Quote:
Originally Posted by codemonkey
Thanks mate :-)
To be honest I don't know what you mean by "worm clearance." I take it I should basically pull this apart and follow some of the video instructions I've seen on adjusting the gears to remove any play and giving them a good clean?
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No, you certainly don't need to take it to bits - only do that as a last resort. There are some hex head bolts that lock the worm carrier to the main body. You undo them very slightly so that the worm carrier can slide on the body and then use the small opposing screws to wind the carrier in or out to adjust the clearance. Then tighten the main bolts back up. takes about a minute when you get the hang of it. It is a normal part of owning an EQ6 - they are even supplied with the key wrenches to do it.
This shows you how and explains what the process does (you should not need to do the end float adjustment on the worm bearings though)
http://www.astro-baby.com/EQ6%20rebu...0alignment.htm
others have commented on the guide star image quality. I have found that the centroid calculation in phd is quite OK with images like yours - it seems to be doing well in DEC in your case and I doubt that there will be any problem in RA. However, it is worth choosing an unsaturated star, rather than one with obvious saturation like the one in your example.