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Hi Fred
Thanks for the comments, I haven't started autoguiding yet for a few reasons
1. I haven't got a suitable guide scope yet, any scope with a moveable mirror such as SCTs doesn't really make for a good mixture in an autoguiding setup because of the risk of miror flop ie if you use the SCT to guide and you get a slight bit of mirror movement then the guide star could move a fraction off line and the autoguider camera will cause the mount to follow it even though the imaging scope was ok, I have seen guided images through an SCT that looked far worse than unguided. I am getting another short focus refractor later in the year which will enable me to guide properly and hopefully next year I am going to sell my SCT and get an Astrosib RC 10" which doesn't have the problem of mirror flop
2. British weather, in particular where I live (surrounded by mountains and hills on all sides means that our weather is so unpredictable that even 30 minute guided subs would be a risk which is why I am sticking with 10 minutes at the moment
3. As I work permanent night duty I get very little time to spend imaging so often I just like to get everything set up quickly and make the most of what little time I have
Rest assured I will be trying for longer subs and guiding at a later date
Best wishes
Gordon
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