New guided Star Adventurer setup

[thomasv]

Ready to try this next time the sky is clear, all drivers, SW installed, will be a 1st with the polemaster too for me. The USB hub is great on the ASI1600, I can have both the guide camera and the polemaster connected without extra leads. 

It makes me wonder, can the polemaster be used to keep an eye on the polar alignment during the imaging run? Also how do people perform the RA rotation required during the polar alignment, the polemaster guide advises not to do it by releasing the clutch, but the manual controls on the SA slews very slowly for it to cover 45deg ?

Thanks.

[xtreemchaos]

I like it, I got the same mount for crimbo, never though about guiding with it, but I did notice the port. it will be good to see how you get on. well done. charl.

[Jkulin]

Once you have done your polar alignment you don't use the pole master after that, you can in fact disconnect it. You certainly don't use it for the imaging run, what are using as a guide camera?

when I set up using the polemaster on my SA I slacken the clutch to rotate by 30 degrees each time it asks and it works fine.

[thomasv]

OK, thanks. The guide cam is QHY5L-ii, used it with my HEQ5 with PHD2, worked well, so hope will be able to set it up for RA only.

I know you don't need to use the polemaster during the imaging, was just wondering if it could be used to give you reassurance that the alignment was still ok. 

[russp]

I've still to try mine with guiding as well .. I went for a side by side setup so I can use the finder scope as a finder scope too but my primary aim was to have a scope I could use sharpcap with for a polar align (not tried that yet either!) but I will see how guiding works at some stage.

 

[Jkulin]

I have done 450 secs unguided with it after polar aligning with the polemaster and there was only the tiniest amount of movement detectable, I was that impressed that I sent it off to have it hypertuned.

I generally only use it for widefield with a 14mm lens so can't advise what it is like with a longer lens.

[thomasv]

I had a quick test tonight and fairly happy with the results. At the end I started to have USB connection loss problems but until then I had all three cameras connected, the polemaster app showing the precise alignment, guiding with the QHY5L and imaging with the ASI1600.

Below is a typical tracking plot, in some cases the RMS error did go up to 1.4".

Also showing the centre crop of a 360s test exposure at 200mm focal length, as far as I can tell the stars are round. 

 

[andrex66]

Very nice result!

May I ask something about your setup?

- Are you guiding with 0.5x or 1x sidereal?

- I'm trying to balance as best as I can the weight on the SA, a little east or west heavy depending on where I would start imaging,then I lock the RA clutch a little to avoid rotation prior to start imaging. Should be the RA axis completely free to move when the motor is running?  I just gently rotate the clutch a bit to prevent rotation,not forcing it. Could the locked clutch damage the motor?

Thank you in advance!

Andrea

[1DegreeN]

As you've probably discovered, you can leave the Polemaster app running and it will continue to monitor the accuracy of your polar alignment. I think that's useful for a lightweight mount such as the SA, its very easy to shift the alignment when your acquiring your target, framing and focusing. I use the Polemaster with an Astrotrac and even though I think my setup is relatively sturdy and well balanced I still sometimes see a small shift out of alignment after moving the camera on to the target.

[kirkster501]

You can use the same pole master camera on numerous setups. You can buy additional mounting brackets.

[newbie alert]

On 29/01/2018 at 23:08, thomasv said:

I had a quick test tonight and fairly happy with the results. At the end I started to have USB connection loss problems but until then I had all three cameras connected, the polemaster app showing the precise alignment, guiding with the QHY5L and imaging with the ASI1600.

Below is a typical tracking plot, in some cases the RMS error did go up to 1.4".

Also showing the centre crop of a 360s test exposure at 200mm focal length, as far as I can tell the stars are round. 

 

Nice job Thomas..

I thought the S.A. only had a RA  motor so assumed you could only guide in that direction yet you have a DEC reading?? 

I just need a few more bits and I be guiding mine hopefully

[thomasv]

Sure, it was RA guiding only, but the DEC movements are still monitored and showed on the graph. Zooming in it can be seen that there are no DEC guiding pulses:

It did confuse me initially too, it's just that the polar alignment was so good (thanks to the polemaster) that the DEC drift was minimal even after 15mins (but then something did start to move):

 

Good luck with your setting up guiding.