michael8554

Flat Earth Society Lunar Excursion Module ? Michael

If stars at the centre of the image are round, and the star distortions are more towards the edge and all pointing towards/away from the centre, then it's coma. Others who have this lens can advise if coma is normal or not. Michael

Only need to recalibrate if the guidescope or cam has rotated since the last Cal. Assuming you have a setup that feeds Dec position to the guide software, and that it uses that to adjust the RA rate to the changes in Dec. PHD2 does that, but if your guide software doesn't, you will need to Cal on every new target. Yes. Not orthogonal usually means you haven't taken up any Dec Backlash before Calibrating. Pulse the mount north until you see the guidestar move, THEN Cal. Sounds like you're using ASIAir, which has discarded some of the important PHD2 features. Michael

The launch was on the BBC National News. They mentioned the Falcon booster had been previously used. No mention of the booster being successfully retrieved after the launch. Michael

As Alacant said. Plus if MinMo is too low then constant pulses will be sent. How much RA Periodic Error, and PA error, did you see in the Guide Assistant run ? Log please. Michael

Has your laptop time been set to Summertime ? Where did the mount end up when it slewed to the star in the east ? Try this during the day. If you point West, is the RA reported in the mount approximately correct for a star located west ? GoTo a star that is south - is RA correct again ? Slew to NSW (not quite West), then Goto a star to the East - what happens ? Michael

Hi You've been around for over 10 years, so you know that imaging at 2000mm really requires threaded connections to get your 133.35mm back focus. Michael

If it's a Canon, then have you tried the Sensor Cleaning function from the menus ? Other brands may have a similar feature. After that it's the Manual Clean function, that holds the shutter open/mirror up until you press the release again. Hold the camera pointing down and use a manual blower, not an aerosol one that can add more gunk to the filters. Final resort is a cleaning kit. Michael

IIRC that filter will allow you to image sunspots. The "expensive bespoke kit" have a narrow-band Ha filter that reveals lower layers of the sun's atmosphere where the prominences are - those looping features on the edge of the sun's disk. Michael

As I said you have got it working in SharpCap and are very near focus, so should work in PHD2. Do you see the same Altair driver in the PHD2 "Connect Equipment" window as you see in SharpCap ? You don't have SharpCap running in the background at the same time ? Michael

The PHD2 screen will show a bright noisy frame when no stars are present, so try gentle pulses in RA, the screen will change to dark with stars when stars are in the FOV. Michael

According to the SharpCap Control Panel, you are taking 8 second exposures, so the image is extremely over exposed. Try again at 1 second on a bright star. It does look like you are close to focus though. If it does need collimating, which is what earlier posts suggest is the cure, then it would be worth first checking in the old-school way of looking at the out-of-focus Airy Rings. With SharpCap in Video mode to give continuous images. But PHD2 is very forgiving of star shape, witness it's success at guiding coma-shaped stars with OAGs. I would ditch the Bahtinov Mask and use the HFD reading in the Star Profile window, adjust focus for lowest HFD. Michael

There are 8 British Standard classes of lasers, and roughly speaking anything over 1mW is considered a hazard to eyesight. I doubt any Chinese manufacturer is bothering about those guidelines. Michael

Hi Kev Just so there's absolutely no confusion. Plate Solving determines where the mount is pointing, that's all, it doesn't Guide the mount. The separate guidescope and guide camera guides the mount by looking for deviations of the guidestar position, and by sending correction pulses to the mount from the guide softwae, PHD2 for example. Michael

Hi Rik Never seen it that bad, and always been "mono". What duration ? Michael

Well, posting on the PHD2 forum isn't really so bad. After all they are the experts, we just make inspired guesses ! Michael

I expect you mean "all the guider needs is some stars to GUIDE on." Plate solving uses images from the main camera, because that's the camera you want accurately pointed at the target. Michael

I'd suggest that after a 2 year gap you should start a new topic. Is the Setup / Telescope / Mount / Alt/Az or Polar mode set correctly ? Is the Setup / Telescope / Tracking Rate set to Sidereal ? Is Setup / Targets set to Astronomical ? Although it doesn't sound like you have this problem, an unrelated problem with GPS scopes - is the year the GPS is offering correct 2021 ? Michael

Well Wael I see you posted a GuideLog on the PHD2 Help forum, but not here. Here's what they said: * No Calibration * No Guide Assistant run * No Dec Backlash Compensation. * Balancing in RA is not going to help improve Dec Backlash They did say you should improve the PE, which was a topic you had already raised here. Confirms everything we have recently said about you ignoring advice from members who have taken the time and effort to help you. Michael

Ahhh. Didn't twig that the external power is only a charger for an internal Lithium battery, I was thinking old-school removeable C-Cells. So as David says, sounds like a new battery is needed. Michael

Good point Anne. So Jem should measure from the rear of the OTA, and adjust spacers before and after the focuser, and the focuser itself, to get the 314L at the same distance as the DSLR. I'm wondering now if the DSLR is at the RC's "sweet spot", or just some arbitrary point that focuses ? Michael

On most mounts, plugging an external power supply into the power socket on the mount breaks the connection to the internal batteries. It sounds like the external power supply isn't actually connecting ! Try powering your mount with the external power supply plugged in, but with the internal batteries removed. If it doesn't power up it suggests you have the wrong size power plug, that is not breaking the connection to the internal batteries. Or the contacts inside the power socket are bent out of position. Or worse, is leaving both power supplies connected. The correct plug is 5.5mm external diameter, and has a 2.1mm diameter central "hole". 5.5mm x 2.5mm is wrong. Michael

Dither for DSLRs is usually about 12 pixels, which is what answers in that link suggest ? Michael

As vlaiv said. Are you guiding or not ? What software are you using for guiding ? I believe there are videos of how to adjust the backlash, yours sounds horribly wrong. You should make adjusting, that a priority, to eliminate the grinding noises. Michael

In this image I assume the DSLR is in focus. The white dot on the DSLR body is where it's sensor is. But first I would focus on a landmark much further away than a couple of hundred feet, then measure the distance indicated by the red lines. You need to place the 314L's sensor at that distance. How you do that depends on what adapters and extension tubes you have, and the amount of focuser travel. Then put the tin foil with a pin prick onto the front of the telescope, held with an elastic band. Your current camera mountings are not very rigid for imaging - use threaded connections, not screw clamp fittings that can wobble and cause tilt. Michael