michael8554

Are you using the latest PHD2 dev version ? Then sounds like a bug, upload the Guide and Debug logs to the PHD2 forum. (Upload instructions in the Help menu) Michael

GuideLog ?? Much, much, better. Your Cal has a much improved angle error, and PHD2 shows the Cal as "Acceptable", indicated by the Cal icon on the bottom line of the main window display being Green, instead of Red for Fail. And the reported Dec and RA Guide Rates are now sensible values, albeit a little different. 6 arcmin PA error is just about useable, 5 or less would be better. Equipment Profile looks to have the correct selections now. I can't read what setting you have for the EQMOD Pulseguide settings, screen grabs are much better than screen shots. Best to run the PHD2 Guide Assistant to advise the MinMove settings for each night's seeing conditions. And allow it to measure Dec Backlash and set the PHD2 Dec Backlash Compensation. Alter the PHD2 x:400 setting to give a more spread-out horizontal scale to the graph, it's much too bunched-up to read easily. You could start to practice your image processing skills by at least posting images that aren't rotated 90 degrees.

Not worth messing with the default PHD2 settings UNTIL YOU GET A GOOD CAL. ASCOM Pulse Guiding Settings in EQMOD Why on earth are you asking that when you have so much wrong with your guiding. Stop sidetracking !

Did you take anti-static precautions ? Did you mark the ribbon insertion depths with a Sharpie ? Did you get the "black part" up by I and J back into the white socket ? (instruction 16) ? I sometimes forget the ribbon in instruction 19. There's a limit to the number of times you can remove and replace the ribbons before they get damaged. The camera won't come on if the tiny switch that is closed by the battery lid is damaged (but you say the battery is draining). Michael

From the GuideLog, the good news : You have Guiding selected. The selected Guide Rates are 9.5arcsec/sec, which is fine. You eventually started Calibrating at around Dec=0, Dec = -62 and Dec = -54 are not necessary when you have an ASCOM connection. The bad news: To emphasise what Malcolm has shown, your Calibration axis are almost opposite each other, instead of at 90 degrees to each other. So every RA move is echoed in the Dec axis and vice-versa. Guide Assistant reported PA error to be 26arcmins - did you improve that ? PA figures during guiding attempts varied widely, but with the poor Cal it's hard to say what the real figures were. Reported guide speeds are 23 to 27 arcsec/sec (although the mount is set to 9.5), which means Calibration is in only 4 steps instead of 12, the guide rate in EQMOD needs adjusting I'd guess. I'm not a EQMOD or ST4 user, so I'm not sure why you have a ST4 connection on the guidecam when ASCOM guiding - is that necessary ? Looks like that ST4 cable is about to snap, and may already have broken connections: Rotate the guidecam so that the ST4 and USB sockets are at the bottom, and tie the cables in a smooth loop to the main scope, and a larger loop to the top of the tripod. PHD2 will compensate in Cal for the "upside down" guidecam. UNTIL YOU GET A GOOD CALIBRATION IT IS POINTLESS TRYING TO GUIDE. I gather that Williams Optics make quality scopes, but their scope mounts are an engineering disaster. Michael

Beats me David. All I can say is that the "eyedropper" reading of the star is 188 on the first image and 202 on the last. But the core of the galaxy shows a similar increase in brightness without any obvious flare. Michael

That would entirely depend on the telescope it was connected to. In my case 8" SCT at 1280mm FL, I crop the image to frame the target more than I crop to remove vignetting. Here's a JPG of a Raw Flat, with OAG prism shadow at the top of frame:

Could you post jpeg of first and last sub ? Michael

I have a 6D because of the large pixels needed for my long FL scope, it's sensitivity, and it's legendary low noise at high ISO. Yes it is vignetted by the scope, so what ? You crop to get the same result as a smaller sensor. But the price of a Ha modded one is getting into dedicated OSC astro camera country. I stick with the 6D because of it's simplicity to use compared to OSC. But the pixels could be to large your 637mm effective FL scope. Michael

