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Hello together, I tried capturing the milky way a few says ago. This isn't my first time doing astrophotography but I ran into a problem. I captured 128 light frames, 51 darks and +100 flat and bias frames. I loaded them into DSS and registered them. Firstly I set the threshold so that ~200 stars were found. All pictures have a very similar score (1070-1400) and number of stars (180-220). There were no clouds. After the first stack the result looked horrible. I looked at the offset data and some images got rotated by over 150 degrees which can't be since all pictures were taken within an hour. Some pictures did't have any offset information at all (NC)! I changed the star detection threshold and tried everything from 15 to 500 stars with the same result. I looked a bit closer which stars got detected and this seems kind of random. The stars that got recognized are not even similar in 2 pictures taken after each other. What else can I try? I used the Sony A7iii with the Samyang (Rokinon) 14mm f/2.8. It was my first night with the 14mm. I stacked a set of images of the Pleiades a few weeks ago with no problems at all (Sony a7iii, Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8). Converting the raw images into DNG didn't fix the issue. Thanks! DSC02847.tif

I have recently moved to NZ from the UK and want to get out stargazing again. I have a slight issue though, due to being on a hill, I cannot see sigma octantis for polar alignment. I have an EQM-35 Pro mount (synscan), and I also have a QHYCCD polemaster. Can anyone recommend the best method of accurate alignment in this scenario? Thanks in advance!

Hello, I am having some trouble collimating my 12inch f4.5 truss dobsonian and getting different results between the Cheshire and the laser method. Everything looks very aligned through the Cheshire key (picture attached)...however if I then insert the laser, everything is not aligned, the reflection of the secondary is not hitting the centre of the circle of the Primary and the reflection of the Laser is way off....(pictures attached) I have been told that 'the reflection of the secondary in the primary will not be centered with the other reflections, but that ok, as the secondary itself is not exactly centered on the optical path (there is a tilt, which is due to the focal ratio ( fd 4,5). If it where fd 5 or more, it would be centered, and there would not be any tilt' If this is the case, then I guess it is normal for the laser not to be aligned or am i missing something ? Thanks a lot for the help :)'

29/01/2015 - 30/01/2015 New toy day - laser alignment tool. I thought the 130SLT was working pretty well until I checked the collimation: way out. There should be a warning that your new scope will be off focus until a laser alignment tool is used and the collimation corrected. So that done I got the scope outside only to have the batteries die. Then I found that my 12V PSU is the wrong polarity. So I got the NiMH fast-charged, and of course the skies clouded over 8/8 with some heavy stuff from the west for the rest of the foreseeable.

Hi all, looking for some help please! 🙏 I have a wedge for my 8SE and when using EQ North to align it, it says it is slewing to Vega but ends up all the way over at Polaris!? Any ideas? 🤞🏻 Thanks in advance! 😊 I have updated the firmware, Mount is pointing at north, have inputted my latitude and longitude, I have tried picking the nearest city too and nothing seems to work! 😟

I am forced to use the drift method alignment from my back garden due to a neighbouring building being between Capella and me. So I have been practising the drift alignment method. I have however ran into a problem, and no amount of googling has provided me with the answer. so I am hoping that someone can help me out in understanding what could be the issue or what I could be doing wrong. The problem that I am experiencing is that the objects in my viewfinder are drifting backwards. i.e. they are slowing disappearing off my screen on the lefthand side. There is no drift upwards or downwards that I can detect thought. The drift is slow enough to allow me to take a picture of up to around 4 seconds without the stars looking out of shape. But at 10sec or higher, the drift is quite clear. Does anyone have an idea or suggestion for me to try?

So the little circular bubble level is weak. But how to improve the levelling stage a head of the alignment stage? A traditional level like this one Or a simple multi purpose one like this one? And we do this on the tripod before adding the mount & OTA? The mount looks gently curved. How do we check that for level or do we trust the ‘fit’?

