HEQ5 Pro star trailing issues

[CedricTheBrave]

On this as well, do you need to download/install the previous versions if your not already on 3.34, or can you jump straight to the latest.

Matt

as long as you are on vers 3.xxx you should be fine to go to 3.5

[Russe]

I would say - ditch the handset and use EQMOD with a planetarium software. You can then choose any star to your liking.

With alignmaster it's always a 2-star routine for polar alignment (make sure in EQMOD you have changed sync to "dialogue based" not "append on sync"). Then I park my scope and check with a level again that I'm leveled. Then I change EQMOD back to "append on sync", then I chose three stars close to the area I plan to image, slew to them one by one and sync EQMOD 3x. Then I slew to my target. Done.

If I want a tour of the sky, I tend to sync every 2nd or third star to stay nicely spot on.

After

[lensman57]

The problem i have with star alignment is that most of my horizon is blocked in my garden making it difficult to get a 3 star alignment. Will 2 be sufficient or will this reduce accuracy? 

yes , a 2 star align is good enough. As I mentioned star alignment has no bearings on your polar alignment it is simply a routine to map the position of stars for your location to the mount so the GOTO accuracy is assured. You can be very highly accurately mapped for GoTo so the mount will find the DSOs easily but you could be way off your polar alignment at the same time. Once you achieve a good position in your back garden with the mount leveled and polar aligned then mark the position of the legs so you could set up in roughly the same position next time. The polar align routine takes about 10~15 minutes and it is really quite easy compared to finding and placing targets  onto the small chip of a ccd camera and the susequent focusing, framing and so on unless you hvae an obsy which I don't have.

A.G

[dph1nm]

i could only get about 30 seconds before star trails emerged

Don't forget that no matter how perfectly polar-aligned they are, these mounts may have substantial (10s of arcseconds) periodic error. I cannot get more than 30secs unguided out of my HEQ5 at 1250mm FL for this reason. Guiding is the only answer.

Nigel

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I can get about 60-90seconds unguided with my HEQ5 at 1000mm focal length.

Matt

[glowingturnip]

The trouble is, i find i pick a star that i dont know, and its hidden from view, and then you can't choose another, you have to exit out the entire alignment and start again.

Matt.

on my synscan, if this happens, i hit esc, then it asks me if i want to quit alignment, I say no, then it lets me choose another star.

It has some complicated rules about what to pick, 1st and 2nd from one side of the meridian, separated by x degrees, 3rd from the other side, or something like that, can never remember.  If an alignment fails, sometimes a different first star can make the difference.  Helps if you try and remember the star names though ! (and why are they all arabic ?)

As i understand it, 2-star align is good for all but very poor PA, 3-star align can even correct cone errors (telescope axis <> mount axis)

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I will have to try that next time. Thanks.

I have had it before where its failed, and ive chosen the same 3 stars but started on a different one and it has been successful. If a 2 star align is good enough for AP (as its more PA) that counts, i will have to do 2 stars, as in the garden im very limited to stars i can pick.

Matt

[Russe]

Don't forget that no matter how perfectly polar-aligned they are, these mounts may have substantial (10s of arcseconds) periodic error. I cannot get more than 30secs unguided out of my HEQ5 at 1250mm FL for this reason. Guiding is the only answer.

Nigel

That's surprising! I recently went 100s unguided!!

[Astrosurf]

That's surprising! I recently went 100s unguided!!

It depends on the focal length: the greater the focal length the lower the exposure length. (Correct me if I'm wrong!)

[Russe]

1500?

I mean, ok, stars turned egg shaped at 120, but certainly no proper trails I used to get on my old Alt/Az within 20s...

[lensman57]

Yes

Thanks Lensman, brilliant write up. I can't remember seeing this option on my handset though, does it only appear after you align? Maybe i need to update the handset. Will plug it all in tonight and see whats happening.

Matt.

Yes, the handset will only activates the polar align option a fter a successful 2 or 3 star alignment. Keep an eye on the display as soon as you power up, the firmware version is displayed on the screen.

