A not so bad M109

[Quatermass]

know what you mean about getting bogged down with a laptop and wires not my idea of fun. I never bother with the circles and measurements and dont need to. I found that if you get the polar scope calabrated well see astrobabys guide for that, then simply lining up by putting polaris in the circle and matching the postion of the big dipper does a good job. And I like to move the image back after about ten 50second shots by hand a little. The main thing i find is making sure the telescope is correctly ballenced and if I get star trails I move the weights forward or back until the motors grip and the trailing diminishes. But I dont start imaging until all tests for focus and trailing prove ok as that just wastes your efforts. I take a good 10 or so test shots for focus and tracking before setting my camera timer. The rest is just trail and error.

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[pixueto]

know what you mean about getting bogged down with a laptop and wires not my idea of fun. I never bother with the circles and measurements and dont need to. I found that if you get the polar scope calabrated well see astrobabys guide for that, then simply lining up by putting polaris in the circle and matching the postion of the big dipper does a good job. And I like to move the image back after about ten 50second shots by hand a little. The main thing i find is making sure the telescope is correctly ballenced and if I get star trails I move the weights forward or back until the motors grip and the trailing diminishes. But I dont start imaging until all tests for focus and trailing prove ok as that just wastes your efforts. I take a good 10 or so test shots for focus and tracking before setting my camera timer. The rest is just trail and error.

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Thanks for sharing. When you say you move the image back after 10 shots, you mean the polar scope or the actual DSO?

By the way, I've been reading your site several times but my browser (firefox) struggles to download it because it's all in one page. Sometimes I have to give up cos it takes 5 minutes to read the next chapter. Have you considered organazing it in different pages? I'm sure more people will have the same problem than me.

[Quatermass]

The best browser for my blog is google chrome as it is a google blog and you can change the layout from the menue at the top to different views try a few to see which is best I used to use firefox but find google chrome much faster.

Im talking about moving the ra and dec knobs to just shift the image slightly to the left or right again should it start to move over to far. I find this helps with my stacked images as well as the slight shift evens out any missed stars that would be sliding out of view in a 30-40 minute session. The biggest improvement comes from chosing a moonless clear dark night away from light pollution that makes a great difference. Some subjects I will take off in my car and image in a dark field out of town if there too faded M51 would be a good choice for such a venture.

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[RikM]

M51 is a lovely target but pretty small. Lots and lots of sub make processing easier. Take some test shots to see how long exposure you can use before you get trailing, then stick to that sub length for the whole session. That way you only need to take one set of darks and you have more time for collecting image data.

[pixueto]

I see! It's fine now. I like the mosaic option. Thanks.

[pixueto]

Thanks for your help, can't wait to have a try but the weather has been miserable for weeks on end!

[Quatermass]

Your welcome and riks right 51 is a small target but not impossible at all hope we get a few clear nights so you can have a crack at it let me know how you get on I will have another go at it as well and we can compare notes

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[Tinker1947]

Pixueto, manual guiding, i assume this is finding targets by star hopping ect, a Telrad is good for this and if you don't have one just download the maps there so handy for finding things.

[Moon monkey]

To be honest, I wander if it’s me being dumb as I am fairly new to all this but when I wanted to turn the RA axis so the date and the time circles could get to the right place, the declination motor was in the way and I didn’t see a way round it at the time. Buy the way, getting the dual axis motor was a bit of an ordeal as they have been sold out all over the UK. FLO gave me a refund as they said they couldn’t tell when they’ll get some more. I couldn’t wait and I ordered them from Spain (paying nearly twice as much partly because they had to be shipped!). As for guiding, I would like to do manual guiding first. I don’t want to get bogged down trying to get the computer to work with the mount. I can see that as a source of frustration if don’t have any kind of results first.

Hi pixeto... If you are dumb then so am I I had the same problem mate.... What you need to do is very simple ..You need to rotate the arm so the declanation motor is at the top (ie rotate the scope 180 deg) it will then clear the mount... took me a while to work this one out hope you get what I mean

Cheers MM

[pixueto]

Hi pixeto... If you are dumb then so am I I had the same problem mate.... What you need to do is very simple ..You need to rotate the arm so the declanation motor is at the top (ie rotate the scope 180 deg) it will then clear the mount... took me a while to work this one out hope you get what I mean

Cheers MM

Ohhhhh! I see! Thanks for that! I didn’t think of that:icon_salut:. By the way, isn’t there a chance of blocking the polar scope/ the hole at the top end of the polar axis:icon_scratch:?

Thank you

[Quatermass]

Hope I can get a dual axis motor kit soon I don't want to be waiting around for weeks to get one, got the guiding itch now Stan has made me all jealous now with his guiding diy job

[Moon monkey]

Ohhhhh! I see! Thanks for that! I didn’t think of that:icon_salut:. By the way, isn’t there a chance of blocking the polar scope/ the hole at the top end of the polar axis:icon_scratch:?

Thank you

There is a hole right through .... so it is clear every 180 deg

Take the caps off and you will see what I mean :)

[pixueto]

Pixueto, manual guiding, i assume this is finding targets by star hopping ect, a Telrad is good for this and if you don't have one just download the maps there so handy for finding things.

I got a Telrad but I must say I don't get to use it much due to the light pollution in my area.

