Another night out - So what did I learn last night?

[swag72]

I don't know if anyone is following my threads and my stupidly naive questions about the most basics of setting up for astrophotography. I really am grateful for all the help thus far. So with no further ado - There's no questions ion this thread, but what problems did I encounter last night - Things that I am sure are second nature to seasoned astrophotographers, but to me, they are a bit of a lightbulb moment.

1) Put your DSLR on the back of the scope and the guider etc prior to polar alignment. This wil mean that you can balance the scope and not have to worry about it again. What did I do? Tried to change from the EP to DSLR after alignment and of course - the weight sent the scope all over the place and I had to start again!

2) When using PHD to check PA - Always clear the graph (Thanks Martin!) after making adjustment in order to watch it move along with the new settings.

3) When checking the above, use the same equipment as you are going to use for guiding later. By that I mean that I used the main scope to check my PA, so adjusted settings etc to get the best graph I could. Then, I put the camera onto the back of the finderscope to guide - So the settings are all different than I probably needed.

4) When looking for a star to guide, make sure the guider scope is focused and you're not trying to calibrate on a speck of dust - Then wonder why it's taking so long!!

In between these points there were other trials and tribulations - Remembering when to focus the camera in the process, and a few more.

So was it a successful night? Well, that remains to be seen!! But at least I feel I'm getting somewhere, so you can all breathe a sign of relief for a little while!!

If anyone has read this, then thank you. Thanks for the help and maybe, just maybe, this will be useful for people at a similar point to me who are just trying to learn the order of things!!

[shaunster]

I don't know if anyone is following my threads and my stupidly naive questions about the most basics of setting up for astrophotography. I really am grateful for all the help thus far. So with no further ado - There's no questions ion this thread, but what problems did I encounter last night - Things that I am sure are second nature to seasoned astrophotographers, but to me, they are a bit of a lightbulb moment.

1) Put your DSLR on the back of the scope and the guider etc prior to polar alignment. This wil mean that you can balance the scope and not have to worry about it again. What did I do? Tried to change from the EP to DSLR after alignment and of course - the weight sent the scope all over the place and I had to start again!

2) When using PHD to check PA - Always clear the graph (Thanks Martin!) after making adjustment in order to watch it move along with the new settings.

3) When checking the above, use the same equipment as you are going to use for guiding later. By that I mean that I used the main scope to check my PA, so adjusted settings etc to get the best graph I could. Then, I put the camera onto the back of the finderscope to guide - So the settings are all different than I probably needed.

4) When looking for a star to guide, make sure the guider scope is focused and you're not trying to calibrate on a speck of dust - Then wonder why it's taking so long!!

In between these points there were other trials and tribulations - Remembering when to focus the camera in the process, and a few more.

So was it a successful night? Well, that remains to be seen!! But at least I feel I'm getting somewhere, so you can all breathe a sign of relief for a little while!!

If anyone has read this, then thank you. Thanks for the help and maybe, just maybe, this will be useful for people at a similar point to me who are just trying to learn the order of things!!

Ive been reading your posts, sounds like your making progress

[themos]

I'm still battling with "workflow" issues, making sure that everything happens at the right time and no shortcuts are made (did I tidy up all cables so that they are not pulling on the cameras? etc)

[jgs001]

It's an on going learning experience Sara... I hope you're writing it all down to make a check sheet with... I keep meaning too...

[Ant]

You get into a routine eventually when you always setup in the same order.

It doesn't always work and many times I've packed up in frustration because something would work and as I'm climbing into bed I remember that I didn't plug the power lead into the camera (or similar).

Changing the EP for the camera won't affect the Polar Alignment - it might alter the balance of the scope - but not the PA.

I quite often forget to polar align - just put the mount down look up the mount to make sure it's roughly right ans then off I go. I've had pretty good 5 min subs by forgetting to PA - so my advise is not to get to bogged down with the PA.

Once you have images coming in and you have some results to be proud off, then you can start battling with the little adjustments that need to be made.

But importantly you sound like your having fun, which is the important bit.

Cheers

Ant

[Photosbykev]

First time I tried guiding I spend a few hours trying to guide on a hot pixel

[SteveL]

One of the mantras I always adhere to is "routine, routine, routine", and a few who know me have also been helped by this. The more you set up and strip down, the faster and easier it will be, and less likely to make silly mistakes. We have all made them when we started, and we still make them occasionally now, but the routine reduces them, and also reuces the amount of time it takes to set up, leaving you more time to observer or image the sky.

Mistakes are better viewed as a learning experience, things not to do again. Without mistakes, you wont know whats right and wrong

[swag72]

You're right, it is all down to routine. I'm not writing down at the moment John as it's all still too haphazard!! I will do though once I think I have it working fairly efficiently. Maybe in a couple of years then!

Workflow is the word themos as well. Need workflow and routine.

[martin_h]