First attempt at imaging fiasco

[krikus]

After finally getting set up with polar alignment and goto i attached my dslr and focused then slewed to M31 and took an exposure to find no galaxy in shot,checked my guiding scope which is a 80mm refractor with diagonal and 40mm eyepiece piggybacked on my main scope a Ts 90mm triplet and no sign of the galaxy in view.Do i need a wider fov eyepiece or is there another way to locate that galaxy?

Thanks Kirk 

[Davey-T]

It should show up on both your scopes, leave guide scope looping and set your DSLR to max ISO using live view and an easy star hop up from Mirach  should show up in guide scope first.

Try a GoTo on something unmistakeable first like Betelgeuse to check it's working.

Dave

[krikus]

3 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

It should show up on both your scopes, leave guide scope looping and set your DSLR to max ISO using live view and an easy star hop up from Mirach  should show up in guide scope first.

Try a GoTo on something unmistakeable first like Betelgeuse to check it's working.

Dave

Yep think goto was out,ok thanks i`ll try those things you suggested.

Cheers

[smashing]

I had an illuminated cross hair eye piece I used to align the go-to after an initial wide angle eye piece and then put the camera in and focus on the star...let me save you that hassle and get APT, eqmod and plate solving going and never have to worry about it again.

Edited December 12, 2020 by smashing

[wimvb]

Do GoTo with your camera, not an eyepiece. As @Davey-T suggested: test on a bright and familiar star first. 

[smashing]

12 hours ago, wimvb said:

Do GoTo with your camera, not an eyepiece. As @Davey-T suggested: test on a bright and familiar star first. 

The problem I had was that the initial star alignment was out by a big enough margin that I couldn't see it in the camera FOV hence the need for a wide angle eyepiece to start...that may just be my poor setup though haha tbh since I got APT and plate solving all sorted I just put the camera straight in and let APT and eqmod do it's thing.

Edited December 13, 2020 by smashing