I somehow managed to bag the best on-campus job for a student with my hobby. My official title: observatory assistant. This involves helping out the astro classes, and helping run the observatory, and having my own open observatory sessions. Its one of these sessions that I'm talking about here. I was getting the college's 16" Cassegrain ready to go last Sunday night, part of which involves slewing the scope down to get the front cover off, when it happened. I heard a loud crash. I immediately looked at the noise and saw the new (less than a yr old, and costing much more than I could afford) CCD camera laying on the tile floor. It dropped from the back of the scope from about 5 ft up with nothing to break its fall. The set screws that mount it to the flip mirror must have wiggled loose over time. Fearing the worst, and with little time before people started showing up to view, I set it aside and continued setting up...the show must go on. We tested the equipment the following night, and it worked flawlessly, as if nothing had happened. Chalk one up to SBIG for making a beefy camera!
Evan
Evan
