bent up and smacked my head on the scope

How much pain have you endured to see the stars???

Cheers
Stephen

[casstony]

I have had the odd stumble Stephen but looking at your list, have you considered staying on all fours when moving in the dark

[astroron (Ron)]

A broken toe from trying to stop a 13mm type 1 Nagler from hitting my obs floor that didn't have a carpet on it at the time.
My cries out into the night of "Oh my that hurt" could be hurd for quite a distance
Cheers

[MrB (Simon)]

No physical pain yet in 20 odd years.
My only misshaps seem to be the kind where I drive some crazy distance for dark skies, usually ~300km to the missus' family farm, only to realise I've forgotten something essential.
This is usually followed by crazy desperate thoughts of a 6 hour, ~600km round trip to get the forgotten.

I am however very paranoid about dropping a counterweight on my foot!

[AstralTraveller (David)]

I observe with my wife!





Just kiddin dear

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

I observe with my wife!





Just kiddin dear

I shouldn't laugh, I'm a girl as well .

I do pretty well- I observe thru light pollution so not as dark as dark skies but if you're eyes aren't adapted (as when my daughter used to come home in the wee hours of the morning and I'd scare the geebies out of her when I was observing as she couldn't see a thing ). But I could easily manage to pick up my black Melrose hair clip fallen on the grass .

A fruit bat did try to bomb dive my head once which scared the @#$% out me . Oh yes... and then there was a possum who presented himself next to my feet at the telescope and wanted to be fed , that was beyond weird hand feeding that possum.

[coldlegs (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by astroron

A broken toe from trying to stop a 13mm type 1 Nagler from hitting my obs floor that didn't have a carpet on it at the time.
My cries out into the night of "Oh my that hurt" could be hurd for quite a distance
Cheers

I can imagine your decision making the next time it happens...
lens...toe...lens...toe...got nine left....save the lens!!!

"one small step for a bruise
one giant leap for a broken bone"

cheers
Stephen

[sheeny (Al)]

No "accidents" that I can recall, but I have observed when its so cold that despite fingerless woollen gloves and ski gloves (but unfortunately you can't wear them all the time while operating) that when it came time to pack up I almost couldn't get my fingers to work enough to disassemble the scope! That was quite painful also.

I'm not sure if it was the same session or another one (I've done a lot of cold observing in Oberon) where the moisture in my breath froze all over the back of the C8... but also all over my moustach and beard and into my throat coat Which I had pulled up over my mouth... there was a bit of pain involved in getting that off as well I seem to remember.

Al.

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by coldlegs

I can imagine your decision making the next time it happens...
lens...toe...lens...toe...got nine left....save the lens!!!

"one small step for a bruise
one giant leap for a broken bone"

cheers
Stephen

[leon]

I tripped over the newly constructed sand pit i made the day earlier for the Grandkids, totally forgot it was there in the dark, the camera lens went flying in attempt to save my self, flew over the sand pit and landed on the grass, however i landed in the sand.

Also smacked my head a number of times on the mount, and even slipped and landed on my bum when the grass frosted over whilst imaging.

Probably a few other stunts i have forgotten about.

Leon

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

I overbalanced lifting a fork mounted C9.25 onto its wedge at an astro viewing night at a local girls' high school. One of the tynes cracked me on the left brow and all I could do was suck it up as there were a lot of kiddies about... What I didn't know until I started packing up was a trickle of blood was running down my face all that time too!

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

Originally Posted by Suzy

I shouldn't laugh, I'm a girl as well .

No, really! You're kidding me.

Ahhh, the pain. Driving 3hrs with back pain, just so I can image, does that count? The things we do.

[shelltree (Shelley)]

Oh my goodness, these are all GOLD!

Surprisingly I haven't had any run in's whilst observing except for the usual crook neck afterwards! Of course, now that I've said that I'll be tumbling over or smacking my head against the scope, just you wait

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

Originally Posted by shelltree

except for the usual crook neck afterwards!

Sorry, that doesn't count.

Now, if you went outside the night after, with a crook neck because you couldnt keep away, that's a didn't story.

[shelltree (Shelley)]

Originally Posted by tlgerdes

Sorry, that doesn't count.

Now, if you went outside the night after, with a crook neck because you couldnt keep away, that's a didn't story.

That's a strong possibility!

Surprising considering how uncoordinated I am with everything else

[Octane (Humayun)]

After spending several hours with the scope mounted on the new pier and polar/drift aligning with PemPro, getting the drift down to less than 15 arcseconds in both axes, I bent down to pick up something I dropped. On the way back up, I smacked my head really hard on the bottom of the counterweight shaft.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

It hurt, for both losing my alignment, and, the sore on my head!

H

[GrahamL]

Going to scope smashed shin on 80 mm slab of silky oak I'd put there to feed some wood ducks,,,stagger left stagger right ,,bloods a flowin,,step into water dish Id also put there for em,,flick muddy contents all over myself,, fall to ground

[E_ri_k (Erik)]

Hehe, some good ones here. Most recently, after aligning the scope and framing an object, all set to start imaging, bent down to do something (can't even remember what!) stood up and smacked my head against the counterweight bar. There goes that!

A few, almost sprained ankles, and a LOT of frights from the dog coming bolting out of nowhere

Erik

[hobbit]

Well I just squashed my thumb in the tripod leg hinge as i was trying to carry it by the leg like i do my camera tripod. Won't make that mistake again.

[eddiedunlop (Martin)]

One night at Mt Wilson I split a friend's nose open with my dob when I changed its position suddenly. I felt terrible about this but he was undeterred and continued to observe with blood flowing down his snoz.