michael8554

The stock filters on the sensor limit the sensor's ability to capture Ha. Adding a clipin filter to a stock camera won't increase what isn't there. Michael

Hi Deason I think the reason your stars appear as white lines is because, as Geoff says, the mount doesn't have a motor on it to allow the mount to follow the stars as they appear to move across the sky. You'll have to experiment with the longest exposure that gives round stars. Michael

Hi Paul Not spoiled, we're onto Day 4 now, but the cat was already out of the bag. Michael

My bad, we were away for the weekend so had only got to day 2 in the recordings when I posted. I don't believe they had a solar filter, just attenuated enough at sunset to give a good exposure when stopped down. Michael

Today's Test Match play in Pakistan ended, due to poor light, with this shot of the setting sun. The TV cameras often have Canon lenses with enormous zoom ratios: Michael

PA is done first. This sets the RA axis to follow the apparent motion of the stars across the sky, and minimises Dec drift. For visual use the polarscope PA should be good enough, but for imaging, the better you get PA, the longer the exposures can be before elongation of stars in the images occurs. If you're guiding, a PA error of 5arcmins is good enough. Then Star Alignment. For any given date and time the mount's sky map knows where the alignment stars should be, and does GoTos to those positions. Centring the chosen stars tweaks the mount's sky map into sync with reality. Unlike the stars, the path of planets across the sky is complex and dynamic, so GoTos may not be perfect. Michael

That's what I use with a Canon 6D. The camera has to be mounted "upside down", so that the guidecam doesn't foul the 6D's flash housing. And I replaced one of the long shiny thumb screws with a metric screw. The head of the long screw fouled the flash housing when trying to engage the bayonet. Michael

Some heavy stretching: Michael

Hi Quaternass I said: EQMOD ASCOM PulseGuide setting" It says EQMOD, so you won't find it in PHD2 :-< Michael

Hi Quatermass From the GuideLog, the guide rates are on the default "EQMOD ASCOM PulseGuide setting" of 1.5arcsec/sec: RA Guide Speed = 1.5 a-s/s, Dec Guide Speed = 1.5 a-s/s Needs to be at least 7.5arcsec/sec That very low rate made it difficult for PHD2 to correct guide errors. And also caused Calibration to take 53 steps instead of about 12. Cal included about 15 second worth of Dec Backlash, it's best to clear that before Calibrating, it's all in the Help files. A PHD2 Guide Assistant run would have measured it for you and suggested a PHD2 Dec Backlash Compensation figure. PA error was about 10arcmins, and was drifting south, which the PHD2 Guide Assistant run would have advised you of. To correct a south drift you needed to guide north, not south !! So the drift wasn't being corrected !! I didn't see anywhere where "it only works correctly if I change the Dec guide command to south", all Dec your guiding was marred. You Calibrated at Dec = 59.3 deg, it's best to Cal at near south and within 20 degrees of Dec = 0. I suggest you have a good read of the PHD2 Help files, as you don't seem to know the basics. Michael

Hi Louizi That's a tough break. The part with the damage is called the focuser tube. You could try only operating the focuser on the undamaged part of the rack, like Mandy suggested. If necessary adding an extension tube of a suitable length to compensate. Are the eyepieces you insert 1.25" in diameter? Then an extension similar to this, but the right length: https://campaign.aliexpress.com/wow/gcp/tesla-pc-new/index?UTABTest=aliabtest344316_486351&_randl_currency=GBP&_randl_shipto=GB&src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=494-037-6276&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&albagn=888888&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&albcp=17859472720&albag=&trgt=&crea=en1005001805832707&netw=x&device=c&albpg=&albpd=en1005001805832707&gclid=Cj0KCQiAsoycBhC6ARIsAPPbeLs71B3hTbaVNgG5p4Jf8-7UyZ9nXk-B5mT1gmssUa8Xq0vcD9WVlHUaAnfIEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&aff_fcid=64fba53c7d374ef994176a098cc77b9b-1669563733097-07812-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=64fba53c7d374ef994176a098cc77b9b-1669563733097-07812-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=d334a97ee9d64ebda8055986c6bcfe87&wh_weex=true&wx_navbar_hidden=true&wx_navbar_transparent=true&ignoreNavigationBar=true&wx_statusbar_hidden=true&bt_src=ppc_direct_lp&scenario=pcBridgePPC&productId=1005001805832707&OLP=1084300508_f_group2&o_s_id=1084300508 Michael

