On Wed, Jan 29, 2025 at 06:19 PM, Thomas Kallenbach wrote:
Paul,
I moved the CW after the flip to keep the east bias.? I did not do that last night, I did it the night before.? I have the log but the guiding was just as bad.? What do you think I should look into next?
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I'd try to collect a few worm-cycles of autoguider data with actual corrections disabled -- just tracking on a star. Do this from both sides of the mount, and we can then see if the issue is mechanical or software/configuration related.
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It is also possible that, as was suggested previously, you wind up on different parts of the worm-gear when pointing from east or west sides, and if the gear is slightly eccentric, one side may cause a tighter worm mesh than the other. To check, move the scope 90 degrees in RA from CWD position (should be roughly at the meridian). Then, loosen the clutches and move the mount back to CWD manually, not using the motors. Turn off and cold start Gemini. This will shift the worm-gear by 90 degrees relative to where it was with your previous tries. Then, try guiding (or collecting unguided log data) from both sides, as before. See if things change because of the different position of the worm gear.
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Once you've done all of the things suggested already, the next step would be to see why or how the RA extension is causing this. You may need to loosen everything up, make sure nothing is askew, everything lines up properly. Reassemble carefully, don't overtighten. If that doesn't help, I would try to find out if the RAExt is actually what's causing it by removing it and testing again without.?
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Regards,
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? -Paul
Paul Kanevsky