DSI second try

Last time I had alignment problems but this time i spent one hour
reading a whole lot of instructions on my mount documentation and
managed to get the polar right there in the middle of the circle. I
did 2 star alignment ( can't do 3 star because i have only access to
the south/west and 60 degres only from horizon. Also did PEC training
for 5 mns.

Only when i was magnifying 250 times (3mm eyepiece) i could notice a
slight shift on the right and down but not noticeable within 5
seconds.

Put the dsi on and pointed on M13. nothing was moving. After a few
pics (about 10) with 1s exposure the combined image became fuzzy and
not good at all. first pic was better. Then clouds came and the whole
thing stopped.

While i was listening to the promotional videos tonight, i realized
that the guy draws a box around a guide star for tracking purposes. I
did not do that because i thought that was linked to autoguiding which
i don't do.

maybe this box is not used to autoguide but to tell the system that
even if there is a shift, this star is the same as the one in the
previous picture and the software does not give fuzzy composites.

am I right ? will try next time.

On Jul 8, 6:26 pm, pascal wrote:
Last time I had alignment problems but this time i spent one hour
reading a whole lot of instructions on my mount documentation and
managed to get the polar right there in the middle of the circle. I
did 2 star alignment ( can't do 3 star because i have only access to
the south/west and 60 degres only from horizon. Also did PEC training
for 5 mns.

Only when i was magnifying 250 times (3mm eyepiece) i could notice a
slight shift on the right and down but not noticeable within 5
seconds.

Put the dsi on and pointed on M13. nothing was moving. After a few
pics (about 10) with 1s exposure the combined image became fuzzy and
not good at all. first pic was better. Then clouds came and the whole
thing stopped.

While i was listening to the promotional videos tonight, i realized
that the guy draws a box around a guide star for tracking purposes. I
did not do that because i thought that was linked to autoguiding which
i don't do.

maybe this box is not used to autoguide but to tell the system that
even if there is a shift, this star is the same as the one in the
previous picture and the software does not give fuzzy composites.

am I right ? will try next time.

Might want to give the manual another read through. You _must_ draw a
box around a star in order for the program to be able to accurately
stack frames. Also, "no movement for 5 seconds" is not close to good
enough; you'll need to refine your polar alignment more.

Unk Rod

Also, "no movement for 5 seconds" is not close to good
enough; you'll need to refine your polar alignment more.

I see. I thought a slight shift at 250x would be tolerable. Perhaps
that's what u get with Heq5 mounts. And plus this is on a steady flat
ground.

Actually I have to press the right arrow and the down arrow of my hand
controller to avoid drifting.This every now and then.

I read the explanations about how to correct drifting but it is a bit
complicated, isn't there any quick method like:

* if you need to press right arrow to correct the shifting then
increase the angle of the mount to be 46 degres instead of 45 degrees
(+ 1degree to match the polar axis)


* if you need to press the right arrow then , facing north, kick the
right foot of your mount by 1 cm

thanks

On Jul 9, 8:41 am, pascal wrote:
Also, "no movement for 5 seconds" is not close to good

enough; you'll need to refine your polar alignment more.

I see. I thought a slight shift at 250x would be tolerable. Perhaps
that's what u get with Heq5 mounts. And plus this is on a steady flat
ground.

Actually I have to press the right arrow and the down arrow of my hand
controller to avoid drifting.This every now and then.

I read the explanations about how to correct drifting but it is a bit
complicated, isn't there any quick method like:

* if you need to press right arrow to correct the shifting then
increase the angle of the mount to be 46 degres instead of 45 degrees
(+ 1degree to match the polar axis)

* if you need to press the right arrow then , facing north, kick the
right foot of your mount by 1 cm

thanks

Hi:

No. The HEQ5 is more than capable of taking unguided 30 second
exposures. It has PEC too. If you can't get your alignment good enough
using a polar scope, drifting is the answer:

http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/drifting.doc

In these instructions of mine, you can disregard steps 2 and 3 for
your setup.

Unk Rod

Thanks Rod, haven't tried it yet (there is a constant depression over
western Europe) but is seems more simple and handy than what I have
read so far (e.g "if the star goes down, bring it to the left with
azimuth adjuster" instead of "move the north side of the mount towards
the west" which i got on the web)

Pascal.