teoria_del_big_bang

Nice image with lots of detail, far better than many first DSO's, including mine 🙂 

I think the processing is more difficult than getting the data and personally never found Gimp easy to use so think that is a great result. Mind I am not saying that any of the other software for processing is easy.

The one thing about the processing though is that you can have another go and maybe try a different method or program whereas when obtaining the data if its a bad night then basically that is it you have to wait for another clear night and start again (although living in Spain that probably comes quicker than in the north of UK 🙂 )

Steve

I have never used sharpcap but I assume the software it uses will take into account the rotation of the guidescope around the Ra axis and account for that. But whatever is not the issue of the scope not moving.

If you want to use NINA with the EQDir cable personally I would remove the ST-4 cable and guide via ASCOM. It is what most people use, supposedly it works better and PHD can gather much more information that other members on SGL can interpret to how your mount is performing.

Have a read of this:

EQASCOM_Guiding

Steve

Buttering me up saying that won't work ha ha. 

If I can find the file I can print one for cost of postage - pm me your address.

Does your in look the same as mine in my tripod ?

Steve

I did have the same problem even with a skywatcher tripod.

As you say the hole is larger than the pin which allows some movement.Normally for imaging it wasn't a big issue as it only moved when I transported the mount in and out of the garage. It relies on the bolt that goes in from below being super tight but even then could move during transport. But I had to polar align every time anyway so one placed on patio (or where ever I was) if the bolt from below was tight it did not move whilst imaging, or even really whilst adjusting the polar alignment screws.

I did however 3D print a sleeve as you suggest in plastic that stopped this movement.

Steve

1 minute ago, Merlin66 said:

I get the impression that it was thought that a PHD guide connection would actually  provide a GOTO type slew.

As we know PHD (and all the guide software) only adds a minor correction to the tracking rate.

Not sure but just thought we need to make sure the mount itself is tracking first, because as you say the mount being properly polar aligned and then in sidereal tracking (for stars and DSOs) should be 99% of keeping the camera on the target and then PHD2 just adds the extra 1% of the tracking if the selected star moves on the guide camera.

So the first thing to understand is that we can take images with reasonable exposures (certainly 30 seconds but usually up to 2 minutes) without even using a guide camera or PHD2 if the mount is polar aligned reasonably well without getting much in the way of star trails. The mount on its own will do the job of tracking without a guide camera.

If this is not true then PHD2 or a guide camera cannot help.

Steve

On 21/08/2020 at 03:29, Lupris said:

Then it tells me how off my RA and DEC is, but the mount is not moving at all. The star is just moving out of the screen like normally

What bothers me is your statement above in a very early post about the star moving out of the screen like normally. Even without PHD2 running that is not normal if you are in sidereal tracking mode with the mount.

If it is tracking and the mount is aligned with the pole (even if not perfect) then the stars on PHD2 should not move very much at all. The mount itself should be tracking the movement of the earth that makes the stars appear to move. Without PHD 2 working then there will be some small drift over time.

Now I do not want to disagree with @kens last post but certainly on my HEQ5  I can hear actually mine tracking.

It is a very faint sound mind, like a very quiet ticking about once maybe twice per second. I have the Rowan belt mod but if everything around is quiet and I am right next to the mount I can hear the ticking sound. Before the belt mod I could also hear it and it was a bit louder.

So if it is in sidereal rate (i.e. the mount is tracking the star) even before doing anything with PHD2 the Ra on the mount should be moving very slowly and if it is quiet I think you will hear the stepper motor moving if you get close to the mount. Try starting the tracking then stopping the tracking and see if you can hear it.

Unless something is wrong even without starting guiding on PHD2 the stars should look pretty stationary (assuming camera is connected in PHD2). Without guiding they may eventually move over time but for several minutes nothing should really move that is easily visible by eye.

