Success!

[gregbradley]

I have now managed to have PEC running, A beginning Tpoin model, quite accurate polar alignment and most of all the MMOAG working with a a Starlight Xpress Lodestar autoguider.

I am now getting quite round star in a 10 minute exposure at 2939mm focal length.

So now for the moon to go away.

I am doing some Ha shots in the meantime.

I really like the Paramount ME and the CDK.

Greg.

[DavidU]

10min at 3m ! Noice.
How did you get it to work?

[strongmanmike]

Ah yes, t'is a good feeling when things are working :thumbsup:

Do you mean 10min unguided?

Really looking forward to seeing some images.

Mike

[renormalised]

Might give me ol' mate Obama a ring and see if he can arrange to have the orbiting slag heap shot down:):P:P

Just so long as it doesn't land on here!!!!:):P

[gregbradley]

Yes basically I think I can shoot unlimited length shots now with round
stars. I shot a 20 minute one and the stars were the same as the 10 minute image. I am still working on the little trick points of running a Paramount ME which will improve things a bit more.



No not unguided. I probably could go a couple of minutes unguided though.

I am continuing to add the niceties each night and everything moves forward a little bit each time. I got Tpoint installed now and started making a Tpoint model (or at least I think I am! Manual for it assumes you already know how to make one!).

I have shot some Ha so far. I am learning about this system and what it responds best to. Mirror temp is important. Focus can shift slightly with temperature. The MMOAG makes the difference. I used a Lodestar guide cam and that works well. I may try it with the ST402 which is slightly more sensitive than the Lodestar but the Lodestar is lighter and easier to use.

I am looking to have everything tweaked so I can take advantage of the no moon coming soon.

[multiweb]

You're a tease mate. Are you gonna post some of those test shots so we can see the beast in action?

[gregbradley]

Soon dude. They are really just a shake down cruise. Whilst they turned out reasonably well they aren't anything spectacular yet.

I need no moon and a 20 hour imaging run on a nice galaxy or something.

The moon is rising later each night now so perhaps over the weekend.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

I don't quite understand what changed.

I took the MMOAG off and measured the distance from the centre of the pickoff prism to the camera chip.

Then I measured that same distance up vertically from the pickoff prism and that is the focal point for the MMOAG. It was within reach of the standard helical focuser setup.

When I put it all together again and the guide cam at approx the right distance lo and behold there was an out of focus star in the image. So that was an easy matter of adjusting the height until it was in focus.

Then callibration proved a bit tricky but I got there. And 20 minute guided round stars occurred.

Greg.

[marki]

Don't you love OAG's Greg, they must be the most frustrating things on Earth to get working but when they do it's hard to beat their performance. I have a TS OAG 9 that took me for a run around the block thats for sure.


Mark

[gregbradley]

This one has been very frustrating and I put it in the too hard basket in the past.

But as you say I am glad I have it up and running now. Round stars are worth the effort.

Greg.