First attempt??

[allcart]

Not sure if your synscan is the same as my celestron goto, but if you have not switched it on since saturday, it may still have all the settings still in memory. Check them to make sure they were correct, and did you make the right choice for daylight saving. I think you should have said NO to this question if you were asked. If you said YES, that may have put you an hour out of alignment. Just a thought.

[boabsta]

I always do a 2 star align so it has another star to reference. I would 3 star but I'm impatient and 2 almost always put everything in centre of ep after successfull alignment.

The other thing is you dont put polaris on the centre of the polar scope. This is confusing to begin with as you need to find out where polaris is in the sky in relation to true north and then place polaris in the circle on the circle on the polarscope so polaris will be where the time would be on a clock. I'm not doing a very good job at describing this so heres a link to Dions vid telling how to do it. http://www.astronomyshed.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=514

I hope this helps and like I say it is a bit of mind number but once you get your head around it is realy quite simple.

Rab

Edited as I put the wrong vid on.

[Paulus17]

Hi Allan.Yes the settings were checked and checked again on the Synscan by me and the two friends i was with,one of which was also using the HEQ5 the same as mine but with a different scope,an ED 80 i think for imaging???

That was tracking and taking perfik images and mine was set up the same but with a different scope attached??

Rab-Thanks for the video which i have watched several times before but how much of what he said in that clip applies to the HEQ5?

Can i set the clocks on the HEQ5 as he did with the 6?

None of that was done in the two times i have been out with the set up.Just polar aligned and a one star alignment??

If it clears later i might get it set up in the garden and have another play with it all taking on board what has been said though.

Edit-: Forgot to ask.if i can't rotate the tube,well its not advisable to do so,and the camers is in an awkward position like it was on Saturday night,how do i get to look through and focus on the target??

[boabsta]

You can do all of what he said with the heq5. If you can set home position then use the clocks then thats a good start to getting the alignment spot on. It will certainly put you in the general area.

If you make it out tonight then try 3 star align to give the mount more info of exactly where it is.

As for rotating the tube, if you have to then you have to. It can knock your alignment a bit but its never too far out to be disastrous.

Possibly if you can just spend a while playing about with the mount, make sure everything is tight and level and aligned (including your polarscope).

Its clear here so far so I am about to head out and try a wee bit imaging myself.

Best o luck dude and I look forward to hearing that youve sussed it

Rab.

[Paulus17]

Well folks i managed a couple of hours in the back garden yesteday evening as it did clear enough.

So i set up the stand and mount and managed to find Polaris and center it in the polar scope which surprised me as i couldn't see a thing on Saturday night when we was at a darker site???

Locked everything up,put the weights and scope on,put the 25mm EP in and balanced it all up.Put it back in the park position and started the star alignment.

All looked good as the scope was pointing towards Vega the first star but wasn't in the FOV so had to slew to find it which i did took a few minutes,then pressed enter and done the second star which was Capella but onceagain it was pointing at it but not in the FOV.So slewed to find it centered it and pressed enter.Synscan was saying alignment complete so tried to find Jupiter as my first target but once again it was pointing at it but not in the FOV.

To cut the hours short i tried this three times all in all and had the same results,by this time the clouds had returned so i packed up feeling very frustrated.

I done the two star alignment as those were the only two stars i knew and were visible from the back garden.

[boabsta]

Sounds to me that your possibly setting the date or time wrong if its goin to the general area but not bang on.

I wouldnt expect it to have the 2 align stars in fov straight away but after alignin it should be pretty much spot on.

When I first had goto I never knew about time zones or daylight saving and I was regularly out. Also the date being the yank version of month, day, year.

It might just be something simple as you haveing daylight saving set to yes instead of no. That would certainly put it into the general area but obviousley an hour out.

Stick with it dude, it will come good.

Rab.

