On Tue, Aug 9, 2022 at 01:24 AM, Brian Valente wrote:
and marked where that was on the guidescope.
?
Thanks for sharing and reminding the oppositions are coming! I'd assume if you sync the guide camera to mount, slew to the planet, adjust the mount to center image on the main camera, and then plate solve you would obtain (p2 - p1) the planet position offset in RA/DEC. Then if the synced guide scope were not changed from use to use, the offset added to the current planet position should provide the main camera offset slew position.? At least after the initial slew with a plate position or photo confirmation that the guide scope is centered.? Sounds promising and a lot better than fiddling with high power finder guide rings given the dedicated equipment during opposition. Enough usability to support the concept (just to stay on subject).
|
There is a gentleman, Buckeyestargazer, who sells a ?for $14 that "snaps in place over the screws on the RA housing of a G11 mount". It looks like it might be worth a try for older G11 mounts without the built in levels.
Clear Skies,
Kirk
|
>>>
Interesting extension, how did you align the guide camera to the narrow field main camera?
I didn't, although I could have. I chose a guide scope/camera with a wide enough fov that I could at least see the target in the frame, and plate solve if need be. then just move a bit around until i got it in the smaller fov and marked where that was on the guidescope.
>>>.It also seems like a pretty small guide scope should work and provide a larger field.? At least with a small pixel camera for this purpose.
even a lodestar worked pretty well, it's really about the shorter guidescope imo
On Mon, Aug 8, 2022 at 8:12 PM WayBack < corey_d@...> wrote: Interesting extension, how did you align the guide camera to the narrow field main camera?
It also seems like a pretty small guide scope should work and provide a larger field.? At least with a small pixel camera for this purpose.
-- Brian?
Brian Valente astro portfolio? portfolio astrobin?
|
Re: Controlling Losmandy GM811 with ASIAir Plus or Pro
?A raspberry 4 with either the astroberry distro, or the stellarmate distro works great. It's not exactly the same as the asiair, but it's the same general software stack and hardware. -- jamie.amendolagine@...
|
Interesting extension, how did you align the guide camera to the narrow field main camera?
It also seems like a pretty small guide scope should work and provide a larger field.? At least with a small pixel camera for this purpose.
|
Re: Losmandy mount adapter on amart
Ross,
Did not find your ad.??
I see folks paying $80 or more $ on Astromart for this item. I wonder if they know they are in stock here with free shipping. I just bought one.
Peter
|
Following up my comment on using plate solving, I am setting up a new planetary telescope: Edge HD11 with an ASI462mc planetary camera and 2-3x barlow (2x used in this example). The imaging fov is miniscule - .06¡ã x .03¡ã.? Planets aren't exactly large targets either
I also wanted it to be automated from inside, so i added a 250mm guidescope?+ cmos camera and made sure I could plate solve from within sharpcap (the trick here was making sure the settings were correct and do about 20 second exposures). I made sure the fov of the guidescope was large enough so that I didn't have to precisely align the guidescope and main telescope.
Using this approach I was able to goto, plate solve, and find jupiter, saturn, and (with a little more work) Mars within the tiny fov.?
I could have just as easily swapped out the 462mc sensor with an eyepiece and taken pretty much the same approach. So that could?be a bit of a hybrid plate solve/visual observing kind of thing.?
If there's interest, i can get some more pics/writeup of this approach and setup.
Note that seeing was pretty bad last night, so my jupiter is not good. But i wanted to grab the time to test this idea
?
Dereck,
6 arc minutes is a tiny FOV, I would align with a lower power eyepiece
and then swap if for a higher power.
?
That¡¯s
what I said in the post you responded to! It says..
***
I used a camera and changed the Region of
interest.. If you use eyepieces, like I used to do, start out widefield until
you locate the target, then increase the power ¨C i.e take the time to be exact
as possible before adding them to the model..
***
I
use the camera as a set of eyepieces, locating the target at around 3,000 x
2000 pixels, center on the crosshairs, change the Region of Interest to 640x480
and center better, then synch and align.. It was after the third star was
entered into the model ¨C from my 6 arcminute Region Of Interest Camera view -
that I just happened to do a GOTO back to all three model stars ¨C without changing
back to the full 3,000 x 2,000 pixels - that I was SHOCKED they were all
perfect.. Sorry that wasn¡¯t clear..
??? HOWEVER!
When I tried it again last night, It worked perfect for the first star..
