Autoguiding efforts

[dugnsuz]

Hello...
Cloudy skies down here in SA since Saturday night:mad2:
All I've got to post are my first autoguiding attempts.
Rough polar alignment, no drift alignment done - will do that as soon as skies clear.

Single images...
Tarantula image: ED80/40D 602sec @ iso200
M42 image: ED80/40D 330sec @ iso200
...all on EQ5 Synscan mount.

Some minor processing in PS.

PHD/Toucam guided the scope on the Tarantula Nebula easily for 10mins - although the image may suffer from focus and scope balance issues, stars still pretty round.

When I swung the scope over to the Eastern sky to image M42 I didn't re-balance the scope so there are star trails in this 5.5min image.

I'm happy with the detail recorded from these first attempts.
The only way is up:D
Cheers
Doug:thumbsup:

[iceman]

Very nice work Doug, i'm looking forward to trying some auto-guiding myself.

Is your ToUcam modded?

[leon]

Good to see it is all coming together for you Doug, great images mate. once you get the set up to how you want it there will be no stopping you. ;)
I could answer Mike question , but i wont step in :whistle:


Leon :thumbsup:

[dugnsuz]

No Mike,
So finding a bright enough guidestar can be a challenge (from my brief experience).
Doug

[dugnsuz]

Thanks mate,
The weather is against me right now.
I was fired up for an imaging session on Sat night just as clouds rolled in and stayed - raining tonight too!
Cheers
Doug

[leon]

Yep, Same here Doug, very appreciated rain though, gee's we had some dust to settle. ;)

Leon :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

life is so much better when its autoguided. Nice one Doug, drift alignment gets rid of the rotation

[Alchemy]

plenty of detail there . a little bit of trailing probably due to polar alignment, good effort though, multiple exposures and better alignment will produce magnificent results.

[[1ponders]]

Nicely done Doug. Gotta get that polar alignment right though. It makes all the difference in the world, 'eh h0ughy ;)

What did you use to stack them Doug? Most of the stacking programs should allow you to rotate as well as translate to get everything aligned (unless of course the rotation is in each image :( ) If you don't have that option in your program you could alway lash out and get Registar for registering your images before stacking. You won't regret it ;)

[dugnsuz]

Those are single exposures Paul - when I do stack I use IP.
Cheers
Doug:thumbsup:

[[1ponders]]

Ok then you definately need to get your polar alignment closer.

[ballaratdragons]

Onya Doug.

Now come the lessons in: arcseconds, correction time settings, aggressiveness, and reading error graphs :lol:

[dugnsuz]

First clear night Paul!



They might piss me off occasionally, but I could never hit a mount!:lol:

All the best
Doug:thumbsup:

[ballaratdragons]

:lol:
'Aggressiveness' in guiding is choosing whether you want the guide correction made with a sledge hammer or a feather :P

[Tamtarn]

Hey Doug...Terrific images for single shots

Things can only get better with auto guiding and multiple images :thumbsup:

[dugnsuz]

Ta very muchley!!!
Cheers
Doug:thumbsup:

[Ric]

Nice images Doug, and only singles as well. I look forward to you future images with autoguiding.

Cheers