[Paulus17]

Just to show that all the images taken last Saturday were all pretty much the same heres some more that i have been playing with in Photoshop.Just a pity they came out as they have otherwise i think they might have been pretty good??

All these are single 30 second exposures at 800 ISO.

[Paulus17]

Hi Rab.

As far as i know what i was doing all the settings were correct,date,time,month,day,year etc??

But it probably is summat simple that i am missing or doing wrong??

[msh1]

you said you managed to place polaris in centre of polar scope it should be in the tiny circle thats on the edge of the larger circle ive got celestron goto and my first 2 stars are always out ,by the time ive done 4 calibration stars its bang on then i do polar align routine thats in the handset then turn it off and go through it again can i suggest you buy an illuminated reticule so you can put the stars right in the centre since i bought one my polar aligninment is now bang on

hope this helps

mark

[VigdisVZ]

It seems that your mount is having some real troubles... If it was just alignment, your trails should in my mind be much straighter.

Your exposures look really good, but there is something wierd in the tracking, and its irregular. I'd take a guess at the motor drives faltering or vibrations from the ground or from wind, but you should atlest get a few good subs with that.

Do you think you could take your dslr with your highest powered lens and try to see if you can take a few pictures with just the camera (not the OTA) attatched. That way you can rule out the OTA being too heavy.

[Ganymede12]

Well they're better than any photos I've taken!

[boabsta]

Well you got me stumped. Going by they other pics I'd have to say theres something amiss with your mount.

Goto problem asides (as I am convinced that is going to be a doh! moment), even on a windy night you shouldnt get that much movement.

Did you buy the mount new and if so is it still under warranty?

I dont think the 200pds is too much for the heq5 as thats what I got. Even down to the D90 and mine manages fine.

Like I said you did inspire me to have a crack at orion myself and I did. This was a 3 minute exposure that some eejit ruined by forgetting to change the ISO from 100 and same eejit forgot to tighten azimuth bolts after aligning as well. It was also quite windy when this was taken.

[Paulus17]

Thanks once again for all your help and suggestions.

Mark-Yes i put Polaris in the middle of the small circle and rotated it so it was right on the edge of the bigger circle,all round its rotation.

Carl-Do ypou mean attaching the camera to the HEQ5 and taking some shots.If so i will look at that but not sure how i would attach the camera at the moment??

Rab-No i bought the HEQ5 second hand,but it was in mint condition and just over twelve months old from new.Nice image by the way.

Ant-Thank you,Hows the Dob going?

Right.What i might try tonight,as they are forecasting it to be clear again,is fix everything up first,weights tube EP,finder,and then do the PA,and star alignment.

What do you think to that idea??

[VigdisVZ]

Yep, try everything, and try to isolate what's wrong one step at a time.

At this point I think we're looking at faulty slewing due to imbalance or bad motors/control. But it could be anything really.

Carl-Do ypou mean attaching the camera to the HEQ5 and taking some shots.If so i will look at that but not sure how i would attach the camera at the moment??

You'll have to imrovise there I would use my tripod camera attatchment plate, it should fit somehwere between the rail slots on the mount. Just something temporary. If you get similar errors with just the camera, you can rule out the OTA being to heavy or imbalanced.

Some more general tips:

Do you have an astronomical society close by you could visit, they might be able to lead you in the right direction.

Also, check out this video series from astronomy shed, it helped me very much when learning to set up and PA my NEQ6. You might pick up some helpful details.

Let us know how it turns out.

[Paulus17]

Thanks Carl,i will try the camera later.

I have watched Dions videos over and over.the clock on the NEQ6 is different to the HEQ5 and i have read that the clock on the HEQ5 isn't worth bothering with???

There are a few local clubs near by but i no longer drive,due to the eyes and i did go along the one evening to the Birmingham Astronmical society,and although i really enjoyed it,due to my eye condition i felt really nervous.

In fact it was one of the members whos house we went to when i first set the HEQ5 up with help and it worked fine that night with the target,from a 1 star alignment just about in the FOV and i ttracked fine all night.

