Maxim DL script

[Tandum (Robin)]

Yes I changed it to gemini centering speed instead of guiding speed. Guiding speed on yours is about double sidereal rate. Does it matter that it goes off the ccd? I can change it back but I'll need an algorithm to work out the exposure offset figure otherwise it will go east 60% faster than it goes west due to star movement. This offset doesn't matter as much at higher speeds.

[scagman (John)]

I dont think it will matter if it goes of screen, It does anyway at guide speed at the longer exp. I'll try and test a 10min exp tonight to see how far it actually does move. Providing the clouds behave. I'm getting a very nice single line at 10min exp's at the moment which makes it hard to see where the star is returning to. ( I'm not complaining about that thou).

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Not meaning to hyjack this however if you have a G11 then pempro has a very nice drift alignment tool - it calibrates itself then tells you how far out you are in alt and az. Because the G11 alt and az adjustments are calibrated it is very quick to get aligned.

http://www.losmandy.com/g-11-manual.html
Each complete revolution of the altitude knob raises or lowers the polar axis 3.2°
Each complete revolution of the azimuth knob is .82°.

Here's the pempro polar alignment tutorial:
http://www.siriusimaging.com/Help/PE...lignwizard.htm
In step 10 and step 13 it tells you exactly how much to adjust each axis.

[Tandum (Robin)]

I'm a little confused with the numbers now. sidereal is about 0.00418, John's gemini guiding speed is 0.00208xxxxx.
Isn't that half sidereal rate? Does the mount add the move speed to it's current tracking speed?
If that's true then I can ignore star movement.

Hi Pete, this is just another way to do it for free.

[scagman (John)]

Hi Peter, I now have pempro and spent a few hrs last week trying to sus it out. I tried the PA wizard but am having problems with it at the moment and need to spend some more time playing with it to sort out why its not playing with me. (or maybe the problem is it is playing with me).

The CCD-align method works well, and is simple to work out.

Robin,
I thought guide rate was 5x sidereal and centering was 20x. I dont know how that translates to your numbers.

Cheers

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Originally Posted by scagman

Hi Peter, I now have pempro and spent a few hrs last week trying to sus it out. I tried the PA wizard but am having problems with it at the moment and need to spend some more time playing with it to sort out why its not playing with me. (or maybe the problem is it is playing with me).

The CCD-align method works well, and is simple to work out.

Robin,
I thought guide rate was 5x sidereal and centering was 20x. I dont know how that translates to your numbers.

Cheers

What problem are you having with it?

[scagman (John)]

When I get to step 6 I think it is. Pempro is having difficult in finding a star. Its suppose to increase the exp. length and take another image but the exp. length doesnt change. It also uses a 32x32 pixel subframe and doesnt increase or move the subframe to a differant part of the image while looking for a star. I tried moving the mount so there was a star in the subframe but still Pempro just keeps looking, saying its increasing exp. time but never does.

I'm just waiting for some clear nights so I can have another go. I have been trawling thier forums and I think I have to play around with the settings in one of the earlier steps.

Sorry for the crude description as to what is happening.

Cheers

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

I had a similar problem with finding a star. I found taking darks helped and there is also a setting somewhere for the exposure duration that I increased - can't find it at the moment though.

Found it - it is step 2 of the polar align wizard under camera information advanced settings I'm using fixed exposure duration, dark subtract and 1 sec exposures. You can also change the tracking rect size here. I've also got the min/max star brightness set at 1000/30000.

[Tandum (Robin)]

Originally Posted by scagman

Robin,
I thought guide rate was 5x sidereal and centering was 20x. I dont know how that translates to your numbers.

Cheers

Sidereal is 0.00418 deg per sec, according to that dump you did, your guide rate is 0.00208903731114552 deg per sec which is half sidereal rate. So the mount must be tracking at sidereal rate and adding the rate in the move command.

[Tandum (Robin)]

Just looking to see if my new Avitar works .. It's Tiny ... it fixed itself

[scagman (John)]

yes it is a bit small.

[Tandum (Robin)]

If v1.0.4 is too fast for you, I uploaded 1.0,5 which uses slow speed and no offsets.

I have not archived any of these versions, what ya see is what ya get.

[alistairsam]

thanks Robin

We're hoping to have a clear night on fri or sat after a long wait, so will try and let you know

Cheers
Alistair