Carl Wrightson wrote:
I don't suppose anyone out there has come across this issue have
they? I follow the instructions implicitly and once the alignment
is complete (any option - 1 star, 2 stars, etc) and I choose
go-to for an object such as one of the obvious planets so I know
I've got the object correct (!) it points somewhere close (same
area of the sky...just about) but not in the same field of view
through the scope. The GPS location is set correctly and if I use
manual alignment with known stars it is still wrong. Sometimes
(not always), even the tracking/slew rate seems to be incorrect,
and as I'm all geared up for astrophotography that kind if spells
failure from the start.

The usual remedy for this and other Autostar scopes is to calibrate
and (re)train the drives. If you've recently upgraded the firmware
you'll probably want to de a reset first to be sure everything's
properly initialised. Calibration is a short, automated process, but
it pays to take your time with the largely manual training part -
high magnification and a reticle eyepiece will help a lot. The
tracking rates are something you can always play with *after*
calibrating and training.

Anybody got any ideas???? Any at all???!!! :-) Through my LPI I
can get a decent image of Jupiter say, but it jumps a lot which I
guess will make stacking the images pretty near impossible, or is
there something with image processing software I can use to avoid
this. I want to by the new Deep Space Imager but with longer
exposures these problems will make my purchase worthless!

The jumping sounds unusual to me, but it may well have to do with
backlash (or the compensation thereof) which should be fixed by the
above procedure. Another thing to check (and train the scope for) is
periodic error.

Rapid jumps will probably only cost you a frame or two when imaging
planets and stacking software can compensate for this kind of
movement during the registration (i.e. "frame alignment") process.
As you've however identified, such glitches will be a major nuisance
during longer exposures. AFAIK the LX200 tracks pretty well though,
when set up properly.

Best of luck,

Steve