"I read on the posts here that setting the Dec to south and making sure the polar alignment is spot on solved the Dec dropping off s" Does not compute. PA is never "spot on", so Dec will drift in one direction, not necessarily south. Could be that on that particular night Dec was drifting north, so south-only guiding worked. Which is a fix for Dec Backlash/Stiction. Because any guide commands that cause Dec to swing over to the other Dec side will take the duration of the Dec Backlash to correct. If your mount does have Dec Backlash/Stiction then on the night, track for a minute with guiding off and look which way Dec drifts. Then guide in the opposite direction, raise Dec Min Move a bit to stop Dec reversals. The drift direction may change later on as you track across the sky. Michael

"I think the multi-star guiding is selected but it only selects one star." If you have selected MultiStar, but have manually selected a guide star, MultiStar is disabled. Michael

Have you "Trained Drives" ? This improves the accuracy of the mount's final slow slew to target. Your 14" has a very long focal length which makes GoTo accuracy difficult. SYNCHing on a star near the target is what I do with my 8", the target is then always in the FOV of my camera. Michael

Hi Ian The message "RA Calibration Failed: star did not move enough" Is because you have your guide rates set very low: RA Guide Speed = 1.5 a-s/s, Dec Guide Speed = 1.5 a-s/s This is probably because you have the EQMOD "ASCOM PulseGuide setting" on the default value. Guide speed needs to be at least 7.5 a-s/s. MultiStar guiding is a way to compensate for "Chasing the Seeing". So Exposure = 1000 ms is probably okay. Michael

How long are the exposures ? The camera buffer may not always empty fast exposures quickly enough to allow more exposures to enter. When I take 1 sec Flats with my Canon 6D, sometimes I can get 3 in a row, sometimes it stalls downloading the first one. Michael

You could post the GuideLog and DebugLog on the PHD2 Help forum. Those logs will include the dialogue of the connection attempts. Instructions on how to upload are in the PHD2 Help menu. Make sure the dates in the filenames are relevant. Michael

Hi Sean Looking at on-line ads, the switch appears to be a push to make, push to break type. Sounds terminal to me. Makes you wonder how they tested the mount at the factory........ Michael

Hi Martin You're going to have to supply a lot more information. I've no way of knowing whether this is a tiny star-sized object, or a large nebula-like object Is this the whole image, or a crop of a larger image ? What size is the field of view ? Michael

As the problem is only with the 6D. And the problem radiates from the middle-top of frame, the most obvious question would be: Do you have the camera's eyelevel viewfinder blanked off ? Michael

Repeat pushing the cable back into the grommet. And put a small zip-tie on the cable to act as a stop to prevent it pulling back out. Michael

Hi Vroobel I have a modded 6D and I don't have that light gradient on my images. Have you blanked off the viewfinder aperture with the rubber thingy you may find on the shoulder strap ? To prevent extraneous light marring your images. Michael

You were able to focus the moon with the Skywatcher Equinox 80 ? When you tried to resolve stars did you have SharpCap in Long Exposure mode with at least 2 seconds exposure ? Michael

You mention a AFR IV flattener/reducer, which has this backfocus quoted in the spec: Lens-to-chip distance : 66-86mm So set your ASI2600MC within that range, which presumably alters the reduction Power : 0.75x ~ 0.8x Now measure from the centre of the prism to the chip. Set the Lodestar or ASI120MM-S sensor the same distance from the prism. Michael

How old is your LX90 ? Newer ones may have moved to metric, but the finderscope thumbscrews on my LX200GPS are 10-32 x 3/4" Nylon UNF. Michael