Hi all
My plan for the weekend has me imaging M31 Andromeda from around 9.30pm to 1.30am. It transits at 11.37pm. As I understand it my mount will therefore be on the "wrong" side for the last two hours. I believe it will just keep tracking. My first question is as long as I watch it and nothing gets caught or is going to hit the tripod legs then that is ok?
Second question - if I do have to do a flip while tracking a target at some stage I gather I do this
- reselect the object (mount would flip automatically)
- rotate my DSLR 180° (or as close to this as I can)
- reframe as closely as possible I guess by taking test images and moving the scope to try and match the images pre flip.
- Find and guide star and restart guiding
- In post rely on Pixinsight to stack the images even though those after the flip will be slightly different to the pre flip shots?
Is the above correct or should I be doing something different?
Given the above hassles I guess it is preferable to just image past the meridian if possible?
I am using an AP Mach1 mount 132mm refractor and a Nikon DSLR.
thanks for any advice.