A very disappointed night....

[EzyStyles]

hi guys..

Just packed my equipment and back on the comp with frustration. I have just spent from 5:00pm till 1:10am on a 4 degrees melb night trying to balance my scope getting precise polar alignment. After trying a few test runs, my stars are still elongated. refer to post:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=10957

Tonight is the only clear night in a long time and probably won't get another nice night in awhile. Im bout to give up. sore back, runny nose and in the end acheived nothing. :(

what to do?

:sad: :sad: :sad: :sad:

[matt]

Hang in there, Eric.

Tiz just the good ol' Winter blues:D

It'll be Spring before you know it.

[Lester]

Hi Eric,

How are you guiding, with guide scope or off axis guider?

If with guidscope and you are getting elongated or like in your last post double stars, perhaps something is moving, optics not held firm or movement between the two scopes.

Good luck.

[janoskiss]

Maybe try imaging terrestrial targets, say some lights in the distance to see if it's really the tracking that is causing the problem. If you're getting it in the "live" images, which I presume are taken with short exposures, then it might not be your mount/alignment. Maybe the CCD is on an angle. :shrug: (say CCD not properly mounted on PCB: it's Meade, so I wouldn't put it past them!)

[EzyStyles]

Hi Lester thanks for the reply. not guiding at all. Just using the EQ6 tracking. I've only got the one scope .

[EzyStyles]

presume it is on an angle in the focuser, it shouldn't still give elongated stars? *shrugs* not quite sure on that one.

thanks steve.

[josh]

Hey ezy
I thought you sold all your gear?

[EzyStyles]

Hey Josh, I have rebrought my gears plus additional DSI II :) Don't ask me why im abit silly at times. i'm not going to give up this hobby for anything ;)

[EzyStyles]

hmm seems sunny outside and maybe abit of clear sky again tonight. Going to try balancing again now. It is 3:06pm let see how long im going to be out there. :P

[ving]

best of luck ezy, we miss your images already :)

[Merlin66]

Looking at your images again; were you tracking through the meridian? On a GEM there's a possibility that in the RA drive the worm moved from one side of the gear tooth to the other as the scope crossed the meridian. Usually as the scope and /or balance goes from one side to the other. Have you checked the RA drive gear for slop??

[EzyStyles]

thanks for your reply Merlin. nowhere near the meridan. how would i check my RA drive gear?

cheers