Always worth looking at what the PHD2 Instructions say: 'Random mode' - tells PHD2 to use a random-number generator to compute both the size and the direction of the dither, subject to any constraints imposed by RA-only mode or by the Dec guiding mode being set to 'None'. 'Spiral mode' - tells PHD2 to dither with fixed-size amounts in a clockwise spiral pattern. This can be a good choice when the imaging camera has significant fixed-pattern noise or the mount has a troublesome amount of Dec backlash. I don't know how far you want to dither, your guide image scale is 4.47arcsec/pixel, so a setting of 3 in PHD2 will dither the image camera about 13 pixels. Michael

Hi Bob gallery2021@astronomynow.com Good luck, you don't seem to have a 20" RC, a Paramount, a 64Mpixel camera, and a foreign location ......... 😆 Michael

A GuideLog would show what is going on, but a couple of guesses: If your RA and Dec Errors are markedly different, then RA or Dec is significantly shifting during exposures. Similar RA and Dec errors means guiding was good, but on a guidestar that was shifting due to a loose guidescope. Or guiding was just rubbish. Michael

Given the chances of bricking your mount, is there a good reason for the upgrade ? Michael

Looks like you've got some tree branches on your sensor, right of frame............ 😆 Michael

I see what you mean. Michael

Good stuff from Malcolm. Best to let PHD2 Autoselect a star - or stars if you're using Multi Star Guiding, recommended. Pulse north until you see the guidestar move, to take up Dec Backlash, then Calibrate Shift-Click on the Guide button to force a new Calibration. A 30second test exposure at Max ISO on a DSLR will show your framing on most galaxies. Not allowing a minute or two for PHD2 to settle is a common mistake. I see loads of GuideLogs where guiding is stopped after a minute and Calibration repeated for no reason. Guide Assistant run will assess the Seeing conditions and suggest settings. Michael

In the PHD2 Equipment selection you choose ASI 120MC. Is there somewhere else you think you have to select that ? Michael

I'm not sure those drivers will work without ASCOM. Why confusing ? You download and Install ASCOM and then you can forget about it ? Michael

That a 10minute 1GB download that I couldn't open ! Could you reload the Autosave into DSS and "Save as" a 16bit TIF ? Michael

Try an ASCOM connection with another prog such as Sharpcap, in Long Exposure mode, not avi mode, which will show whether your connections and ASCOM drivers are okay. Michael

I'm not clear what your images are showing, but from the posts and videos you'll have realised that the prism is best aligned with the long edge of the imaging camera. Which from the Master Flat image, appears to be 20 degrees or so off ? And you could rotate the Guidecam 90 degrees in its holder, so that the USB socket and hence imaging chip is square to the scope optical centreline ? The setscrew that locks the periscope can tilt the periscope slightly to one side, so that the prism is not quite in line with the centre line of the imaging camera - not a big problem. I have the Fields of View set up in my Planetarium. So I can rotate and/or slightly offset the FOV to get a good guide star on the prism, then I GoTo the RA and Dec of that position. Here it is pointing at Regulus. The prism appears to be well outside the FOV, but in reality is only just outside, according to the Flats. Also the prism is picking up stars to the south of the imaging camera, but due to the optics of my scope, the prism is physically located to the north of the imaging camera. Took a while to realise that ! Is that a Masterflat of your main imaging camera ? A lot of vignetting there !

Possibly your subs have become Associated with GIMP, so will only open in GIMP. You need to make sure there's no prog ticked for Raws: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/change-file-associations-windows

I've always used a long Dew Shield on my 8" SCT, and have never needed a dew band, but it's in a dome. Most agree the Meade, Celestron, Antares, HIrsch etc FR's look identical, and probably come out of the same Chinese factory. But some of them may have coatings that will improve performance. Michael

Hi John You can see that 60 sec exposures have noticeable drift. So if all your 60s are like this you need to experiment with faster exposures. Camera shake, mirror shake, or shutter shake only show on sub-one second exposures, on long exposures of dim object they doesn't register. Michael

To SYNC, you hold the ENTER key down for 2 to 3 seconds. The display says "Syncing" for a couple of secs IIRC, and then it beeps to confirm. Page 30 of the Manual, in the sidebar. If your finder is well-aligned with your imaging camera, centre the star on the finder, then the camera, then SYNC. Same for target if not quite framed to your liking. Michael