Should I autoguide?

[blinky]

I currently have an HEQ5 (Non Pro) and the plan until now was to upgrade this to Pro next year at some point (When funds allow and the missus has forgot how much the mount cost in the 1st place ). But.....The other night when I was out I realsed I get a lot of satisfaction from Star Hoping and I know if I got the Pro I would not bother with this side of things and use the GOTO. I then thought maybe the HEQ5 can be converted for auto guiding and sure enough it can 8) It looks like a small soldering job to attach a few wires to the handset switches, something I would have no problems with. There are a couple of things bothering me about this though!

1. Does it work? The minimum speed of the HEQ5 is X2, is this slow enough for autoguiding?

2. The guide camera would have to be my modded ToUCam (SC1) coupled to the 8"Newt. Would I have a large enough fov to see a guide star? 3. I am really enjoying having the pier, it makes things so simple. Would having an autoguiding setup complicate things again, or is it easy once you have the hang of things?

I think the plan would be to keep imaging with the ZS66 as it gives me a decent FOV with a reducer and the DSI. I dont think I can image much with the Newt as the FOV is very small. Is my thinking correct? I know there are a lot of small targets that are suitable for imaging with the Newt but as I am star Hoping I have never had much luck finding these very small objects (The Blue snowball is the one that springs to mind). I do intend to get the Pro upgrade at some point in future but only once I have got a bit more experience of the sky and finding my way about etc.

What do you folks think????

[steppenwolf]

Hi Craig, before I upgraded to the SkyScan GoTo system, I did this very soldering mod. myself and despite the X2 guiding, it did an adequate job.

Full details can be found here on my website and although this is based on the EQ6, the HEQ5 hand controller and mode of operation is identical.

[barkis]

Well you have improved your setup a lot just by installing the pier Craig. If you have aligned your Polar axis carefully and done some drift alignment checks that are favourable, you should manage some imaging with short subs as you are. Get all the output you can from what you already have. Don't go rocking the domestic bliss boat otherwise it might all go sour . Bide your time mate, there is no rush to upgrade to EQ6 Pro, if that was your thinking. Put it on the back burner, I know you may want to press on, because this game is addictive. I have spent a small fortune myself, and I have only taken a couple of lunar pics. But, I am happy pottering about, and I am getting there. I rushed everything years ago and made a pigs ear of it, so I learned a lesson. I really enjoy seeing the results flowing in from SGL Members, and It gets me fired up, but I will make sure I enjoy what I eventually achieve, but I'm not over ambitious, and I am not going to chuck more money at it.

Anyway, these are my thoughts, they may not be yours. You yourself will determine how you go about it.

Ron.

[blinky]

Ron,

On reflection I think you may be right. I should stick to my original plan of upgrading to the HEQ5 Pro next year. I think I have a pretty good setup at the moment and still need to 'learn the ropes' so to speak, of this imaging malarky! I think I may be able to get a DSLR this year which would mean when I upgarde to the pro I can start guiding with the DSI as guide cam.

Thanks for bringing me back 'down to earth'

[Andrew*]

I'm asking a similar question too. I got the Atik 1-HS for guiding and made myself guide rings, but now that I've seen what the Atik can do unguided, I'm having a re-think. I should just get the hang of unguided imaging. When that's flowing, and the mount's abilities are the limiting factor in my imaging, then, and only then, will I start bothering with all this guiding business, which from my vantage point appears not to be a piece of cake...

M1, M57, M27, Globs are all good targets for your newt...

Andrew

[Sam]

Craig,

I'm in a similar boat to you - 8" Newt on an HEQ5 (non pro) and looking to do autoguiding. I think I'm just going to splash out and get the upgrade and a guidescope (probably the ST80). I've already got the modded webcam. But in the mean time I'm going to try and get the best tracking I can through sorting the drift alignment and some of the other basics.

cheers

Sam

[blinky]

Well it seems the concensus is to keep at the ungiuded shots for the time being. I think thisis the route I will take. With better polar alignment I should be able to get over 1 min subs and possibly up to 2 mins. Just need to take more time with the initial alignment.

[MikeP]

In Ron Wodaski's book, he suggests that unguided exposures with a good mount and good polar alignment are as follows:

Focal Length Exposure Length

500 - 700mm 2 minutes

1000mm 1 minute

2000mm 20 - 30 seconds

He does say that unguided exposures with focal lengths over 1000mm become increasingly difficult, so (I think) the estimate for 2000mm is probably much more variable than the other two - very much depending on the quality of your mount.

Mike

[Roy Batty]

In Ron Wodaski's book, he suggests that unguided exposures with a good mount and good polar alignment are as follows:

Focal Length Exposure Length

500 - 700mm 2 minutes

1000mm 1 minute

2000mm 20 - 30 seconds

He does say that unguided exposures with focal lengths over 1000mm become increasingly difficult, so (I think) the estimate for 2000mm is probably much more variable than the other two - very much depending on the quality of your mount.

Mike

I think those figures quoted by Mike are pretty well spot on. Imaging with my C8-N & DSLR unguided I've settled on using 1 Minute subs - any longer and star elongation starts to creep in. I think the secret with good unguided imaging apart from alignment etc - is getting a decent amount of data (1 Hour +) in the best conditions you can get.

RB

[steppenwolf]

I think I'd go along with those figures too - which is why I autoguide!

[Sam]

Yeah, those figures look pretty good. I can get 1 minute if the setup is really good. Good point, Roy, about the 1 hour worth of data.