[thegableguy (Chris)]

So I finally got PHD2 working okay. I think. Sadly, I'm not super thrilled with the results, but I'm unsure where the problem is. This is a fairly new OTA, and I'm using an ED80 as a guidescope with just the default PHD2 settings.

Good old Windows 10 started its automatic updates 20 subs into a 50 sub attempt - Windows 10 is SO AWESOME, I totally don't hate it and it absolutely hasn't caused me to tear my hair out repeatedly - so only using 20 light frames here. Here's the rig:

NEQ6
GSO 8" f/5 with GSO coma corrector
ED80 with QHY5-LII as guide camera (plugged directly into mount's ST4)
Nikon D3300 at ISO 800
20 x 150 seconds
Flats, darks, bias applied
Stacked & processed in DSS, lightly edited in Lightroom

Firstly, the focus doesn't seem great to me, though I went to great pains to make it spot in the very centre on before starting.

The stars aren't perfectly round, which I'm a little disappointed by - thought guiding would take care of that. The 20 frames I got were all perfectly aligned anyway - no visible difference between the first and last.

The framing isn't great. Took me about 10 mins to get guiding working properly in which time it had drifted a little.

Possible explanations:
- collimation. I've struggled with it. This OTA has been a little disappointing; it was WAY off when I picked it up and I possibly haven't yet gotten it as good as it could be.
- using an ED80 as a guidescope probably requires some better knowledge of PHD2 to set it up properly; I expect the default setting is better for a much smaller guidescope (but maybe it's fine, I don't know).
- it's a little bit windy tonight. The scope is fairly well protected, I honestly don't think this was a factor. No one sub was any less sharp than any other. However, it may have made the seeing less than great...?
- GSO's coma corrector. It came with no instructions; I'm apparently using the right spacing for my DSLR, but there's definite coma on the stars, and not just in the corners.
- cheap DSLR. My wife needed the better cameras for a shoot tonight. I'm quite sure they'd be less noisy; didn't realise NGC 55 was so big, so will definitely try a full frame on it next time. I'd hoped the D3300 would do better at ISO 800 but it's pretty noisy so possibly a lot of detail lost.
- light pollution. It was closer to the horizon than the zenith when I started, and right in the direction of Sydney where the most light comes from.
- not nearly enough exposure time at 50 mins. It's magnitude 7.9; no idea if you can expect reasonable results with a low-end DSLR with under an hour. Would doubling it help much?

Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated. I'm about 5-6 months into this hobby now and am starting to plateau significantly - haven't produced anything I'm happy with for a month or two! Need help but unsure where to look for it. I think I need a book or two, or possibly a good YouTube channel...?

Thanks for wading through all that!