TiffsAndAstro

ok ignore this. after updating many many random things syscan app loads on my pc

hi there. struggling to google any answers for this. i've installed ascom, synscan ascom drivers and the synscan app but when i launch the app i get a series of errors starting with VCRUNTIME140_1.dll was not found. i've tried reinstalling i've checked .net frame work is ticket in control panel i've downloaded .net 3.5 and ran it - it seems to do nothing after asking for my pw anyone suggest anything i can search for?

my plan atm is to give nina a try see how polar alignment goes with that. just trying to update my old macbook then plop bootcamp windows on it and see if it works also, i think my stars look so bad they hide some trailing. i've attached (i think) a higher res version. the stars are annoying the nebula is not too bad. I think im going to have to get a nicer lens.

Ty for this

Also I've noticed that before polar alignment I set my lat bolts so the mount dial shows 52.3 (ish), but if I check it after polar alignment it's about 1.5(ish) degrees higher. Does this suggest tripod issues or maybe the mount dial is only roughly accurate? Or something else? I did notice the dial pointer isnt quite perpendicular to the scale itself.

They're both from same data. Cack handed crops plus i might have removed some subs with slight clouds for one. I struggle with curves on star mask before combing back with starless. i seem to lose the running man when i put them back together in siril, but its good practice. The starless version is quite nice (relatively)

stars have more trails than i thought IMG_8881.CR2

50mm f1.7 on a tripod let me fit in orion from betelguese to rigel, but m42 and flame were small. Also wide field of view limited my time due to houses and trees. I am tempted to give it another go now I have a tracker but my lens heater is a bit big and finding stuff at 135mm is no problem. Maybe it might be a good idea to try nina on the 50mm first though. Also balancing with such a light load is...maybe a little vague. Even with both clutches disengaged, there is a little resistance to movement, unless really front or back heavy.

You name them, I have them all 135mm at the moment seems a nice balance for me as a beginner. My plan was to buy a few vintage primes to get a feel for focal lengths before maybe buying a proper lens or scope. 600d is 1.6 crop but my lens native fl are 50, 135, 200 and 500. None of them seem good, so a samyang 135 appeals at the moment. The 500 is a mirror lens and a bit crap. If my skills improve I might be able to do better with it.

Yeah I agree, I wanted some time doing it the traditional way so I'd have more context when doing on a computer. I'm going to try nina with my 600d from videos it seems I should be able to try out polar alignment and plate solving. Attaching even an asiair mini to a DSLR on a maybe 6 inch dovetail bar doesn't seem trivial either. Let alone a guide scope.

My 182/3 sec subs stars looked egg shape, but any trails were small enough to be within those egg shapes. I think. Detail in m42 seemed ok, could see the running man, but my best version so far is a bit blue so still working on it. I will post an example sub and blue m42 when I get home.

Ty all again for all your efforts. I'm not there yet, but I do feel I at last have the ball park in sight. I'm sure I wont need any assistance again in the future

From what I can make out, that's in the very base of the mount which is then screws into more conventional photographic tripod. The gti was apealing because it wasn't much more than a tracker but offered features of grown up mounts and portability. I was getting a bit lost watching videos of people using ra (maybe dec?) Clocks on their mounts but not finding them on mine. I'm hoping the lack of such things wouldn't hold me back in the future. I'm not planning of putting anything huge and expensive on it but tinkering with guiding appeals.

Ty so much. Though I'm beginning to think synscan app has hints of being born of box ticking rather than enthusiasm to make a great tool. I might be being a tad harsh though. Tempted to try an asiair mini.

i want to read your post more thoroughly, but the app won't let me attempt a PA until i've done a 2 star alignment. i think it gets mel maz values after a 2 or 3 star alignment. tbh even with what has turned out to be bad polar alignment at times the goto has been good to amazing. im not using big focal lengths though. ok your post really helps ty - just a bit confused about doing a pa in app before i do a 2 or 3 star alignment. also about home position. let me reread and have a think and see. ty so much for all of this.

im going to jinx myself, but i did a test earlier at 5mins and it looked good. i think stopping down to (i think) f4.5 helped make the stars a little more rounded, but just in case ive dropped it to 3mins and tests look good. all i've done toinight is: point polar scope/mount towards polaris centered polaris in cross hairs of the polar scope. move alt bolt so polaris is at the top on the center of the three rings. moved dec so that zero/12oclock is where polaris is in the polar scope and lock dec clutch. used alt/az bolts to position polaris in the polar scope at the correct clock position as shown in the synscan app tighten az bolts and the big bolts. 2 star alignment in the app 135mm 600d f4.5 iso400 (lots light pollution) and 182 or 183 sec subs cos my intervalometer combined with 2 sec mirror lock up has some issues i think. once orion drops too low i might have another go with polar alignment via app and the alt/az bolts. ty all for your efforts in helping me with this.

i'd love to see a synscan app manual somewhere

well polaris moves when i use them

the small green bolts on either side of the mount near the base.

so the reason why that sub i linked looks so bad as if tracking wasn't on is because.......its possible tracking wasn't on. even though i checked. I think the app on my older version of android sometimes crashes/hangs or causes the app to set itself back to not tracking. restarting and reconnecting the app to the mount and setting tracking back on seemed to do the trick. not very reassuring though. gonna see if i can run the app on something else.

well i just did a regular pa via the scope then a two star alignment in the app and NO polar alignment in app via alt/az bolts. seem to be back to doing decent 60 sec subs now. read below for more also, i did more stopping down tests and dropped it from wide open f2.8 to either f4 or f5.6, after checking a few tests - and particularly jupiter and its moons (which is v handy) i quite liked the results. ovalish, but from the little screen, i think the best i've managed. i will post my results of orion when i can for more hilarity, its the least i can do for all the help i've received

yeah i made inquiries a few weeks back, expecting trouble i just haven't been able to get to one of their meetings yet

one final update for now ty anyone who was reading did another polar alignment via scope, did another two star alignmnent. did a focus test on jupiter looks ok and did a 60 sec sub and the star trailing was within the error of how bad my star shapes are. i have stopped down to 4 or 5.6 (can't check with lens heater on and don't want to disturb it) btw so i went back to orion and did a 60 sec test sub there and it seems ok too. so to sum up i have no idea what i did so badly and i have no idea what i did to fix it. Im full of confidence and optimism my mel maz is still as posted above btw. gonna let it run at 60 sec subs until orion drops too low and will stack and process see what people think.

sorry but i think it best to try and continue this in one single thread, apologies im struggling more than ever now. https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/419327-polaris-moves-in-polar-scope-depending-on/page/3/ if anyone can be of help

ok so an update: its disastrously bad. 11 second sub biggest streaks ive seen. so i hibernated, cleared settings re polar aligned via polar scope and another star alignment didn't do a polar in app and the result is slightly less streaking but not much. see attachment. i have no idea where to go from here. my mel max from after taking attachment: mel 14.4' maz -5'57.2' tilt 3'32.7' id get better results pointing my camera on a ball head and tripod. gonna attempt a pa via synscap again can't be any worse. *********************** ok didn't use synscap to polar align, purely polar scope and alt/ax then a 2 star alignment and its even worse trails. its like tracking isn't even on, but the app says it is. my mel maz is exactly same as above btw if that points to anything. IMG_8488.CR2