Plagued By Glitches

On Saturday April 10th, I took my star machine on the road to a dark sky site, namely Barren Fork Campground. I had intentions of shooting images to make a short video and doing some visual astronomy.

My camper is a 130 watt solar panel equipped portable observatory designed to allow for overnight outings with plenty of amenities including adequite electricity and the convenience of a place to warm up during sessions. It's dual deep cycles batteries and power inverter allows me to run a number of accessories in remote locations.

At the start of the season, I had a dead battery, which apparently was caused by a shorted cell. After replacing it, I discovered that the radio/CD player has been breached with moisture and damaged as well. My water pump had somehow packed it in over the winter too. After replacing these parts, me and my girlfriend Lisa hit the road with mount, optics and cameras.

After setting up, in a matter of minutes I discovered that the SD card in my camera also had issues so no images were taken, but we did manage to get some viewing in before the evening was a complete waste. Better luck next time.