I am now doing what i was shown that night re the set up,i think, but with different results??

[boabsta]

Well your right about the clock dials on HEQ5 being useless but I thought that might have just been mine.

You are turning "daylight saving" to no?

Do you have a laptop you can use to control your mount? Or even just to run some software on to check the alignment and motors?

I have just started using eqmod (first time on wed night) and it has some features for correcting errors made by the mount. Especialy if you could it guiding I'm sure this would solve all problems.

Unfortuneatly all this costs money. Getting images that your happy with is blumming expensive once you factor everything in. (scope, mount, guide cam, dslr/ccd, coma corrector, connectors and lappy to run it all and even then there will be something else, theres always something else!)

If I was anywhere near brum I would come and have a look but hopefully someone on here isnt too far away, it is quite a populated part of the country.

I cant realy think of anything else but if you have any questions then I shall try my best to answer them for you.

I'm new to all this as well and willing to let others learn by my mistakes.

Thanks for the comment on pic as well

Rab.

[Paulus17]

Hi Rab.

Thanks for your kind offfer of willing to come and help but i would rather head up your way i think the skies are better??

I'm afraid computers will only confuse me more,plus i would like to try and set up manualy so to speak as i do go out to a dark site now and again with a couple of friends.

Would you mind explaining what your process is of setting up?

Is what i am trying to do the correct way.

Do i start the polar alignment with the head in the parked position,ie- with the weights facing directly down and use the ALT- AZI bolts to bring Polaris into the middle of the small circle??

Its still farly clear here at the moment so am hoping to get out in the back and try again later?

[VigdisVZ]

Would you mind explaining what your process is of setting up?

That video from astronomy shed i posted, did you check it out? It explains way better than just text. Even if it's a different mount, the concept is the same, and he even says how to do it with the EQ5.

[boabsta]

Well.. the first thing i do is put the legs out and with them spread as far as they will go I level them using a round spirit level.

Then I put everything on the mount before starting to polar align as your putting a lot of weight on and if you align with just the head then theres every chance that something could move.

Once set up I use polarfinder app on my phone to see where polaris should be in relation to a clock face so I know where the circle on the circle should be then I use the bolts to put polaris in the circle on the circle.

Then I start the alignment process. Enter co-ordinates, date time and no for daylight saving then 2 star align.

I imagine you'll be pretty much the same.

I hope some of this helps.

Rab.

[Ganymede12]

Ant-Thank you,Hows the Dob going?

I am really enjoying it! I took it too Blaenavon last Saturday and the views were amazing! I found M33 and M71 for the first time. Thank you so much!

Soon I'm going to start Webcam imaging with it so I'm saving up for an EQ platform. Maybe someday I'll get pictures like that!

[Paulus17]

Thanks Carl.

i havewatched the videos several times and have tried applying what he does in that video,but had the same results??

Thanks Rab-I'm afraid i don't havea smart for for the apps so have to set up all manually.

Ant-Glad you aregetting on with Dob it really is a good scope to use,and easy???

Well folks i managed to spend a good five hours out last night in tyhe back garden.Set up as advised.Done a 3 star alignment,Vag,Mizor and capella and i was still out.I had to slew all three using my finderscope.Then i typed in Jupiter as my first target and it was just out the FOV with a 32mm panaview,so got it in the middle and left it to track for twenty minutes and it did smack bang in the middle.

Then i turned to M31 and could just see that in the top left corner of the EP,so centered it and then i attached my camera and started taking some images,onew of which is below.

This is another 30 sec one.Idid do some 90 sec and 120 secs but got trails??

Your thoughts are welcome.

[jammo]

Amazing 1st image, the colour is superb!!! for a single 30 second shot, i'm impressed :ohmy:

[Paulus17]

Thanks Jammo,glad you like it.

[boabsta]

No trailing there dude