Autoguiding for widefield astrophotography?

[kamayok3]

Hi to all,

One Q for you guys. Do you guys autoguide when doing constellation or widefield astrophotography? If yes, normally what is the condition on choosing the right star to guide on?

Please explain more.

Regards,

Tommy

[Dave]

Hi Tommy

On wide angle shots autoguiding is not normally required as the guiding does not have to be so accurate. Any small problems in guiding will take much longer to show up on the image.

Dave

[kamayok3]

That's mean it is possible to do it,right?

Ok..for an example, let say if I frame the constellation of ORION with my 50mm standard lens, so, if I wish to do guiding, which bright star should I choose for the guiding?

Regards,

Tommy

[Euan]

which bright star should I choose for the guiding?

You don't need to pick a star, as long as there is something in the field of view of your guide camera just go for it

What are you using for it?

[kamayok3]

Just a QHY5 with 9x50 finder. Just curious how come people never mention about autoguiding when shooting wide.

Regards,

Tommy

[Euan]

Just a QHY5 with 9x50 finder. Just curious how come people never mention about autoguiding when shooting wide.

Regards,

Tommy

If your polar alignment is within range and you have a tracking mount it's not worth bothering about too much. Hence why people use things like the Astrotrac

Personally, I would advise auto-guiding and just start pushing the limits with the exposures, nothing beats 15-20mins of deep widefield stuff

[steppenwolf]

I autoguide even if I am imaging with a 50mm focal length camera lens. Whilst it is true that the wider the FOV, the smaller any tracking errors will appear, they will still be there! I don't choose any specific star, just one that appears in the FOV of the guide camera.