[Pharian (Christopher)]

Hi all,

I'm hoping for some help, I'm just starting out trying to do some astrophotography and I could do with some advice please. There are several areas I'm having trouble with or could use some help.

First, my setup is as follows:

• Celestron 8" SCT OTA (black tube) with f6.3 reducer
• Neq6-pro mount with synscan controller
• Orion ST80 guidescope mounted to top of OTA on Losmandy plate
• Canon 600d DSLR with Shoot intervalometer
• Prostar PS-LPGUIDE-C Guide camera (the first generation one, not the version 2 one)
• I also have a laptop, ascom serial to USB cable, various eyepieces ranging from 40mm plossl to 8.8mm ES 82degree, illuminated cross EP, Laser finder, crappy finder scope.
• Big deep cycle car battery in housing with 12v outputs etc

I only use the scope down the nsw south coast at a holiday house at a very dark site, so I tend to try my best while there then work out what I need to know and work on it back home before going down to try it again. I don't get to use my scope that often so I'm trying to nail down as much as I can before I go down again in a couple of weeks.

I threw the camera on last time I was down and got some blurry shots so will be trying my bahtinov mask next time.

Anyway, my questions are:

Camera Settings

I've tested settings and it's happily taking long shots with the intervalometer. However,

• What ISO would you recommend for this setup shooting deep sky? 800? 1600?
• How long should I take subs? 30s? 2.5min? Longer?

Phd2 guiding and guide cam

I am running a Toupsky driver, but I'm not 100% it's the right one. I got the camera second hand off the iis forums but it came with no drivers so I downloaded one, but it may be for the version 2 camera not the 1st generation one, I can't work out which to use.

When I plug it in (and sometimes have to reinstall toupsky) then it finds the camera. I get a white screen in the Toupsky software when I'm inside in the light, then it goes black if I put the lens cap on so I think the camera works.

However, in phd2 I can't get it to work. I've just got the camera plugged in, I set the driver in the drop down to the Toup driver and hit connect. It seems to connect (button goes green at any rate). Then I try to take some darks but it just times out at 16s (no mount or ascom mount, tried both). I've no idea where the problem is. Any suggestions?

Also, any other suggestions of things I am probably doing wrong?

Thanks in advance everybody, chin chin and clear skies!