ABSTRACT
With the introduction of computers and software, problems pop up at the most unexpected moments and are not always easy to diagnose correctly. This chapter concentrates on issues associated with image capture. These turn up randomly and always seem to be the time-critical ones, consuming precious clear skies. The chapter highlights the most common problems and their likely causes, it is useful show how to isolate an issue and ask for help. Mechanical issues manifest themselves in three areas: pointing, tracking and focusing. Documenting the conditions is a key step that helps to converge on the cause. It is important to know the conditions in which the problem does not occur as well as the one when it does. A sudden problem is often caused by a sudden change, like a hardware failure, software corruption or an “environment” change.
