[toryglen-boy (Duncan)]

ok, so i have a setup for imaging, an Orion ED80, with an ST80 ontop, an Orion Sureshot Autoguider, a Canon 1000D, all lumped onto an EQ6 mount. I am fairly tech savvy, and am sure i have this all setup right, but my results are utter rubbish, and i dont understand why.

To me, in short, it looks like the mount is not guiding, although PHD looks fine, i select a star thats not too dim or too bright, it does the N.S.E.W calibrating thing, the crosshairs turn green, and off i go... and the results i get back are awful. i can see pulse guide instructions being sent to the mount (the flashing red LED on the autoguider?) I mean, i dont expect to be an expert overnight, but the fundementals of it all are quite simple, yes?

here are some examples.

The Triffid Nebula, this is a guided (yes, guided) 5 min exposure.

Eta Carina, a guided 5 min exposure

Eta Carina, a guided 3 min exposure

and a close up of the star trails, incase they give any clues.

Incidentally, all these shots where taken with the Astronoik EOS CLS slip in camera filter for light pollution, so at least you can see it does quite a good job of getting rid of sky glow!!

but anyway, what could be causeing this? could it just be as simple as bad polar alignment? or does it look like something is knackered? This is a pain in the tonsils for me, as i have no permanent setup, and have to set this up, everytime i wanna try.

at this stage, before i go mental, and end up selling the lot, any suggestions are welcome.