Unmitigated disaster

[TheThing]

So I thought I'd have a dabble in the dark arts.  I knew it would be extremely difficult but, with a clear sky at last and hope in my heart, I set out to see what I could capture.

First problem was that I managed to knock the finder out of alignment, so finding anything was a new nightmare. I managed to get it kind of on Polaris, but it needs fetling in the day.

The second problem was that my new finder guider was just an image of noise! 

This was in PHD. Reminds me a bit of trying to tune in a TV in the old days. So I've managed to capture some cosmic background radiation, so there is that!

Finally, couldn't actually see anything in Sharpcap, so not sure if I've got the Pleiades or just a black image yet.

Still, I was out...

If anyone can explain the finder guidescope being 'snow' I'd be eternally grateful.  Also, it said it couldn't move the mount in RA, so any hints on that please? Celestron CG5-GT.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I wont insult you by asking if the lens cap was removed 🙂 

Difficult to say exactly what is wrong from that photo but the first thing that strikes me is the slider shown below ringed in red appears to be fully to the right on yours and if I have the one on mine anywhere near half way then iI have am almost white screen.
So I would move this to the left and then move it right slowly till you have the stars showing up. Below is where my slider is (ignore the fact there are no stars my lens cap is on as its still passing clouds here).

Keep the frame rate between 2 and 4 seconds I think that is what most people use.

Make sure the guide camera has connected correctly and that PHD2 has not connected to your imaging ccd by mistake.

If that doesn't help then maybe explain what camera and guidescope you have and then put some screenshots of your PHD2 settings.

Also if this is your first time  imaging I found it helped not to bother with guiding to start with and take shortish frames, say 30 to 60 seconds if your tracking allows until you get some sort of images you can stack. Also going this route and trying to get the longest exposures you can, without guiding and without noticeable trailing means your set up regarding PA, tracking etc is as good as it can be and then the guiding is not having to do lots of work just that extra nudge to allow longer exposures.
PHD will not fix bad tracking or bad  PA so you may  be able to get at least 1 min subs without guiding and maybe even 2 or 3 minutes, I think I managed to tune mine up to 5 minutes without too much issues. Then get the guiding working and ramp it up to  get 5 mins or longer. Just a thought ?

Steve

[Stuart1971]

First of all we could do with more info, like what software you are using to image, whether you are connected to the mount with ST4 cable or just using the camera to pulse guide via USB,  your 0.5 seconds guide exposures are way too short, try 2 or 2.5 seconds…get the PA close also

[teoria_del_big_bang]

One thing as well that confuses me is without visible stars how you managed to get it calibrated.
Normally when using for the first time it will lock on a star and then move the scope in al directions by several pixels to see the star move so it know the orientation of the guide camera and when the scope moves one way which way it then sees the star move.
I don't want to complicate things yet till you get it seeing stars and focus the stars as that is nothing to do with your screen full of noise but that neds to happen once you do 🙂 

Steve

[Stuart1971]

Just now, teoria_del_big_bang said:

One thing as well that confuses me is without visible stars how you managed to get it calibrated.
Normally when using for the first time it will lock on a star and then move the scope in al directions by several pixels to see the star move so it know the orientation of the guide camera and when the scope moves one way which way it then sees the star move.
I don't want to complicate things yet till you get it seeing stars and focus the stars as that is nothing to do with your screen full of noise but that neds to happen once you do 🙂 

Steve

I think that maybe one of the main issues, it’s not…!! 🤔

[TheThing]

Brilliant advice, thank you all.  I'll try without guiding first and then gradually incorporate it.

Lens caps were off however, just remembered that I left an IR cut filter in my imaging camera.

Such a lot to take in.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

1 minute ago, TheThing said:

Such a lot to take in.

It is and we all have been there believe me.
Guiding took my a fair while to get my head round but once the penny drops and you get your setup right it just works, every time (well nearly 🙂 ).

Once running there are things in PHD2 you can run so it learns what might help and will suggest you change some parameters, but first just get it working you can come back and ask then what to do to improve.

Good luck, I just looked out and clouds are clearing so my lens cap also off not and starting to get aligned on my target.

Steve

[TheThing]

Have stacked my images and applied darks. Finally managed to pick myself up off the floor after much laughter.

But I did capture a star, honest!

[Padraic M]

Just a quick thought - focusing your guide camera can be a bit tricky, and if it's well out of focus you can get a sea of noise. Luckily, it just needs to be done once as long as you don't knock it out of position as fine focus isn't really that important for the guide camera.

[TheThing]

Much better evening today.  Took on board your advice, but didn't use the guiding whilst imaging, just set it up and tried.

Stars!!

Next problem is that my ZWO 426mc might not be the best option for deep sky.  This is me capturing the Orion Nebula with Sharpcap but can't actually see anything!  Maybe it'll come out with stacking. 🤣

[rickwayne]

OK, that PHD screenshot looks like you've got it goin' on. Whoo!

As for your Orion image, let's see...well, Telescopius's M42 shot is so awful you can hardly tell which part of the nebula is in the FOV. Here's Andromeda for comparison. I'm assuming you were using your 80mm scope, anything else on your list and the crop would be even more extreme.

The 462 is not particularly well suited to deep-sky work, as you say. (Though "Onward to Mars" is fairly apposite (-: )