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Cheers mate.
I didn't explain at all why I was interested in the magnitude of stars that I could guide on, which was remiss of me.
As I use an OAG, I have a fairly limited FOV. This camera will have a significantly larger FOV than my QHY5L-IIM, actually bigger than my imaging camera, amusingly enough, but it's still much smaller than you would have with a typical guide scope.
I was thinking that if I knew that the minimum magnitude I could guide on was X, then I could use something like Cartes Du Ciel to plot out the FOV, and by sampling "randomly" I could get an idea of whether I'll be able to find a star to guide on at any point in the sky without rotating my OAG.
The last few times I was guiding I was using a NIR filter on my guide camera, which obviously will limit the stars that I can find. It did give much better star profiles, but the open question is whether that results in improved guiding or not. If it limits the stars I can guide on and doesn't actually result in better guiding then I would obviously be better off removing it. I'll need to test that out.
I've been using PHD's drift alignment routine for some time now; it's pretty good. PA will be much simpler now without the terrible EQ6 alt adjustment bolts as well. But then hopefully I won't have to do it very often or at all now that my mount is better fastened to the pier with the Avalon's plate.
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