Another new QSI 638wsg coming

[HarryD]

Hi to you all.

Sorry for the weather in Sydney. I have just ordered my QSI 683wsg :)

Now the learning curve gets steep.

I have been using EQMOD with my EQ6 mount and Backyard EOS with my DSLR, no guiding.

I have used two laptops to do this, one for the mount,( EQMOD/ Stellarium) and one for Backyard EOS.

I will still be using the EQ6 but will need to choose some new software.

Should I keep the mount/guiding separate from the camera, ie still use two laptops or have it all on one?

Also which software to choose?

Any advice would be great.

Cheers

Greg

[pluto]

Nice camera!
In short, use one laptop, there's no need to separate them.

The wsg is self guiding so you're going to want to use the same bit of software for guiding and imaging I would imagine. That's how I do it with CCDSoft and my SBIG STT8300 with self guiding filter wheel.
I control my EQ6 with EQMOD and Stellarium and plate solve with AstroTortilla. The camera is connected to the guide port on the mount via a cable though depending on the software you use you might be able to send the guiding corrections through EQMOD instead.

Good luck :D

[Paul Haese]

Use Maxim and get a good guide camera to go on the WSG.

[alocky]

Or sequence generator pro for acquisition, phd2 for guiding and pixinsight for processing. Significantly cheaper than maxim.
Cheers,
Andrew.

[johnnyt123]

I have never been able to plate solve anything I have captured...:shrug::confused2:

[LewisM]

Agree completely. MaxIM is one bit of indespensible software. I use it almost exclusively (though sometimes it won't guide for me, but that is my issue more than anything)

[pluto]

I followed this guide to set up AstroTortilla: http://lightvortexastronomy.blogspot.com.a u/2013/08/tutorial-imaging-setting-up-and-using.html

I take a 20 second 2x2 binned Luminance image and AT solves it in about 20 seconds and sends a sync message to EQMOD.

So my workflow now days is:
- Setup
- Drift align with PHD
- tell Stellarium to point at a bright star, which it will miss
- take 20 second 2x2 L image
- plate solve
- slew to the bright star
- focus
- slew to object I'm going to image
- take another 2x2 L image
- plate solve
- now what I see in Stellarium will be exactly where the scope is pointing
- adjust a bit and start imaging

Of all the astro software I've tried and used AT is the one that brings the biggest smile to my face because it completely removes on of the most frustrating bits about setting up to image :D

[Paul Haese]

Hmm just out of interest do you have your plate scale correct? Perhaps run the numbers past us and see if there is an error. Plate scale has to be reasonably correct to get consistent results.