PS: I can not stress how important achieving a good balance with the scope and the imaging set up in situ is if you wish to track well. I used to have an EQ5 PRO and once aligned and balanced properly I could track up to 90s unguided with my SW 100 ED PRO @ F7.6, that is with 0.85 FF/FR, with guiding I could do up to 1200s subs with pretty good star shapes.

A.G

[Russe]

Yes

Yes, the handset will only activates the polar align option a fter a successful 2 or 3 star alignment. Keep an eye on the display as soon as you power up, the firmware version is displayed on the screen.

A.G

Polar alignment after star alignment would defeat its purpose though!!

[Gohan75]

Whats the best way to go about getting autoguiding set up? Will i need a guide scope or can i use a finderscope? what kind of guide cam do u need ect?

[glowingturnip]

my cheapskate approach - a 70mm travelscope off ebay and a meade lpi also off ebay - not pretty but it works

[lensman57]

Whats the best way to go about getting autoguiding set up? Will i need a guide scope or can i use a finderscope? what kind of guide cam do u need ect?

Your finder scope with the help of an adapter makes a very competent guide scope with something like a QHY 5l, it is good for up to 900 mm FL, it has a much wider field of view than an ST 80 or simillar and @ F3.2 is about  1.5 stops faster than the ST 80 and a lot lighter. It also can be very rigidly fixed to the scope but not with the stock floppy SW finder base. You could have the QHY ST4 to do the guiding through the autoguider port and necessary software. I use PHD guiding and GPUSB. ST 80 is poular but an overkill for something like an SW ed 80. The only draw back with the 50 mm finder guider is the time it takes to mess about changing over, you may wito buy a second cheap finder on the used market. 

A.G

[wxsatuser]

Whats the best way to go about getting autoguiding set up? Will i need a guide scope or can i use a finderscope? what kind of guide cam do u need ect?

I have gone for the Orion Magnificent Mini AutoGuider Package.

Nice small lightweight setup with a finderscope.

[Tinker1947]

I do believe you can polar align after a 2 or 3 star aliign on the hand set and you do not need to beable to see polaris, i use this method on my NEQ6 works very well, a 2 star, a PA another 2 Star, another PA then a 1 star, should if your handset allows get it spot on....you need the latest firmware to do this...2.37 version springs to mind.......

[Russe]

I do believe you can polar align after a 2 or 3 star aliign on the hand set and you do not need to beable to see polaris, i use this method on my NEQ6 works very well, a 2 star, a PA another 2 Star, another PA then a 1 star, should if your handset allows get it spot on....you need the latest firmware to do this...2.37 version springs to mind.......

I meant, why would you star align before polar alignment. Of course you can, but polar alignment afterwards would necessitate another round of star alignment.

Unless the star alignment is already some kind of a drift alignment routine for people unable to see Polaris?

[Russe]

Whats the best way to go about getting autoguiding set up? Will i need a guide scope or can i use a finderscope? what kind of guide cam do u need ect?

I use a 9x50 finderscope with adapter and QHY5.

Costs (used) 150£ camera, 39£ adapter, 50£ finder scope

Longest I went at 1500mm fl was 600s.

[Gohan75]

I have a 9 x 50 that came with my 10" Dob so sounds like i could use that. thanks for the advise everyone.

When using a DSLR in an ed80 how does one go about changing magnifications? Is it done using barlow lenses or spacing between the cam and the focuser? 

[Tinker1947]

I have a 9 x 50 that came with my 10" Dob so sounds like i could use that. thanks for the advise everyone.

When using a DSLR in an ed80 how does one go about changing magnifications? Is it done using barlow lenses or spacing between the cam and the focuser? 

The Adapter for the finder scope comes from Modern Astronomy, you would unscrew the viewing end on the finder scope and screw in the adapter, the Lodestar in my case screws into the adapter, focus is achieved by rotating the front lens, as for  the magnification the DSLR is placed in the ED80 focuser this turns the scope into  as for as the camera is concerned a Lens, that's it nothing else required, there are a range of EP allow a DSLR to attach to them then both parts fit in the focus tube this depending on the EP is a way to magnify the object..

