Struggling with a guiding/tracking issue trying to collect more Orion Nebula data , I decided to flip to a different region of sky and see if my issues followed me. Carinae has been appearing a lot on here so I thought why not use that as my test dummy. In conclusion I think there are aliens in the Orion region that are beaming lasers down to disrupt my guider so as not to be found. Clearly the issues did not follow me
67 x 180sec @ iso 400
Canon 350d w/ STC Duo filter
GSO 8” f/4 imaging newtonian
HEQ5 pro mount guided
Bortle 8 backyard
Ryan
Lovely image , plenty of detail , nice colour has an eerie feel to it
Nice job !!
Any reason why you didn’t choose PHD2 for your guiding ? ( its extremely reliable, popular worldwide, user friendly and free ) I’ve read a few reviews on CN about Nexguide and most agreed it was painful to use especially locking onto and maintaining a guide star
I’ve been using PHD2 for 3 years now with my ZWOASI120MM and 50mm guide scope on the HEQ5 under Bortle 8 and never have any trouble with finding a guide star and locking onto a guide star especially when using a PHD2 bad pixel map or building a PHD2 dark frame library which takes no time at all
My imaging payload using my 6” f6 newt is about 9kg
I use PHD2 on my 8” f5 newt and EQ6-R mount with 60mm guide scope and same camera ZWOASI120MM , imaging payload around 14kg
Average guiding numbers with HEQ5 is around 1.20 to 1.50 arc sec
Average guiding numbers with EQ6-R is around 0.70 to 1.00 arc sec
With PHD2 no issue with 5 minute subs and pinpoint stars on both mounts ( pending conditions) , although dithering does tend to knock the dec around a lot on the HEQ5 but no issue with a big dither on the EQ6-R mount , it’s a solid gutsy mount and performs significantly better than its smaller brother the HEQ5
It really is “Push Here Dummy”
Why not give it a try ?
Cheers
Martin
Martin - This image was guided with my ASI120mm. I have that connected to an ASIair which runs ( as I’ve read ) effectively PHD2 software. I totally agree that it has made guiding a million times easier. This particular image had an average error of around 0.75 on my HEQ5 pro. I must admit though, although not as good, I never had any real trouble with the Nexguide and certainly wouldn’t discount it as a guiding option. I don’t feel like the issues I was having we’re to do with my guider per se. I think I’ve got a mount issue on my RA axis over that side. Not a gear issue as I’ve moved my home position to change that. Maybe a bearing issue..... I’m yet to investigate further.
Ryan
Thanks for clarifying
Ive heard nothing but positive comments from users of the ASIair, a clever piece of technology
Cheers
It is a great bit of kit Martin. I’d recommend it to anyone. I’m hanging out now till funds permit so I can buy an ASI071MC and use the Air to run my whole shooting match
Ryan
Sounds exciting
I’ve decided to move up to an OSC Camera sometime this year as well , just waiting on some feedback on the new ZWOASI2600MC as I want to do some comparisons with the ZWOASI071MC
Im still going to use my DSLR during the winter months for DSO imaging plus lunar and planetary imaging all year as it does a superb job
The new 2600MC is 16bit ADC, zero amp glow, APS-C with large well depth 50ke and a quantum efficiency of above 80%
Looks super impressive on paper
Both cameras satisfy my image scale but I what to see if it’s worth spending the extra cash on the 2600MC
I’m going to use APT for my capture software
Good luck with your choice
It's funny my neq6 has similar RA issues when guiding on orion etc yet in the souther locales those issues disappear as well My guiding goes from anywhere from 1.5 ra down to 0.4 when in the southern regions, it's when i'm guiding along the eastern plane i get worst results. Also on the aisair
It's funny my neq6 has similar RA issues when guiding on orion etc yet in the souther locales those issues disappear as well My guiding goes from anywhere from 1.5 ra down to 0.4 when in the southern regions, it's when i'm guiding along the eastern plane i get worst results. Also on the aisair
Hi Nik,
That is interesting and good to know. I can understand how across the equatorial line the guiding is harder to control because each degree of movement is effectively a longer distance. I’ve always found guiding much harder in these regions than pointing closer to SCP. My issue arises around 10 Deg past meridian and the guiding goes wild, we’re talking 10”+. Im thinking it might be damage on a bearing or something of that nature as it is fine everywhere else. Having said that, I haven’t imaged anywhere else @ 10 Deg after meridian so I can’t as yet say if it’s that particular RA position the faukt happens or just that particular part of the sky. Time will tell......
