Not my night

[LewisM]

Decided to try tonight - it was nice and clear still at 7pm, and despite the Moon - since I was going to try some narrowband imaging for the first time - I set up.

GOTO alignment started well - first star of 3 alignment stars was Sirius. DEAD ON, didn't need to move a THING (using reticle eyepiece). I felt all warm and fuzzy this was going to be good.

Achernar... it was there, SOMEWHERE... I was seriously south of where it should have been. Slewed across, hit enter. Off it went to my next one, Alpha Centauri

If I thought it was WAY off on Achernar, well, it was a couple billion light years off A-C!!! Yeowsers in RA and Dec. And I had spent a good hour this afternoon getting the mount tuned to South - at least I THOUGHT I did!

Anyway, the Synscan calibrated and said Alignment Successful (using 3.27, it won't tell you how far off), but I knew this was going to be painful. Tried a goto to Alpha Crucis... it was in the EP, JUST! Grrr... this was boding poorly for imaging faint stuff that doesn't show up on quick test shots!!!

I tried. And failed.

But, to save my dignity and what was left of my technical pride, the high level ice clouds came over, followed by lower stratus. Saved, packed up, going to bed.

Just was NOT meant to be tonight.

[mozzie (Peter)]

yep the weather can be painful.......trying to use m g-star on the moon and was successful till in rolled the thunder clouds..well lets hope its clear tonight.

you'll spend the day going over your setup and thinking what can i do better..

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Bad luck Lewis, frustrating huh?

Do you have to use the three star alignment routine? Can you not just put the scope in the home position and do a goto and then centre and synch on that star..? Once levelled and positioned, this is all I did with my former 12" LX200GPS even though there were other more involved routines available via Autostar.

MIke

[Barrykgerdes]

Stop complaining

How's this for a Saturday night:
Went to a wedding, very good friends son, ended up having to slip him enough to buy a substantial imaging set up to help defray the cost!
Also had to pick up the tab for a couple of guests (forgot my purse) who thought the pre-wedding drinks were on the house!

Someday he will help me out!

However we still had a great time!

Barry

[Lee]

I had plenty of those nights! Then discovered plate solving.... now from a cold started mount, no model made, enter an RA/Dec and watch the scope home in on your faint fuzzie in a minute or so....
I have the faint fuzzie centered in less time than it takes PHD to calibrate, and that doesn't take long....

Thread from recent weeks....

It can't help the clouds though!

[multiweb (Marc)]

Same experience here in Sydney last night. Not much clear. Left everything ready for tonight. Funny thing was all forecast, even satellite map at the time showed no cloud cover so what the hell were they? Stealthy clouds? Single sided clouds? Pointing down?

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Same experience here in Sydney last night. Not much clear. Left everything ready for tonight. Funny thing was all forecast, even satellite map at the time showed no cloud cover so what the hell were they? Stealthy clouds? Single sided clouds? Pointing down?

Marc, the rain has developed this tendency to pass around us, even though the clouds pass overhead. Thunderstorms seem to be scared of our trees. Driving up Old Northern Rd Glenhaven yesterday it poured but not a drop at home.

However at 23:43 yesterday after 17 days mounted on the pool fence my new weather station (old one died) got baptised. A whole 0.3mm.

[Ric]

Don't worry Lewis

Some days are diamonds and others are coal.

I reckon I've got enough coal to see me through a few winters.

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

Bad luck mate. You really should give EQMOD a go - its SOOO much easier than fiddling around with the hand controller. Once you're polar aligned (i use Alignmaster and it takes me about 20mins tops to get within 15 arcsecs of the SCP) but there are other software tools out there i believe), you can sync to any object of your choosing using Stellarium. Too easy.

So anyway, while you were tucked in bed I was getting deep sky first light with my new Vixen

(yep - i know - i've taken the Vixen Kool-Aid now too )

[gavcol (G)]

Hi Lewis

As one smart person once said to me 'Per Ardua Ad Astra'!

Now who was that again? Thats right it was you

I have these troubles all the time. I think my mount needs a major overall (Secondhand Orion SkyView Pro) it has some significant alignment and tracking error issues. Jumps all over the place.

Probably time to replace!

I have given up on exact alignment for now. I simply (roughly) point south with a compass (minus deviation for true south), balance, level and then release RA DEC locks and push to target. Relock and then hope tracking will resemble something half decent.

Hence this is one of the main reasons for my elongated stars and other image shift. Which ultimately means very short image subs and less data, I am getting around 30 secs at the most.

But we keep struggling on!

I think I will look at this plate idea seems quite interesting and I am going to eventually use autoguiding when I do a little more reading on the subject.

Oh by the way Barry I am thinking of renewing my vows with my wife, when are you availabe for the wedding! Sounds like you are the right type of person to invite (too generous!)

Keep going Lewis

Gav

[LewisM]

I know what the issue was - operator stupidity.

I was over-complicating it. I wanted to hone it in further, as the rig had been to within 2" in az (spo ton in alt) for the last 6 months. Fiddled with alt and az (IDIOT), and ended up being a GUESSTIMATE of 5° to 10° off from SCP.

ANYWAY, I'll get it right again. Just annoyed with myself - the polar axis was spot on, but I mucked up the azimuth.