PHD Guiding troubles

[paler31]

Hi, I was setting up PHD guiding the other night and everything seemed fine howver over a period of 4-5 minutes my guide star seemed to drifft of the centre of the cross hairs. Could this be caused by a poorly balanced scope or bad backlash. I have herd that you can set up PHD to more aggressively track stares. Can anybody tell me how to do this in PHD. Any help would be appreciated.

John

[Freff]

When this drift occurs it it during actual guiding, (when cross lines turn green and PHD states it's guiding) or during the calibration sequence.

PHD can take a while to calibrate, so the drift you see inside the square is normal.

[paler31]

Hi, yes the drift happens after the cross lines have turned green and guiding has begun.

[Freff]

I would guess then it's more likely to be balance.

A lot more info is needed to get an idea of possible causes.

Your setup, are you on a tripod or pier etc. As much info you can.

[paler31]

It has occured to me that it could be a balanceing issue. I have a celestron c6 on a cg5 mount however i Balanced the scope before I put on my heavy 60D slr camera. I am hoping tonight to get out with my scope. I will try balancing it with all the gear on first and see if that sorts the problem out.

[Freff]

Good luck tonight.

You will need to put everything on before balancing, even a dew shield could put it out of balance.

The wind and moving about near the mount can also upset guiding.

You could also try dangling a heavy weight under the centre of your mount, which will give it more stability.

If after all that and you are still having problems, then you'll have to look at other options. Good luck.

[paler31]

thanks for the replies. was hoping to get out tonight but alas it is cloudy here in paisley at the moment, but all is not lost the forcast is for clear skies tomorrow. Fingers crossed.