That night my telescope mount gave out during a partial lunar eclipse

I had my rig set up in my backyard in Eugene, Oregon for the partial lunar eclipse last October. About 20 minutes into the good part, the declination clutch on my Sky-Watcher mount just slipped and the whole thing started drifting. I panicked at first, then grabbed a bungee cord from the truck and rigged it to hold tension against the tripod leg. It wasn't pretty, but I got about 40 decent frames before the clouds rolled in. Anyone else had to MacGyver their setup in the middle of a shoot?

2 comments

2 Comments

jake_dixon12d agoMost Upvoted

That "MacGyver" thing is real, I've seen people lose whole nights because they wouldn't try a shoelace or a sock. But the angle nobody talks about is how that bungee cord actually forces you to be more creative with your framing... like you end up with shots you wouldn't have thought of if everything was working perfect.

brookekelly12d ago

Oh man, I used to totally scoff at the whole bungee cord / duct tape approach for astrophotography. I was Mr. 'Proper gear or nothing' for years. But then I had my tripod leg start to slip on a dewy deck during the Orion Nebula season last winter and a rolled-up sock was all that saved my shot. Now I carry a whole 'emergency kit' in the case. You do what you gotta do when the sky's right.