[Tinker1947]

I meant, why would you star align before polar alignment. Of course you can, but polar alignment afterwards would necessitate another round of star alignment.

Unless the star alignment is already some kind of a drift alignment routine for people unable to see Polaris?

The handset won't allow a Polar Align until a 2 or 3 star alignment has been done, i would normally run through this twice as the first attempt gets it close, there is with my hand set a need to do a further alignment after the polar alignment as it seems to stick to a single star on the GoTo.....this is if the mount is not on a pier and gets moved after a viewing session, a pier mounted type should only require the one alignment session, just placed my scope on a pier when the clouds clear i will find out...

[lensman57]

On this as well, do you need to download/install the previous versions if your not already on 3.34, or can you jump straight to the latest.

Matt

You can just upgrade from previous versions, one exception is the old handsets that were not are upgradedable by the user but these days they should mostly tbe fine.

A.G

[Matt Scunthorpe]

very unlikely that

Hi Matt,

First thing, if you just want to polar align for observing then a simple crude alignment with the polarscope will do, even if the polarscope is not aligned with the axis of the telescope properly. If you wish to align for imaging then no matter how much messing around you do with the alignment using the polar scope is a waste of time. As I said before you have two options, do a manual drift align using stars ( long winded and needing unobstructed view all around) or let the handset do it for you. You  need firmware version 3.35 to be able to do that. This is how I do it., first do a 1 star alignment, for now I use Vega, then  do a 2 star align using Vega as the primary, for  the 2nd one I choose either Alioth or Dubhe for my horizon. Once the Star alignment is done and successful the hand set will show two different sets of figures with Degrees, minutes and seconds, these are the errors in the polar alignment. Press enter and then scroll down to the Polar align routine under alignment and press enter. The handset will give you an option of a star to perform the polar alignment with. I pick Vega for my location as I am centered on it and press enter. The mount will slew to Vega and will ask you to use the direction keys to center the object, do this ( it is best if you invest in an illuminated reticle EP, about £50.00 for  good ones  as accurate centering is the key) and once you press enter the mount will slew to some place in the sky,  the handset will ask you to use the ALT T bolts only  to bring the star as close as possible to the center of eyepiece, do this and make a  note of the position of the star and press enter. The  hand set  will then slew  out again  but this time it will ask you to use the AZ knobs to bring the star close to the location that you made a note of. Once done press enter again and perform another 2 or 3 star alignment ( Mandatory  after each polar align cycle ) with the same satrs as before and go through the routine again. After 2 or 3 cycles, about 5 minutes each, you should be within 30 seconds of error, I find that this is good enough to get a very flat graph in PHD if the set up is well balanced in both RA and DEC axis and this balance is crucial. The good thing about this method and even the drift align  is that you do not even need to see polaris in the first place so long as your initial rough alignment is close enough. BTW 2 or 3 star alignment has nothing to do with polar alignment, it only maps the sky for your location to the mount. If you manage to do a 3 star align then this will take care of the cone error,misalignment of the tube with the axis of the mount. Hope this helps .

Reagrds,

A.G

Where in the handset is the option to set this?

Matt.

[lensman57]

Where in the handset is the option to set this?

Matt.

First make sure that you have the latest firmware as SW disabled the function in the previous updates because of a bug in the software. Once you  have performed a successful 2 or 3 star  alignment the handset will display the polar align errors, press enter to accept the error and the display will revert back to the alignment screen, you will then use either of the two scroll arrows ( not the ones for moving the mount ) and hand set will display Polar Align. Once the message has been displayed press enter and the display will give you option of stars to perform the alignment with, pick one that is easy to see and then just follow the instructions on the display. After every polar align cycle a 2 or 3 star alignment is necessary or the mount will not be able to map the sky. Care should also be taken during the adjustment of the ALT T bolts as the mount is now carring both the scope and the counter weight and you really do not want to bend the T botls, I usually very lightly support the counter balance weight with one hand just to take the load off the T bolt during the adjustment. Unless you are way off, a couple of cycles should bring you close enough to do some imaging with or without guiding.

A.G