Autoguiding Issue

[blinky]

I dont think I agree with this article - as seeing is random and not connected to any mechanical or polar alignment issues you really dont want to try and correct it.  Correcting it is useless anyway, as seeing is so short lived that by the time your mount has moved, the seeing has also moved, so why try and correct something that cant be corrected?  I think its best to guide the mount as infrequently as possible, hence why its good to get a decent polar alignment in the first place!

[ollypenrice]

6 hours ago, blinky said:

I dont think I agree with this article - as seeing is random and not connected to any mechanical or polar alignment issues you really dont want to try and correct it.  Correcting it is useless anyway, as seeing is so short lived that by the time your mount has moved, the seeing has also moved, so why try and correct something that cant be corrected?  I think its best to guide the mount as infrequently as possible, hence why its good to get a decent polar alignment in the first place!

How important is PA? I take the slightly heretical view that it's over-rated as a priority. Actually, for my zero-backlash mounts, it probably is best as close to perfect as I can get it but, for worm and wheel mounts, a slight misalignment can lead to Dec corrections all being in the same direction so not setting up an oscillation across the gear backlash.

This whole darned business is far from easy!

Olly

[Likwid]

59 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

This whole darned business is far from easy!

I completely agree with that! I was able to get consistent 7 minute exposures last night until some unexpected clouds ruined my night. I am really happy with how the mount is performing now. I had to go in before I was able to start working with EQMOD, so that is the next step now that I know my mount is functioning properly. Woohoo!

[Laurin Dave]

I'd recommend you take a look at the Lightvortexastronomy website, it has an excellent tutorial on how to set up eqmod.

Dave

[Stickfarm8]

Likwid,

Welcome to the newbie curve!  I chuckled when I read Olly's comment - This whole darned business is far from easy!  I've been battling similar issues but the enjoyment when you capture those images the feeling just can't be beat !

If you haven't seen this on the phd2guiding side - its worth taking the time to read thru - https://openphdguiding.org/phd2-best-practices/

When I was having trouble last weekend - I had apparently rotated the guide camera more than a few degrees - I watched this video on the Astroimaging channel -  youtube.com/watch?v=LXFGRta98rs  . One of the developers Andy does a good job walking thru all the initial setup and has some good recommendations. After I got everything recalibrated last Saturday night, I was even able to finally use dithering in the capture process.

You also might consider moving from the hand controller to a PC if you have a laptop that can be used. That enables you to use programs like Cartes du Ciel instead of the handcontroller. I ordered the cable needed to go between the laptop and the mount - in my case a FTDI  EQMOD cable from First Light Optics and it has worked well. I'm still trying to learn EQMOD's plethera of options. I have been setting up "from scratch" each time. Getting the three star alignment has sometimes taken me a lot of time when I initially point to the first star - I like to use Vega. Last night I marked the points on the driveway, and saved the points in EQMOD. I'm hoping that helps speed me into imaging tonight.

I hope your viewing has been better than mine the past two nights - the humid haze hanging over KY has been awful. It looked like I was imaging thru a snow storm when viewing the captures in Backyard EOS. Two nights in a row I have set up only to be disappointed. Tonight looks promising.

Rich

 

 

[Likwid]

All I can say is wow! I manually did a PA today and I have EQMod and Cartes du Ciel controlling my mount now! I thought that getting on ground and doing everything manually, trying to find a star with my finderscope at awkward angles (Sometimes painful) was fun. I didn't know what I was missing! I used to struggle to find stars that my stupid hand controller thought were ok to align to, now I can align to anything! Muahahahaha! This is such a time saver, it is unbelievable. Now I have to figure out AstroTortilla to get platesolving settled, but doing the alignment manually through Cartes du ciel isn't bad at all. Also, I just took a unbelievable (to me) 10 minute exposure of M13. I can't wait to push this mount to the limit! Thank you all so much for your help and I am sure this is just the beginning of all my questions lol. What a hobby!