[DRL333]

Even though I have had a telecope for year I am a newcommer to deep sky photography. My first project was to photograph M42 using the Mead DSI pro mounted on a Mead LX200 with the driven alt-azimth mount and tripod that comes standard with those models.

My outcome of my first attemps have made me respect , all the more, the wonderfull photographs I have seen on iceinspace.

My problem is that the image on my camera jitters as my scope tracks the object. The movement is about 10" (about the size of the trapezium in M42) and the jitter occillates at about 2-4 sec. Thus I can take good images with exposures upto 2 sec but beyond that I get substantial image streaking. The telescope allignment seems to be fine because it follows the object for an hour quite well and I don't think that it is atmospheric turbulence either.

So then, is tracking jitter of 10" typical for such a scope or have I got something wrong that I need to fix?

Where might this jitter come from?

Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated. I would be especially interested in hearing from others who have used the Mead LX200.


Thanks

Derek