Well. Back to the shop it goes.
It should come as no surprise that I use my telescope a lot. As in, somewhere around 300 days/year, and on some of those days, I set it up multiple times, such as when I close up sidewalk astronomy and head to a private event.
My old representative from Celestron telescopes once told me he thinks I use my telescopes more than anyone in the world. So it’s only inevitable that my main telescope, which is only 3 years old, has the issues you’d see in a 15-year-old telescope.
Friday night, for instance, I packed up from sidewalk astronomy in Sedona and drove over to the private event I was hosting. After 45 minutes, my telescope literally squeaked, lost power, and won’t turn back on.
Normally my heart would break and my brain would start screaming. But this isn’t my first rodeo. In fact, this is the third time in just over a year this has happened.
And yes, it’s because I use this thing nonstop.
If you ever get your own telescope, have no fear: you will not have this recurring issue as a casual user. Telescopes weren’t designed for the hundreds of hours I put into them each month. I’ve chosen to make showing people the stars my career, so this is the “ugly side” I get to deal with.
Fortunately, I always have a spare, so sidewalk astronomy will still take place through August 6th as planned. Unfortunately, my spare is half the size of the big one, so it won’t look “as impressive” when you’re standing next to it, compared to the behemoth of the 9.25 inch scope. The views of the Moon will still be fantastic, though, and it does just as well as the larger scope for stargazing tours. The only difference is the views will be slightly darker, because the 4 inch telescope doesn’t gather as much light.
It’s one of these things as I kickoff van life that I’m like, “I did not need this right now.” Sidewalk astronomy and stargazing events are how I make most of my money, with my books and photography as nice side additions (avoids the glare my sci-fi books give me, as if they aren’t the reason I began doing this).
But I’ve always been versatile. Adapting to these situations is second nature. Living in Florida last year, when this happened twice, I kept at it with the smaller telescope and still got hundreds of people through every night staring at the Moon and planets.
Or back in December 2020, when I only had one telescope, which gave out two weeks before the Conjunction of Jupiter & Saturn, not enough time to send it to Celestron and have it back in time. My friend ended up helping by manually adjusting the telescope as I walked up and down the line talking with the 400 people who had come out to view that awesome cosmic event. And guess what?
It worked out.
Despite the hiccups and mini heart attacks when things go wrong, I’ve been at this 7 years for a reason. Creating these spaces in communities to engage people with science and share it not as individuals, but as a collective, getting people talking to each other, laughing, gasping in awe at the sights they see? That’s why I do this. And for better or worse, having these in-person experiences has only become more important in the age of having Ai blasted in our faces, where we can hardly trust images and videos we see on social media these days.
But the telescope? That’s real.
The gasp of awe? That’s real.
The inspiration you feel as you gaze into the universe?
Real.
Because we’re human, and we need these experiences connecting us to real life, to our communities, to our intellect and ability to understand our place among the stars.
This world is beautiful.
Alex
ps. with the age and wear of this telescope mount, I need to invest in a new mount I can rely on for extended periods of time, which I’ve found online for $1,200. I do not need a new tube; only the battery mount. I’m raising funds for this mount on PayPal. I can’t keep sending the current one in for repairs every 6 months at this rate!
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