Took my telescope to a dark sky site and forgot my tripod head

Dylan Perry · 2026-05-06T02:55:05.282881+00:00

Last Saturday I drove two hours to a Bortle 2 zone in West Texas with my brand new 8-inch Dobsonian, all excited to capture the Orion Nebula. I unpacked everything in the dark, set up the base, and then realized I left the tripod head sitting on my garage workbench back home. My buddy who came with me couldn't stop laughing, and I just sat there for 20 minutes staring at the stars through binoculars he brought as a backup. It was honestly pretty funny after the initial frustration wore off, and we ended up just doing some naked-eye observing and talking about life. Has anyone else had a gear fail like this ruin a night of photography but turn into something cool anyway?

amy1545mo ago

Honestly I don't think gear fails ever turn into something cool, they just waste your time and gas money.

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leo6125mo ago

Oh man that's rough but honestly it's a rite of passage. I once drove four hours to a dark site and realized my camera battery was dead and my spare was still in the charger at home. Sat there for an hour listening to coyotes and eating beef jerky while my buddy got killer shots of the Milky Way. At least you had binoculars and good company, those nights where everything goes wrong usually end up being the most memorable.

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christopher_sullivan5mo ago

Yeah I always pack a spare tripod head in my car now. Learned that one the hard way.

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