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I voted 30-60 minutes, but in reality it takes me about an hour, sometimes more. I really want to get it to 30-45 minutes.
I don't have a permanent setup, so once I decide to start imaging I have to:
- Get the mount out of the shed and put it on the pavers with marks on the ground giving me a rough polar alignment
- Put the telescope(s) on it
- Put the 350D on the WO 0.8x and in the ED80, put the DMK in the guidescope, plug all the cables in (DMK cable, shoestring GPUSB, long exposure cable for 350D, USB download cable for 350D, AC adapter for 350D)
- Start drift aligning. This step takes the longest, anywhere from 15-75 minutes depending on how accurate I try and get it. I drift align using the guidescope + DMK and watching a star on an on-screen reticle. It always takes longer out in the field, rather than at home on the pavers where I know it's already quite close.
- Find the object I want to image, slew the telescope to it and orient the camera/scope for composition.
- Use ImagesPlus to check focus (usually < 5 minutes)
- Use PHD Guiding to get a guide star, calibrate and start guiding.
- Start capturing.
I sooo wish I had a permanent setup. It would save me about 15-25 minutes just from the setup stage - plugging everything in and getting rough polar alignment.
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