Dadek

Great advice! Thank you again Michael, I've spent 2 days trying to figure it out

Hi Michael! Thanks for the great tip! I have tried the focusing with the paper and it seems to achieve focus I have to expand my guide scope for extra 2.5cm, I did it with the helical focuser. I finally got the chimney focused with 0 gain and exposure around 700 micro seconds! Thank you very very much! I have learned a lot today with this focusing I can now start PHD2 in the evening and try to fine tune it for stars?

Hi Michael, thanks for the reply! I also tried removing the extensions of the guide camera and retracting the guide focuser, but I still get only white pictures.

Hello people, I recently got my AP gear and 2 days ago I managed to setup everything and see how it goes. I couldn't find a guide star in PHD2, tried to figure it out alone and I wasted 2 nights already so I need your help. I am having issues with guiding in PHD2 because no matter where in the sky I point the telescope I cannot get a star to guide. I usually get heavy TV static and it seems it is related to focusing. HERE is my guiding setup (TS Optics 50mm guider + ZWO ASI 120mm mini). As you can see from the first picture I have tried to move the camera away completely from the guider but I still don't get any stars. Reducing gain to a value of 5 or 10 reduces the static drastically but still no stars. Just a bit of static. Any ideas what else could I try? Since we are at it, a more general (beginner) question... does the guide star have to be in FOV of the object I am trying to photograph? Cheers!

Thanks again for a great and detailed answer! I have checked the syncscan remote and it doesn't have the serial but USB-B port and in the manual it says it should go directly to a usb port in the PC. Looks like there will be some testing going on!

Hi again guys, thanks a lot for the answers!!! My issue is that from my viewpoint I cannot see polaris so I thought that before viewing I will have to use the dials to "allign" at least somewhat. Mr. Prusling, do I really need the serial to usb and EQMOD? I thought that the usb from the guide camera to the laptop should be enough? And thank you for the great and detailed info about balancing!

Hi people! I got a HEQ5 PRO mount and I plan do to DSO astrophotography. Also, I got one eyepiece just for watching the planets. For taking AP pictures the mount will be fully guided by PHD2 and a guide camera. As for viewing the planets I would just use the syncscan. What is confusing me are these "circle dials" on the mount. So I have 2 questions: 1. For astrophotography: since the mount will be guided with PHD2 do I have to touch and use those dials at all? 2. For super simple viewing: I would use syncscan so I would need to adjust those dials everytime I want to watch planets? Sorry for newbie questions, I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the possibilities

Hey, I have changed the Nikon as it is prehistoric to a Canon 1100D so it should be fine. Yes, I am shooting from a small town and I plan to get a LP filter, but for starting out I would just do some tests to get used to polar alignment and generally taking pictures since I am completely new to this subject. That is also the reason I feel a bit confused with all the software up on the internet and I cannot figure which software would be absolutely needed and which would be nice to have.

Thanks for the awesome answers guys! Could you suggest me a list of "essential" software please?

Hey people, What software (freeware) should I use for DSO astrophotography? I scoured the internet and found many many different combinations and it is a bit daunting for a beginner. What I know for sure is that I need PHD2 for guiding and I would use Gimp and Stellarium. So many programs offer overlaping features and I would like to know which ones are "essential"? Cheers!

Thanks! Can you guys tell me please what sort of cables do I need? For now I would practice from my balcony so I would like to try and connect everything to my house electricity. Cheers!

Thanks for the answers guys! @Erling G-P, doesn't the mount come with some kind of adapter or cable to connect it to electricity output?

Hello guys, Thank you for your answers!! I have checked a bit more and this is what I came up with: gear_to_buy Can you please let me know if anything crucial is missing? Some cables or filters or whatnot? Also, this HEQ5 is not available for a long time, is there any alternative? @joe aguiar I have checked the videos (thanks for the links!) and you did a great job explaining! Cheers guys!

Hello everybody! I sold my old Dobs and saved some money so I would try my hand at AP. My issue is that I feel overwhelmed with all the information available online. I want to take pictures of DSO's and I want to get some "relatively" good gear that should be based on: 1. Skywatcher HEQ-5 mount 2. The camera I own: Nikon D40 Now, the question is what tube would fit this setup nicely? I have these lined up but I don't know which one would be the best (my budget is around 500€ for the tube): 1. 150/750 2. 200/1000 3. Something completely different? Also, in your opinion what other (eyepieces, t-adapters, filters) would be necessary for the setup to work? Looking forward to your answers! Cheers :)