Hello everyone, I'm wondering if I could get some help, sort of ripping my hair out a little. I have the EXOS2 PMC-8 and last night I used Sharpcap to Polar align, I set the mount up as usual and adjusted until Sharpcap said excellent Polar alignment. So my next step was to do a 3 star alignment I was using a program called Explorer Stars to achieve this, so when I asked the mount to slew to the first star it was way off even in the finder scope, is that normal? So I used the controls to get the star in my FOV and centred it, it was the same for the next two stars way off. so I did the same. I finished the 3 star alignment and when I asked the mount to find an object the object was not centred it was bottom right of the quick photo I took. I've made sure all the information is correct by setting my Longitude and Latitude and also made sure my time is correct, the mount is balanced and level and pointing North. I think I'm doing something wrong somewhere. Also may I ask should my counterweight bar be parallel with the mounts front leg? I have two little arrows on the mount that should be pointing at each other when in the home position but when they are the counterweight bar is pointing to the right quite a fair bit. I'm new to all this only been doing it for a few months so a lot of things are quite confusing. Thanks in advance Bill.

I'm on an EQ3 and I have had trouble calibrating it. I'm trying to calibrate the reticule but .... It seems that barrel of the polarscope is off axis in the tube - it sort of moves the whole image around, as if you were swirling a pair of binoculars around. Maybe I can make a video. Is it time for me to buy a fresh one that I didn't meddle with? The outcome is that I can only shoot 20second images before the stars elongate. polar-align-problem.mp4

Hi guys, new to SG lounge and new to the hobby. I have just bought my first EQ Mount (Used 2018 model HEQ5 pro, belt modded). I hate to be the newbie to ask questions about polar alignment, but I have what I hope to be a relatively simple question to answer, yet have had no luck with the search bar. When my mount is in the home position (counterweight bar down) and tripod north my polar scope reticle is orientated as per the attached photograph (photo 1). When I was reading prior to getting the mount I had simply assumed that the reticle would be oriented with 0 being directly at the top and 6 at the bottom when in home position. As this is not the case, my question regards what I do during the process of polar alignment. Do I rotate the R.A. so that 0 is at the top and 6 is at the bottom and then place Polaris in the relevant position as per my iOS polar alignment app (photo 2) or do I need to somehow rotate the reticle within the polar scope such that the reticle is orientated vertically in the home position? Are the date and time dials on the mount itself obsolete now that we have the privilege of apps that do the work for us? Apologies if this is a basic question that has been covered before.

Hello, Since a couple of months I'm a EQ6-R Pro user. So far I've been using the synscan handcontroller to do the star alignment. I would like the use software like stellarium, kstars or cartes du ciel thru the direct connection with mount, so no longer using the synscan handcontroller. I've tried but when I search an object and make the software slew to it, it's way off. I'm quite confident with my polar alignment as I'm using the QHYCCD PolarScope (and furthermore I've read on this forum that polar alignment and star alignment are not the same). Can somebody please explain how to do star alignment with software like stellarium, kstars or cartes du ciel - I suppose there's is some general procedure that applies to software like the three I mention? Many thanks, AstroRookie

Hello, Mount: EQ6-R Pro, QHYCCD PoleMaster, software Couldmakers Indigo-server, skychart (on OS X). Applied procedure: Leveled the tripod Polar aligned with PoleMaster, so I suppose I can assume that it's decently polar aligned Star alignment using skychart, direct connection to EQ6-R (no Synscan handcontroller, AstroRookie's hubris 😉 ) First star synced: Arcturus Second star synced: Dubhe Slew back to Arcturus: nicely centered Third star Vega, which was close to the zenith: completely off Slew back to Dubhe and Arcuturus, every thing still hunky dory Question: what can cause this "error"; is it because I took 2 stars west of the meridian? Is it better to take stars in "opposite positions" of the meridian? Thanks for clarifying! AstroRookie

