Help me! First time PHD - ASi120MM & ST80 on ED80/HEQ5

[Thalestris24]

ps

Yes, should start calibrating as soon as you click on the target icon

[lensman57]

Thanks A.G yes camera defo ok, very white screen when point light a it and imaged the top of a tree miles away when I tested it.

Will check gain next time too.

I tried 2-3 secs and nothing on screen so in desperation tried other expos and 10 sec gave me some stars on screen. Thought it too long myself but after hours of seeing a black screen was it right on the stars excited to see stars!

Try focusing the ST80 with the camera mounted and working on a very distant object ( a mile or so if possible ) during the daytime and lock the focus. At night you may just have to tweak focus to get right on the stars, this way you can make sure that the focus is correct. Also in PHD 2 , if  I am not wrong there is a facilty to check for for star profile , Display Star Profile ,  I believe is called and it is under the View menu. At focus the peak should be a point so u can check that u r in focus. I am concerned that u may have locked on to Sensor Hot Pixels,  It did happen to me when I first started with PHD. If I push the gain or the loop exposure too high, about 2s plus then I  get a star staurated warning from PHD so there is no way that you'd need a 10s exposure loop.

Regards

A.G