Arcturus was in the (widefield ROI) of the camera.. A GOTO to Antares was not,
but it was in the guidescope, so easily centered and synched on..
??? My
(widefield ROI) is somewhere around 20 arcminutes, so it SEEMED it was another ¡°it
stopped short by a half moon diameter / 15 arcmin¡±.. It is this ¡°works one day
but not the next¡± issue why it is ¨C to me ¨C much more important to have proper
pointing devices and adequate scale between them so even if things are perfect,
it¡¯s a very simple matter to get back on target and continue on..
??? Derek
?
?
?
(I
had to calculate my FOV.. It is listed as 0.1 x 0.07 degrees, so 6 arcminutes..)
This
may include an extra step or so, as I was always told not to align on the first
star.. Anywho, this is what I just did.. Maybe it¡¯ll work for you!
My settings are correct.. I have a new battery, I
reset CWD. I did a cold start.. My clock runs very fast, so I use my cellphone
and set it to the second and hit the SET button when appropriate.. I do this on
every powerup.. I live in?Morgan Hill,?CA?and this was around 8:30 PM.. aka a
little while ago..?
I did a goto to Arcturus. Laser should it as it
normally is, which is HALF a moon diameter away, almost entirely in RA.. (I use
the tactile buttons on the back on the hand controller.. Coiled cord points
away from me.. The button is what I need to center the target.. Also takes just
a touch north in Dec.. I mention this for the ¡°Stops Short¡± idea.. )..
Anywho, I centered Arcturus, and SYNCHED..?
GOTO
Antares, Center.. SYNCH.. ALIGN..?
GOTO
Arcturus.. Centered it, as it was off towards the top left, and ALIGNED..?
GOTO
Vindemiatrix and it is nowhere to be found and I didn¡¯t try! I did a Goto to
Arcturus.. On the way, I saw Vindemiatrix flash by.. *Importantly* Arcturus was
in the same top left corner it was previously, so I went to MENU / ALIGN / UNDO
LAST ALIGNMENT.. This time I centered Arcturus, SYNCH, then ALIGN..?
GOTO
Vindemiatrix, Center SYNCH, then ALIGN..?
Arcturus to Vindemiatrix is around 20 degrees..
Arcturus to Antares is ~ 56 degees.. Antares to Vindemiatrix is ~ 62 degrees..
Not the best choices, but good enough.. Now I have three stars in a model on
the West. And?regardless of which order I went to
them via GOTO, they were all quite close to being centered in my little 6
arcminute FOV.. My guess is they were all within 2 arcminutes of being perfect..
I used a camera and changed the Region of
interest.. If you use eyepieces, like I used to do, start out widefield until
you locate the target, then increase the power ¨C i.e take the time to be exact
as possible before adding them to the model.. and remember, SYNCH, then ALIGN..
The ¡°New¡± thing for me was to try and go back to previous stars to make sure
they were correct before adding another one, as if it is wrong in any way, you
can ¡°UNDO LAST ALIGNMENT¡±..?
I parked it at CWD and will do a WARM RESTART and
see how it works next time out.. :-))
Put
the Counterweight bar horizontal , use the clutch knob as needed, and level
with a torpedo level.. Spin the RA dial and set it to something like 18 hours..
Loosen clutch and lower the Counterweight bar and set it at 0 hours.. Lock the
clutch.. Loosen the other clutch and adjust the scope until the level on the
dovetail is centered.. Tighten clutch.. Your visual, so do this ¡°well¡± but do
not obsess with it.. I have a solution for you to try.. Just worked perfectly
for me.. First time and I am quite pleased about it!
See
next email.. It¡¯ll take a minute..
Agreed about ¡°should.¡±???
What is the best method for making sure I have CWD a good
as possible?
Assuming you are polar aligned it is not just the CWD
position that matters but the top of the dovetail should also be levelled, both
with a small level.
This is easy and quick and should get you fairly close.
Then centre the star and synchronise the first star.
If you are not so closely polar aligned then take the time
to do alignments on three or more stars spread across the sky.
This sill build a pretty accurate model and no camera is
required.
It will need to be rebuilt if you move the mount, but
should only require a synchronisation if you only warm start.
?
On 7 Aug 2022, at 8:41:23 am, Mark de Regt <deregt@...>
wrote:
I really appreciate all the suggstions!
