I.C. 2602 close up

[raymo]

40 x 30 secs @ ISO 1600
raymo

[jsmoraes]

The main stars are very nice. The others we can not see well because of the size reduction.

As you see, for cluster, low time exposition isn't problem if the total time of integration is long.
You did with ISO 1600, if you had guiding and the sub was with 2 or 4 minutes, your ISO would must be lowest.

It seems that you have some coma at periphery.

[Robert9]

Starkle, starkle, little twink. Very nice Raymo. :)
Any guiding?
Robert

[raymo]

Thanks Jorge and Robert. I always have coma as I don't have a coma corrector, and also am still struggling with my tracking.
No guiding Robert.
raymo

[cometcatcher]

It's nice. There are some Photoshop techniques that would make it better. How are you going with Photoshop Ray?

[Robert9]

Well worth working on improving your alignment and consequently tracking Raymo. You'll then be able to go for lower ISO (which will reduce noise) and longer exposure times.
What did you use for stacking your frames and did you take any darks?
Pop a guider on your birthday or Xmas present list. :lol:
Robert

[raymo]

First, Robert I have been aligning EQ mounts for nearly 50 yrs, and never had any significant problems until this mount went crazy about 9-10
months ago. It has driven me to despair. First the hand controller failed. Got a new V.4 one, and Chuckywiz kindly came down to my place with his gear. We checked everything known to man, and
discovered that the dovetail bar was deformed, giving me a HUGE amount
of cone error. Fixed that and tracking was pretty good. Happy camper.
Went out tonight, and gone crazy again. Giving impossible error
readings, and has now started beeping in the middle of every slew.
The V.4 is not supposed to beep at all, and it didn't until tonight. It wouldn't star align either; every time I went to the second star the first one was gone from the list. I tried about 8 or 9 different pairs, and then gave up.
Hey Kevin, now I've got that off my chest; PS, forget it. As I said to someone in another thread my short term memory is shot. I would have
to work from written instructions, what fun that would be. I just have no idea what to do with that mount now.
raymo

[cometcatcher]

If it makes you fee any better, pilots have to use a checklist several times during the flight. Even seasoned ones. It's regulations due to the complexity of operations.

Beeping in the middle of a slew doesn't sound good. What happens if you ignore the goto and all that jazz, drift align and just let it track on sidereal rate?

[raymo]

Yes Kevin, I know about checklists, I was a flight engineer myself back in the days of piston engines and the early jetliners, until a motorcycle put an end to that. Even back then our lives were ruled by checklists.
Anyway, I was so frustrated last night that I didn't take note at the time, but the V.4 hand controller doesn't have a beeper, it was coming from the mount. I didn't know the mount had a beeper. More puzzled than ever.
I will do a drift align and see what happens.
Actually I did a viewing session for a family last night before attempting
any alignment,[just the tripod legs sat on the marks on the ground, and finding objects manually], and it tracked very well. My problems have to be electronic, as the tracking rate of the motor seems to be fine.
raymo

[cometcatcher]

Agreed. The mechanics and tracking motor sound fine. As long as you can star hop to your target, it might get you by for a while until you find a more permanent solution. We're both old timers at this. We don't need no fangled electronics lol. They are just the icing on the cake.

[cometcatcher]

What a pity we didn't live closer. I'd love to talk planes and astronomy over tea and biscuits.

[Regulus]

Ok, leaving aside the technical issues etc., it's a really pleasing image raymo, and I love looking at it.

Trev

[raymo]

My brother in law lives in Bowen Kevin, but I don't think that helps much.
:rofl::rofl:. It would be nice to reminisce.
I'll try a drift align tonight, but I think I already know what the result will be.
Thank you very much Trevor, much appreciated.
raymo