Hi, I'm having trouble aligning my telescope. I can polar align fine, and I set the scope up in the direction of the pole star, and I use my DSLR (live view) to calibrate the stars whilst 2 star aligning. I then pick a star in the control handset and I check the star using an app is available (I have a view of it), when it is I confirm an dthe scope moves to align that star. However, the star is hardly in shot/view and the scope is pointing in a slightly different direction than the app. (star walk 2) So I'm having all manner of difficulties aligning. Any help is much appreciated Thanks

Hi All I need the combined brains and experience of SGL please, I'm stuck!! I've been an astronomer for 30+ years and have had several Skywatcher telescopes over time, including my current EQ6-Pro for about 10 years. This is largely irrelevant to my post, except that I hope to convey that I'm not a total novice to getting telescopes to work as they should...although I feel like I am today. I recently picked up a very battered early-version EQ6 with 10" reflector, cheap. It hadn't been looked after well and when I first fired it up...it didn't fire up at all. No life. I noticed that the power supply wasn't suitable as it only had a 0.5A output. So after digging out a spare one from the cupboard outputting 12V 1.25A, the Synscan chirped into life. My first attempt to slew the mount was met with a horrible grinding noise and refusal to move. Needless to say, I didn't do that again. Clearly the motor/gear train was seized. So a quick look on the internet brought up the amazing website posted by Astro Baby, with step by step instructions on how to strip and rebuild an EQ5 or EQ6 mount. This kept me entertained for a couple of nights, followed by a lovely smooth running mount slewing in RA and DEC as it should. Many thanks Astro Baby! Last night was the first clear night, so I took the mount out, popped the 10" scope on (had a full respray, new finder, new focuser and laser collimation), and awaited the fall of darkness. Here comes the rub. I roughly aligned the mount on Polaris, not bothering too much for this first test. The Synscan controller is (unfortunately) running Version 2.05, which is one of the early versions that are not flash upgradable. Although I didn't realise this until after I had downloaded all of the upgrade files from OVL's website. ? When I picked the first alignment star (Capella, rising nicely in the north-east sky), the mount did something completely unexpected and slewed around to east of the meridian and pointed somewhere in the direction of Alcor! What the ...? After several unsuccessful attempts at carrying out an alignment, I gave up and looked online for any similar problems. I've checked and confirmed all of the following things are correct: Location - yep as per my Cumbria coordinates Date - yep in the right format (mm/dd/yyyy) that good old confusing American format Time - yep I tried with BST and without BST (not really expecting any significant difference) Made sure the mount was in the "parked" position (weights down, scope pointing towards Polaris) before turning the mount on Tried all sorts of initial alignment stars, but none of them were in the right area of the sky at all Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find anything on the web that offers a solution. I did wonder if I've done something during the disassembly of the mount - but I know the mount doesn't have encoders on it. I didn't see anything that looked like a counter of any kind? I don't think it can be anything to do with the power supply...surely that couldn't introduce such a wild error in pointing? It's like the handset has no idea where it is. Any help would be much appreciated. This was going to be a second mount for me, but at this rate it's going to go on the scrap heap. I did think about buying a V3 handset, but didn't want to commit another £120 in case it's something in the mount itself that's the problem. Yours hopefully Jeremy

Hi all. after receiving my scope yesterday I went outside for about half an hour with it and was quite impressed on how easy everything is to set up and use. However I have two questions that I would like answered. When viewing at the moon using my 25mm eyepiece I could see a blue and orange haze around the left and right side of the moon. Was this because I didn’t have eyepeice focused probably or is there another reason? And also while focusing I had a lot of vibration is there a way to reduce it. Today I tried to get my red dot focused aligned with my telescope and I think I’ve managed o do it correctly but was concerned that my target was to close. My target was the Ariel on the roof top as I didn’t have any clear targets that were far away I had to choose that. I managed to get it aligned probably but heard that the targets were supposed to me further away? Man Thanks

