Can PHD2 dither stand-alone ?

[Astro_mark_c]

Hi there,

So I use PHD2 for auto-guiding, and set up dithering within it.  Now I just assumed when i started up auto-guiding in PHD2 that it would just start dithering as per the dithering settings in the advanced settings tab.  I've noticed when using blink on my light frames in Pixinsight that my images randomly shift.  I have no issues with walking noise. 

My question is, am I actually dithering via PHD2 or do i need some other software to do it?

Someone in an astro Facebook group has challenged me on this, regardless of what I tell him, but I lack the technical understanding to give him an informed reply. 

Cheers,

Mark

[Budgie1]

As far as I know, and I did quickly have a look at the PHD2 manual, PHD2 needs the dither command from your capture software to perform the dither. It requires this command because PHD2 has no way of knowing when your imaging camera has finish an exposure.

There is Manual Guiding in PHD2 which does have a dither function, but it doesn't look as though you can auto-guide and manually dither.

I'm happy to be correct by those more knowledgeable.  

 

[tomato]

I have only ever executed the dither command from the capture software e.g. NINA or SGP, and I would agree that this makes sense as you don’t want to execute a dither while you are capturing a sub exposure.

[scotty38]

Same here, I just set it up in NINA too.

[Astro_mark_c]

Yeah I've come to the conclusion i must be seeing a natural dither in my images when flicking through them. 

[scotty38]

I can see it in blink too as you describe but I've always dithered so no idea what blink would show without 🙂

[michael8554]

The PHD2 Dither button on the Manual Guide screen will Dither when you press it, even when guiding.

Elsewhere, in the Advanced / Global tab, there are Random, Spiral, and RA only selections.

As already said, to auto-dither you need external software to tell PHD2 to Dither the mount

PHDMax is a Dither-only prog, that tells PHD2 to Dither by sensing that an image is being downloaded into a designated folder.

http://www.felopaul.com/phdmax.htm

Michael