Why Does this Happen?

[lensman57]

Hi,

Last night I wasted over 2 hours trying to get the mount to align and then polar align properly with no joy. This has not happened to me before as I am usually good to go after about an hour at most, a few nights ago I had guiding with an RMS error of 0.05. Even when everything seemed to have been set up the guiding was awful the DEC and RA were just all over the place. I also noticed that while trying to Star Align the motors would not respond promptly to the handset command while aligning to Arcturus. In the end I just packed up and came in as the clear spell had now passed. If it is clear tonight I will have another go, I just hope that the handset has not gone crazy. The mount is only months old BTW.

A.G

[StuartJPP]

I think we all have nights like this and it is frustrating to not know what the cause was. Did you try a different part of the sky or did you stick to the same part trying to sort it out?

It obviously affects those with permanent observatories less than those who have to set up from scratch every time...

[lensman57]

I think we all have nights like this and it is frustrating to not know what the cause was. Did you try a different part of the sky or did you stick to the same part trying to sort it out?

It obviously affects those with permanent observatories less than those who have to set up from scratch every time...

 I turned everything off, and started from scratch, the same target. I managed 30 minutes or so imaging. God knows what was wrong with the whole thing. hope it never happens again.

Regards,

A.G

[ollypenrice]

Could it just be bad seeing? Turbulence plays havoc with guiding. The usual defence is to use longer guide subs, long enough to let the 'boiling' average out so the software can pick a more consistent centroid. On such nights I tend to settle for RGB and let the lumince lie till it's more stable.

Olly

[reddoss]

In the past i have found such problems to have a mechanical source, for example once I did not do up the main bolt that attaches the mount head to the tripod tight enough. This sort of thing is easy to do if you have to set up in the field every time. 

[iksose7]

I had a night like that a couple days ago. It was my first time trying to get a guided image and although i had got PHD working a couple weeks prior, that night it just wouldnt happen. Went out last night and was up and running no bother in minutes!

[Tinker1947]

I had the mount going where it wanted, wireless game pad working then deciding to do its own thing,,,updates the Chipset USB drivers seems to have cures it.....

[JohnC64]

In the past i have found such problems to have a mechanical source, for example once I did not do up the main bolt that attaches the mount head to the tripod tight enough. This sort of thing is easy to do if you have to set up in the field every time. 

Yup done that one too. Its all too easy when you set up each time.  I keep saying that I need an Obsy - I really must do something about it!!

[FunkyKoval35]

Hi,

I also noticed that while trying to Star Align the motors would not respond promptly to the handset command while aligning to Arcturus.

A.G

I had similar problem, and in my case it was power cable issue. So, you need to check all cable connections(mount to handset and power supply to mount) and power supply it self.