Two things have resonated:
- I only guestimate CWD
position with my eye.? If precision of CWD matters, and if there is a
simple way to get it perfect, that may be the cause.
- People keep taking about
using plate-solve to work around the poorly-functioning Gemini2 model
building.
- I need a
camera to do that; I¡¯m happy to buy a cheap camera for that, but not an
expensive one; any suggestions?
- I own
TheSkyX Professional Edition, a very powerful planetarium program.?
Would this do that is being suggested, and, if so, how?
?
-- Brian?
Brian Valente astro portfolio? portfolio astrobin?
|
Losmandy mount adapter on amart
Hi guys these items are not in stock when i looked on the losmandy site last week.?
So if you want one, i have an ad on astromart.?
Ross
|
?
Dereck,
6 arc minutes is a tiny FOV, I would align with a lower power eyepiece
and then swap if for a higher power.
?
That¡¯s
what I said in the post you responded to! It says..
***
I used a camera and changed the Region of
interest.. If you use eyepieces, like I used to do, start out widefield until
you locate the target, then increase the power ¨C i.e take the time to be exact
as possible before adding them to the model..
***
I
use the camera as a set of eyepieces, locating the target at around 3,000 x
2000 pixels, center on the crosshairs, change the Region of Interest to 640x480
and center better, then synch and align.. It was after the third star was
entered into the model ¨C from my 6 arcminute Region Of Interest Camera view -
that I just happened to do a GOTO back to all three model stars ¨C without changing
back to the full 3,000 x 2,000 pixels - that I was SHOCKED they were all
perfect.. Sorry that wasn¡¯t clear..
??? HOWEVER!
When I tried it again last night, It worked perfect for the first star..
Arcturus was in the (widefield ROI) of the camera.. A GOTO to Antares was not,
but it was in the guidescope, so easily centered and synched on..
??? My
(widefield ROI) is somewhere around 20 arcminutes, so it SEEMED it was another ¡°it
stopped short by a half moon diameter / 15 arcmin¡±.. It is this ¡°works one day
but not the next¡± issue why it is ¨C to me ¨C much more important to have proper
pointing devices and adequate scale between them so even if things are perfect,
it¡¯s a very simple matter to get back on target and continue on..
??? Derek
?
?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On 7 Aug 2022, at 3:48:40 pm, Derek C Breit <breit_ideas@...>
wrote:
?
(I
had to calculate my FOV.. It is listed as 0.1 x 0.07 degrees, so 6 arcminutes..)
This
may include an extra step or so, as I was always told not to align on the first
star.. Anywho, this is what I just did.. Maybe it¡¯ll work for you!
My settings are correct.. I have a new battery, I
reset CWD. I did a cold start.. My clock runs very fast, so I use my cellphone
and set it to the second and hit the SET button when appropriate.. I do this on
every powerup.. I live in?Morgan Hill,?CA?and this was around 8:30 PM.. aka a
little while ago..?
I did a goto to Arcturus. Laser should it as it
normally is, which is HALF a moon diameter away, almost entirely in RA.. (I use
the tactile buttons on the back on the hand controller.. Coiled cord points
away from me.. The button is what I need to center the target.. Also takes just
a touch north in Dec.. I mention this for the ¡°Stops Short¡± idea.. )..
Anywho, I centered Arcturus, and SYNCHED..?
GOTO
Antares, Center.. SYNCH.. ALIGN..?
GOTO
Arcturus.. Centered it, as it was off towards the top left, and ALIGNED..?
GOTO
Vindemiatrix and it is nowhere to be found and I didn¡¯t try! I did a Goto to
Arcturus.. On the way, I saw Vindemiatrix flash by.. *Importantly* Arcturus was
in the same top left corner it was previously, so I went to MENU / ALIGN / UNDO
LAST ALIGNMENT.. This time I centered Arcturus, SYNCH, then ALIGN..?
GOTO
Vindemiatrix, Center SYNCH, then ALIGN..?
Arcturus to Vindemiatrix is around 20 degrees..
Arcturus to Antares is ~ 56 degees.. Antares to Vindemiatrix is ~ 62 degrees..
Not the best choices, but good enough.. Now I have three stars in a model on
the West. And?regardless of which order I went to
them via GOTO, they were all quite close to being centered in my little 6
arcminute FOV.. My guess is they were all within 2 arcminutes of being perfect..