Hey guys, I couldn't find an solid answer within the forums, so asking here... Has anyone successfully used Sky Safari 5 Pro to do plate solving/mount alignment? I have no problem connecting and controlling my mount (AVX) with Sky Safari on my Mac, but is there a way to do alignment in the program? So far, it looks like I'm forced to do the Nexstar 2 star alignment on the hand controller. If I try to click on Polaris for example (it won't let me actually click on or select the NCP), when I click "align to polaris", it just says it can't execute the command because the scope is "too far" from Polaris. Only way it'll do it is if I first do 2-star align on the hand controller. Thoughts? Thanks! - Josh

I was discussing with a fellow stargazer, during a cloud induced intermission over a few drams the other evening, the merits of the QHY Polemaster and an interesting question popped up. Would it be in QHY's interest to collaborate with a mount vendor and package their Polemaster product with that vendor's mounts? Their is a key argument against such a move that being that QHY could probably make more selling individual units to the market than via such a collaborative effort. Would be interested to hear fellow forum members views on this topic. Kind Regards Paul.

A very simple question - should I be able to see Polaris in my main scope in the Home position once it is polar aligned? I seem to have a lot of cone error. I have adjusted the polar scope reticule and that looks ok. I centre Polaris in the fov of the polarscope but in the home position Polaris is way out of the fov of both the finder and the main scope. I am planning a daytime cone error correction but the question I asked is simply to make sure this is what I should be expecting. Scope is 8” f5.6 Newtonian, guide scope is 60mm and the mount an HEQ5 pro. I’m struggling as I want to be able to use sharpcap polar alignment routine with my ZWO 120 colour camera. Any advice welcomed.

Hello , I am physics student in Turkey . I have used telescopes but they were manual mount because of that I do not have any experiences with GO TO mounts . I upload photos and I pressed alignment button before finding 3 or 2 stars . Still ı did not find any stars from catalog . I really watched many videos but I did not do it well my process still not continue . 12 photos I upload , first photo teleskop , last photo is the my last step , which button should I have press?

Complete beginner question regarding using this mount. When I have tried to set up and align the mount , the goto targeting is off by many degrees. Here's what I do - can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong!? With the power off: Align the tripod and mount to North and, with the clutches released, set the declination to my latitude (52deg 28' N). and the mount in the weights-down home position. Lock the clutches and fine tune the alignment on Polaris using the mechanical adjustments on the mount. Turn the power on: Set up the date, time and location, elevation etc. in the handset (noting the American Date format and Longitude first (set to W 1deg 48') DST = Yes Select 1 Star align Pick a star, I usually try Procyon or Betelguese depending on the time. The scope slews to vaguely the right direction but actually nowhere near. It can take 2 or 3 minutes of manual slewing to centre the star in the eyepiece. Finishing, of course, with an up and right movement. Finally, press Enter to complete the alignment ==> Alignment Successful says the handset optimistically. Now from the object menu pick another target. Try, say, Polaris which was where I started and ... nowhere near it. It's the same regardless of the selected target. I have tried 2 star alignment and 3 star alignment, a factory reset before starting, but nothing seems to work. Once i'm lined up on a target the mount tracks nicely - it just won't go where I want it to! Not yet at my wits end but - Help! Mark

Hello guys, I recently got into astronomy so I bought my first telescope. I've read through several articles and the recommendation for a beginner's telescope (value/price) was Celestron Astromaster 130EQ-MD. I bought this from someone who was not really using it and it is in a very good condition. Prior to actually purchasing this, I've watched countless videos on how the telescope works, what needs to be done - latitude, RA/DEC alignment, polar alignment, etc.. After reading through all available manuals and videos, I finally brought it home from the seller (they've had it for around 5 years but it wasn't used much). After setting up the tripod, mounting the telescope and familiarising myself with all the different knobs, I pointed the mount/telescope towards north. The first thing I had to do was setting up the latitude. Since I am based in London, the latitude is around 52 degrees. Afterwards, I had to align the declination axis so the telescope can be balanced. As I understand it, you should be able to move it to any position on the axis and it should stay in that position. If the front or rear was heavier, I would either pushing or pulling the telescope after unlocking the brackets holding it together. This is where the issues began, I could balance the telescope so it doesn't move while in the horizontal position, however, when pointing it towards north, it would exclusively lean towards one direction - to the left. If the telescope was pointing to north, north-east or east, it would pull towards the west all the time. It is probably easier to show it in the video. I've spent three days trying to balance the telescope by using different methods and it just would not work. I've also tried balancing the RA axis first. This could be somehow done, but the declination axis would still pull the telescope to the left. It is extremely frustrating as I don't know what could be causing this. Balancing the telescope should be relatively easy from what I have heard - either push it or pull it depending on where the weight is. However, I have been really struggling to get it set-up. I would be thankful for any suggestions and please feel free to ask any questions so I can help with finding out what is wrong. Thank you. VID_20190918_202940.mp4

