First time imaging in months (technical issues)

[Galen Gilmore]

Hi all,

As you know I took a bit of a break from astronomy, but I am back now, so expect more activity from me! Last night I tried to do some imaging at my favorite dark sky place during arguably the best night of the year. It ended up going very well, but I had some problems that I need to ask about.

I have the SW EQ5 and the basic R.A. Motor, when I first turned the motor on I attempted to do some basic 30s exposures just to test everything out. I got trailing in these short exposures, I made sure that everything was balanced correctly, polar alignment, mount leveling, but still the same result. I found out that I actually had to run the motor without touching anything for 2-4 minutes before it would get 'warmed up'. This was strange because I had never had this problem before, I was able to just turn on the motor and immediately get upwards of 150s exposure without trailing. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I just put new batteries in?

I also forgot to do flats (doh), I realized just as I was packing up. Is there any way that I can take my flats now? Or maybe create a synthetic flat to use?

[Atreta]

Hi, 

This page teaches how to make synthetic flats:flats:https://astrobackyard.com/how-to-take-flat-frames/

Scroll down to the part "what if i forgot to take flats". 

[Galen Gilmore]

21 minutes ago, Atreta said:

Hi, 

This page teaches how to make synthetic flats:flats:https://astrobackyard.com/how-to-take-flat-frames/

Scroll down to the part "what if i forgot to take flats". 

Thank you, will have a read.