Quote:
Originally Posted by dmb
The polar alignment I did was pretty basic, I'll spend a bit more time checking the drift next time. Could I use the graph to help, making the appropriate adjustments in RA/DEC with my wedge adjusters ?
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Certainly no reason not with caveats below. This is a no fuss way to home in on good alignment in fact without dismantling your camera config. Need to ensure:
- Camera aligned with RA and Dec axes (or guiding graph options chosen to show mount/drive axes, not camera)
- corrections turned off (in DEC axis at least - might help to have RA tracking if you're way off to start with)
- Pointing at overhead meridian star, or zero Dec horizon star as per normal polar alignment routines (to adjust azimuth and altitude respectively)
Remember you can change the pixel scale on the graph as you zoom in on alignment. Another trick is to select your main camera as the "guide camera" on the guide tab as you get closer to good PA. Gives you an additional resolution boost if the FL of your main OTA is significantly greater than guidescope. You could save a camera configuration like this to re-use. In fact its sometimes handy to have the cameras reversed from their normal roles when you're first finding an object using the Camera Exposure tab too....
(again however, of most use when your guidescope FOV much wider than main OTA setup)
Maxim may not be the best place to start if you're just learning autoguiding though? PHD gets you going quick. Maxim allows much more control and tweaking, but would suggest you have to be prepared to invest hours thinking why you've get each and every setting where it is.