My telescope mount gave out on the clearest night in months
Last Tuesday I finally got a perfect clear sky after three weeks of clouds, and my old EQ mount just started grinding halfway through aligning on Jupiter. I ended up just lying on a lawn chair with binoculars instead has anyone else had a mount die at the worst possible time?
Man, that's brutal. Grinding gears on the one clear night you've had in weeks is like a special kind of telescope torture. At least you had the sense to grab the binos and still get some sky time.
Actually your backup plan with the binos might be the real hidden gem here, @skyler_adams said it best about telescope torture but honestly sometimes lying there with simple binoculars reminds you why you started this hobby in the first place.