I spent a fair amount of Wednesday afternoon centering my polar scope... Little did I realise that the polar scope requires centering before you even attempt perfect polar alignment. It appears that my AVX has been very forgiving in the fact that in the past I have more or less just got polaris somewhere near the centre of the circle before aligning. However, after watching many YouTube clips on how to centre the polar scope I finally achieved my aim in having the polar scope centered. Last night was my first serious attempt at 'Bang on' polar alignment with a well centered polar scope!! For some time I've been moaning about having to scramble around on the floor bending my knees and neck looking up for polaris through the polar scope! last night I raised my tripod to almost full extension and managed to look through the polar scope sat comfortably on a picnic chair. I started setting up early so used my compass during the early evening to point north ready for the appearance of polaris... Wow! when Polaris appeared I wasn't far out :-) I rotated the the reticule so the view through the polar scope matched what I could see in the sky with the plough above the centre circle, a quick tweak and 'Bingo' Polaris was spot on where it should be... let the fun begin!! Oops before I did that I freelanced over to the crescent moon situated between two rooftops from my observing location... stunning! I tend to always overlook how wonderful the surface of the moon looks at high mag... Whilst observing using my Starwave 102 and a Vixen NPL 20mm I could see what looked like two bright spots at the top of the crescent like tiny stars. On closer observation I figure these must of been a couple of mountain tops caught in the sunlight... That was amazing, would lover to know the name of those peaks! Here is my list of targets bagged using a combination of a Celestron 32mm, Vixen NPL 20mm, Meade 12 & 18mm, a trusty BST 8mm and for Jupiter a blue filter. Jupiter, M5, Epsilon Lyrae 1,2, Zeta Lyrae, Xi Bo, Theta 2 Can, Tegman, Kappa Bo (Loved this) Iota Cancer, Graffias, Delta Serpens, Theta Serpens, Algieba (Leo) Coma Star Cluster Melotte 111 Toward the end of the session I practised entering the RA & Dec into the handset, hitting targets pretty much bang on (very pleasing)... Although when referencing the 'Double Stars for small telescopes' book by Sissy Haas the coordinates given are not as long in numbers as the ones on the handset... I still hit the targets bang on though so was delighted. Nicks Tips No 5 - Throwing a blanket over the washing line to create a dark space removing a cluster of 3 streetlights 100m away over the neighbours fence... Genius!

Hiya, I have a problem of doing alignment with my synscan. I align my scope to polaris successfully. However when i use the hand held controller synscan to do the alignment, forget about two or three stars alignments, it was impossible for one star alignment, it suggested the stars miles away from my location, when i try to slew to adjust the possition, it wont let me too do that because the location is too far out reach. Please can someone help me ? another clear night but i failed misserably ? Winnie

I had a pretty successful session last night capturing 390 x 10 sec subs of asteroid Florence through patchy thin cloud with my Atik 460EX camera I want to now turn these into an animation. My thought is to convert the FITS files into TIFF files, align them, batch process them in Photoshop or Lightroom, then convert the resulting aligned, processed TIFF files into an animation. Is there software that will automatically align (but not stack) FITS files and save the aligned subs as TIFF files? If not, what is the best way of batch converting 390 x FITS files to TIFFs? Thanks