[pixueto]

There is a hole right through .... so it is clear every 180 deg

Take the caps off and you will see what I mean :)

I see, thank you very much, you've probably saved me a few week's work trying to figure that out.

[rocketandroll]

Nice pic! That is a very cool looking galaxy :-)

Just to jump in and answer a couple of questions if it's ok (don't want to drag it OT :-)

Synguider: = Marmite. In my opinion (and I like Marmite) it is a bad choice... the reason it is cheap is that it is so devoid of interaction that it's almost impossible to use :-) I battled with one for a few weeks before giving up. I too swore I would NOT take a laptop out when I was imaging.... but setting up guiding with a dedicated guide camerea and guide scope and PHD/EQmod is twice as fast and ten times less frustrating than the stand-alone guiders and I wouldn't ever go back now.

The trouble is... if they don't work... they just don't work, and there's very little you can do to interrogate them to find out why they're not working. You end up punching the same couple of buttons again and again hoping it will suddenly do something different... but it never does.

Seriously... buy a QHY5 or, if you can spare the money, a Lodestar or Costar and use a laptop, it will save you lots of wasted nights.

OASI - nice group of people... go along to an event, they have been doing some good open-field observing sessions this last year which is great to get out and look at/through other people's equipment and get some advice.

M51 - probably the easiest galaxy target after M31 (though easier to process as it's a more even brightness :-) I did it (my first galaxy) with 50 second subs, about an hour and a half of them, and got a reasonable result. It's a stunning thing!!! Oh, and looking for it visually if you don't have go-to isn't too hard once you know roughly where you're looking.... I've found it through a fairly small scope from a fairly light poluted site... it's pretty bright as far as galaxies go and the big fuzzy blob next to the small fuzzy blob are hard to miss, you'll know it once you have it.

Drift alignment - As Quatermass said... not really needed unless you're going for megga long exposures. Once you've got polar alignment down it's fine on 1min or so unguided subs, probably longer if you're careful. Guided, I've done 10 mins with no sign of any issues just by manually (and quite quickly) polar aligning on a tripod. I think the first and only time I'll drift align is when I have my obsy set up and want to set the mount up semi-permanently.... then it'll be worth the hassle.

Ben

[Moon monkey]

Nice galaxy by the way QM Just shows what a difference dark skys make ..... Any bloonin sky at the moment would be nice

Cheers MM

[Quatermass]

M31 is a really cool galaxy you will have fun with that one for sure just take your time and keep notes on what your doing they help a lot.:beer:

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[pixueto]

Thank you for your help guys, I cant wait to have a go. Hopefully on Friday we'll have some clear skies? The moon wil be out of the way by then. Not having to do a drift alignment is a load off my mind! I didn't expect that!

[Spikey]

Nice pics QM, you'll transform them with guiding.

I agree with Ben, I pondered a guiding solution for a while and read quite a few experiences on this forum. Nearly went down the finder guider route but in the end a decent QHY5 came up for sale and did the job admirably. It's been relegated for a few sessions in favour of the 16iC but the DSLR is going back in it's box for a while and I'm going to have a shot at CCD imaging.

I reckon there's no getting away from taking a laptop out if you want to guide.

I don't drift align either and can get in excess of 30 minute guided subs (couldn't be bothered to try for longer).

[Quatermass]

Thanks Spikey, you may be right about not avoiding a laptop setup for guiding but the LVI guider has got good reviews and if it works well then I will be happy. I really dont want to take a laptop outside with a table and all that clutter, it would be great if I had a shed observetory but its just not an option with all the trees around me I need to be able to move about freely.

If I can sell my caravan I might go the whole hog and upgrade to the HEQ5 but its worth trying the dual axis motors and a modded st4 port first. The Qhy5 is very similar to the LVI camera minus the control pad so it wont make that much difference to me as a guide camera. Really want to have a crack at the Leo Triplets when the clouds give us all a break. Totally facinated by Galaxy hunting at the moment:)

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice shot. Not an easy object.

[Quatermass]

Thanks you Michael, your right about it not being easy but it was better when the street lights all went off as this area of the sky is right over the street where I live. Thick clouds tonight though so no going out to play for me

[Spikey]

Thanks Spikey, you may be right about not avoiding a laptop setup for guiding but the LVI guider has got good reviews and if it works well then I will be happy. I really dont want to take a laptop outside with a table and all that clutter, it would be great if I had a shed observetory but its just not an option with all the trees around me I need to be able to move about freely.

If I can sell my caravan I might go the whole hog and upgrade to the HEQ5 but its worth trying the dual axis motors and a modded st4 port first. The Qhy5 is very similar to the LVI camera minus the control pad so it wont make that much difference to me as a guide camera. Really want to have a crack at the Leo Triplets when the clouds give us all a break. Totally facinated by Galaxy hunting at the moment:)

I was in the same boat as you and now use a 10metre active USB cable to run everything outside while I sit inside in the warmth !

Once I have set it off on a target I can fall asleep on the soaf with an alarm to get me up for taking the darks. How I long for set point cooling and doing them the next day when I take the flats.

I think you will be absolutely fine with the LVI and the dual axis + ST4 will be brilliant and I kow what you mean about galaxy hunting the Leo triplet will be my next target

[Quatermass]

cheers spiky heres hoping for some clear nights so we can have a go at the triplets mate

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