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That cheap red light I bought wrecked two weeks of observations
Last month I grabbed a $7 red headlamp from a gas station in Tucson for night vision. It worked fine at first, but the coating flaked off and left bright white streaks in my eyepiece. Took me a while to figure out why Jupiter looked like a blurry mess through my 8-inch Dob. Last night I finally swapped it for a proper astronomy light with a dimmer knob, and the difference is night and day. Anyone else had a budget gear fail that cost you clear sky time?
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richard1373d ago
Did the gas station dude throw in a free lottery ticket with that thing too? My own cheapo red light lasted about three nights before the switch started flickering like a possessed Christmas bulb. I ended up chasing a ghost in my own eyepiece thinking my collimation was shot, turned out the light was just strobing random white flashes. At least you figured it out before you recalibrated your whole scope for nothing. That seven bucks cost me two clear nights and a fresh headache.
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