smr Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Hi... Trying to get phd2 guiding for the first time and this... what should I do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul mc c Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 You need to calibrate the mount.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubecula Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Run the guiding assistant from the Tools menu, Then accept its recommendations and try re-calibrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smr Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 6 minutes ago, paul mc c said: You need to calibrate the mount.... Could you elaborate a bit please? Bear in mind this is all completely new to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul mc c Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 If you go into the tools menu just at the top of the page and click the guiding assistant and let it run and as Robin says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smr Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 Ok thanks just doing that now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smr Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 Still not great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubecula Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Presumably your mount is polar aligned? When you framed the target did you make the last adjustments in the North and East directions (this reduces backlash)? Did you adopt the Guiding Assistant recomendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skipper Billy Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 There is a good document on my website about getting PHD2 to play nicely - 2nd item down on this page - https://sites.google.com/view/astro-imaging/how-to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottletopburly Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Good reading literature for guiding here https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/2560-auto-guiding-guide/?tab=comments#comment-26980 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyj1 Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 both of those are good guides, but what you need to do, if not done already, is to 'SHIFT+CLICK' on the guide to force the mount to go through calibration...it will edge through E/W/N/S and return to know which way it needs to push to keep the star aligned in the gross hairs . However, i note the comment about 'calibration based on very few steps', did you alter something? let it do 7-11 steps for cal HTH Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
souls33k3r Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Follow these simple steps: Make sure your mount is properly levelled and balanced. Make sure your scope is balanced. Make sure your polar alignment is good. Run guiding assistant and accept the values. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smr Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 thanks for the help. having a torrid evening... i have got guiding a few times i just thought the graph needed to be a lot more accurate than it was. but not my dslr isnt working with APT... its connected but it keeps telling me to put it in manual or bulb mode when it is! so frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyj1 Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Take a breath, look at the stars and enjoy, sometimes when imaging, we forget to just look up and marvel at what's up there as for APT.. check the little tab to make sure you have bulb selected there under EXP: (i'm not connected so can't show it properly) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smr Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 yes you're right. I've not even eaten yet, just ordered a chinese as i really want to get this guiding sorted for tomorrow with clear skies forecast then too. i got APT working, had to shift click connect again and choose the right digic processor, i must have accidentally clicked on the wrong one when i first installed the program. just trying to guide again now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyj1 Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Good luck, I will be out there with APT and PHD2 as well ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smr Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 Well somethings working - I am getting round stars with 2 minute exposures, but 3 minutes there's slight trailling. But still, 2 minutes is a good start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smr Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 Thanks for those guides chaps. I'll have a read of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael8554 Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 You need more than 2 or 3 steps in the Calibration to get good guiding. Sounds like you don't have the correct guidescope focal length and the guidecam pixel size entered. Need to get those right, to give 8 to 13 or so steps in the Calibration, before trying the Guiding Assistant. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smr Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 20 minutes ago, michael8554 said: You need more than 2 or 3 steps in the Calibration to get good guiding. Sounds like you don't have the correct guidescope focal length and the guidecam pixel size entered. Need to get those right, to give 8 to 13 or so steps in the Calibration, before trying the Guiding Assistant. Michael This is how its looking at the moment. Not sure what pixel size should be or where to enter it, I have entered 50mm as the focal length though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayD Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 What guide camera and what guide scope are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smr Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 Just now, RayD said: What guide camera and what guide scope are you using? zwo120mm mini and 50mm starwave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayD Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 7 minutes ago, smr said: zwo120mm mini and 50mm starwave Ok well I'm pretty sure the focal length of that OTA is 206mm. You need to enter this, and the pixel size for that camera (3.75um) and then let it calculate your calibration figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjdawson Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 good polar alignment is the key to getting PHD to guide properly. I've found that using the polar align tool in Sharp Cap Pro is work really well to get your polar alignment sorted out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurin Dave Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 You need to enter 206 mm as the focal length and 3.75 um as the pixel size... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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