Quote:
Originally Posted by jase
No, MaximDL will not take into consideration the variables you note such as mount mechanics etc., when guiding. Perhaps I should flip the table and challenge you to name guiding software that does.  |
PHD doesn't either. I tought maybe Maxim did. I don't know of any software that takes those into consideration. I think the GCC with the G11 uses this info for GOTO accuracy only.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jase
Despite what many believe, recalibration doesn't do this either. For example, there maybe a spot on the worm gear that causes the mount to run faster than true RA. As calibration doesn't process a full worm rotation to detect this, it doesn't know about it. It is only picked up in regular guiding corrections.
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Agreed. But good loaded PEC data would take care of that then guiding on top.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jase
Point being is that guiding should be seen as a last resort, not a band-aid to poor set up issues. Start with the basics, get your rig balanced, train periodic error correction, precisely polar align etc. Ultimately the goal is to get the set up tracking as good as possible. When this has been achieved you'll get the most out of guiding.
I may have painted a picture that MaximDL does it all and then some. I will admit its guiding capabilities are very strong, probably the best on the market however all software has its pros/cons. Regardless of the software used, guiding is reactive tool. As highlighted, there are many things that can be done to an imaging rig to improve performance or should I say make it proactive. As the saying goes, prevention is better than a cure...and that cure is guiding.
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I agree with all that you say for a permanent set-up that you can tune iteratively night after night closing down towards a
perfect solution but on the field without guiding I'd be up the s||t creek. In practice I have limited time to set-up, align and guide to maximize my imaging time so there's a lot of compromise and good enough is just that. One day if I get an obs maybe I'll look into doing things the right way.