Try starting sidereal rate and stopping it, as well as listening to the mount in a quiet place look at the stars on PHD2, when tracking they should not move, when you stop tracking you should see them move albeit very slowly.

I think you need to confirm that all works first before starting any guiding because if you are in sidereal rate and the stars move on the PHD2 display at any noticeable rate then maybe you have the wrong hemisphere selected in the HEQ5 handset.

Steve 

Yes, if using the ST-4 cable between the camera and mount that will work. There are other methods to guide without the ST-4 cable that do require the mount to be connected but with the ST-4 cambe you do not.

You need to select the driver for the guide camera and also select "On Camera for the mount"

Not sure what guide camera you are using below shows a ZWO ASI camera.

With the camera selected, On Camera selected and none for aux mount click on connect next to camera - does it go from red to green ?

     TO    

Then click on connect next to Mount, 

Does that go from red to green ?

    TO    

If so then so far all is good and everything is connected.

For the ZWO cameras I have there seems to be two drivers you can use either an ASCOM driver or the ASI native driver that should be available as well.Both seem to work on mine. For other cameras may be the same I do not know.

And if you go to the very bottom of the list you should have:

Either seem to work on mine so no idea if one is better than the other.

Steve

If you are using the ST-4 cable connected from guide camera to mount then you do not need to connect mount to laptop. You can use the hand set to control the mount. 

Steve

Very nice.

Those ultra narrowband Astrodons doing a great job. I really like the colours 🙂 

Steve

So long as you can successfully connect to guide camera in PHD2 then it will work I am sure it will work.

The camera I was using for test was sat on my dining room table with dust cover still on so does not matter what that is seeing.

If it doesn't work maybe ST-4 cable is faulty but I would very much doubt that would go wrong.

Anyway I will keep my fingers crossed.

Steve

Ok done it.

So sorry to go over everything again but from the top:

Guide camera connected to laptop via usb.

Guide camera connected to mount via ST-4 cable.

Hand set connected to mount.

12V power supply connected to mount.

Thats all you need for the test.

Turn on mount.

Start phd 2

Connect camera then mount as in my previous post.

No need to start PHD looping.

Open Manual guide.

Just for test set guide pulse duration to maximum 5000 ms so the movement is as big as it will go.

Make sure you are in a very quiet room because you will not see any visible movement just hear the stepper motor moving but it is quiet.

click either the east or west button just once. Listen very carefully putting your ear on the mount if necessary and you should hear a tick tick ticking about once a second and will last for 5 seconds.

Keeping the button pressed does nothing you have to click once and then it will move at half the sidereal rate (so very slowly) for 5 seconds whether you keep it pressed or not and you have to wait for it to finish then click again to move another 5 seconds. The north and south do the same for the DEC axis but was even quieter on my mount.

5 seconds is far too long for proper guiding so go through that calibration I said how to do it yesterday near the top of this age.

Steve

Let me dig my HEQ-5 mount out (not used it for a while as I now have an I-Optron and wire it up.

Steve

That's what I am not sure about as never tried it with ST-4 cable. I thought you would have to be tracking in sidereal rate with mount (set via handset) for any guiding pulsed to work via the ST-4 cable (but I am not 100%).

Steve

With the ASI camera selected, On Camera selected and none for aux mount click on connect next to camera - does it go from red to green ?

     TO    

Then click on connect next to Mount, 

Does that go from red to green ?

    TO    

If so then so far all is good and everything is connected.

Steve

But you have no connection to mount from computer do you ?

so you have to select "On Camera" for mount.

Steve

To help I have just plugged an ASI ZWO camera into my laptop and started PHD2.

That ASCOM driver for ASI cameras should work fine. Also if you have loaded the ASI native driver that should be available as well.Both seem to work on mine.

And if you go to the very bottom of the list you should have:

Either seem to work on mine so no idea if one is better than the other.

Steve

When you get your EQDir cable you can ditch the ST-4 cable and control guiding better as it will send theguide pulses via that cable directly to the mount.

It may help to read this:

EQASCOM_Guiding

Most of it relates to guiding via EQASCOM  which is the better method and what most people use but needs the new cable you have ordered. There is a small section early on that talks about ST-4 guiding as well though.

Steve

No just start it in sidereal tracking. Not sure how as I never used the handset on my HEQ5. 

But I would think that you would need to be in sidereal tracking mode on the mount before starting guiding in PHD2.

In theory you polar align your mount (which is somewhere close to Polaris - but not exactly thats why Polaris is always just off centre of the polar scope when correct) which means once the scope is on your target you set the mount off in sidereal tracking and the Ra axis moves very slowly (360 degrees in 24 hours). So if all was perfect and the gearing on the mount was perfect the mount would track your target star (or DSO)  perfectly as the mount is just moving in same rotation as the earth which is why the stars appear to be moving in the first place.

BUT, things are never perfect so we use HD2 and the guidescope and camera to detect the errors by seeing when a start it is tracking moves to some different pixels on the guide camera and that hen sends guide pulses back to the mount via the ST-4 cable which tells the mount to move a little extra on top of the tracking movement of Ra to counteract this error.

So I am pretty sure you will need to be tracking with the mount BEFORE you go into PHD and select your star and so on. 

So PHD2 only adds small adjustments onto what the mount is already doing, the mount does 99% of the tracking and PHD just adds that last 1 % to keep it spot on target.

I too am pretty new to all this so no expert but thats how I believe it works.

Steve

Ok good I understand now. So before you took the steps you mentioned earlier:

16 hours ago, Lupris said:

1. I connect camera(Zwo asi camera) and mount (on-camera)

2.I press "begin looping"

3.I select a star

4.I press "beginn guiding"

Then it tells me how off my RA and DEC is, but the mount is not moving at all. The star is just moving out of the screen like normally

Did you move the mount to another bit of sky other than Polaris, wait for mount to stop and then start sidereal tracking using the handset ?

Steve 

Sorry, totally wrote my last post wrongly - I have corrected it now

Okay so for these tests you still have the handset to control mount and the only USB cables to computer are the main imaging camera and the guide camera and then the ST-4 cable goes between the guide camera and the mount ST-4 sockets.

Are my assumptions correct ?

Steve

So have you taken the handset off and now using the EQDir cable with NINA to control the mount. ?

If so all this should still work but  with EQDir cable you are better off not using the ST-4 cable method.

Steve

43 minutes ago, Lupris said:

does it have to be star aligned for that? i just near the star?

No, for a test it doesn't have to be star aligned but you need to slew it away from Polaris to a clear bit of sky with visible stars and then start sidereal tracking with the handset.

I am assuming here as you are using the ST-4 cable between guide camera and mount you only have the main camera & guide camera connected to computer and you are controlling mount with the handset.

Steve

Silly question maybe but before starting guiding have you slewed the mount with the handset to a star and started the mount in sidereal tracking ?

The mount must be in sidereal rate before starting guiding in PHD2 (I think anyway).

Steve

On 21/08/2020 at 03:00, Merlin66 said:

Lupris,

On your screen shots I don't see you connecting to the mount?

If your ST4 cable is connected to the ST-4 port on the mount, Camera connected and mount "on camera" connected, you should be able to move a field star by pressing the PHD manual direction buttons and by choosing a suitable star start the calibration process.

 

I don't have much experience using st-4 and PHD2, I have always had a direct connection from computer to mount. But I thought the connect button was greyed out when selecting "On Camera" as there was actually no connection to mount.

I could be wrong mind not something I have tried.

Steve

EDIT - Ignore this I just tried it and yes using On Camera you can connect with PHD2.

Although I suspect will always go green if you have already connected to the camera successfully as it is actually not connecting with anything more than the camera so if camera connects it looks like the mount will also connect..

The connect button is just greyed out (disabled) until you first connect the camera successfully.