I used a camera and changed the Region of
interest.. If you use eyepieces, like I used to do, start out widefield until
you locate the target, then increase the power ¨C i.e take the time to be exact
as possible before adding them to the model.. and remember, SYNCH, then ALIGN..
The ¡°New¡± thing for me was to try and go back to previous stars to make sure
they were correct before adding another one, as if it is wrong in any way, you
can ¡°UNDO LAST ALIGNMENT¡±..?
I parked it at CWD and will do a WARM RESTART and
see how it works next time out.. :-))
Put
the Counterweight bar horizontal , use the clutch knob as needed, and level
with a torpedo level.. Spin the RA dial and set it to something like 18 hours..
Loosen clutch and lower the Counterweight bar and set it at 0 hours.. Lock the
clutch.. Loosen the other clutch and adjust the scope until the level on the
dovetail is centered.. Tighten clutch.. Your visual, so do this ¡°well¡± but do
not obsess with it.. I have a solution for you to try.. Just worked perfectly
for me.. First time and I am quite pleased about it!
See
next email.. It¡¯ll take a minute..
Agreed about ¡°should.¡±???
What is the best method for making sure I have CWD a good
as possible?
Assuming you are polar aligned it is not just the CWD
position that matters but the top of the dovetail should also be levelled, both
with a small level.
This is easy and quick and should get you fairly close.
Then centre the star and synchronise the first star.
If you are not so closely polar aligned then take the time
to do alignments on three or more stars spread across the sky.
This sill build a pretty accurate model and no camera is
required.
It will need to be rebuilt if you move the mount, but
should only require a synchronisation if you only warm start.
?
On 7 Aug 2022, at 8:41:23 am, Mark de Regt <deregt@...>
wrote:
I really appreciate all the suggstions!
Two things have resonated:
- I only guestimate CWD
position with my eye.? If precision of CWD matters, and if there is a
simple way to get it perfect, that may be the cause.
- People keep taking about
using plate-solve to work around the poorly-functioning Gemini2 model
building.
- I need a
camera to do that; I¡¯m happy to buy a cheap camera for that, but not an
expensive one; any suggestions?
- I own
TheSkyX Professional Edition, a very powerful planetarium program.?
Would this do that is being suggested, and, if so, how?
?
|
Re: Controlling Losmandy GM811 with ASIAir Plus or Pro
I¡¯m sorry, I meant to say that the ASIAir plus is backordered, not the iPhones or iPads!!
?
Darryl
?
>>> ?I like that I will be able to use it on my iPhone or iPad, once they become available, they are so backordered now.
iphones and ipads are backordered? holy smokes
with the new iphone 14 coming up next month i would expect them on sale!?
?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Sun, Aug 7, 2022 at 5:34 PM zetapuppi via <stanfordd= [email protected]> wrote:
Thank you so much, Brian, I am listening to the podcast right now.? I like that I will be able to use it on my iPhone or iPad, once they become available, they are so backordered
now.
?
Darryl
?
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content
is safe.
?
PS
here's a recent podcast where we discussed AAP with losmandy owner/guest Jim Potts
?
Hi Darryl
I use ASI Air Pro with my G11 pretty frequently. There are others here with plus/pro and other mounts that I'm sure will chime in
?
Hey everyone,
I was thinking about ordering the ASIAir Plus for my GM811 but want to make sure that it can control my mount.? Does anyone have any experience using the
ASIAir Plus or Pro to control their mounts?
?
Darryl
?
--
--
--
|
Dereck,
6 arc minutes is a tiny FOV, I would align with a lower power eyepiece and then swap if for a higher power.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
(I had to calculate my FOV.. It is listed as 0.1 x 0.07 degrees, so 6 arcminutes..) This may include an extra step or so, as I was always told not to align on the first star.. Anywho, this is what I just did.. Maybe it¡¯ll work for you! My settings are correct.. I have a new battery, I reset CWD. I did a cold start.. My clock runs very fast, so I use my cellphone and set it to the second and hit the SET button when appropriate.. I do this on every powerup.. I live in?Morgan Hill,?CA?and this was around 8:30 PM.. aka a little while ago..? I did a goto to Arcturus. Laser should it as it normally is, which is HALF a moon diameter away, almost entirely in RA.. (I use the tactile buttons on the back on the hand controller.. Coiled cord points away from me.. The button is what I need to center the target.. Also takes just a touch north in Dec.. I mention this for the ¡°Stops Short¡± idea.. ).. Anywho, I centered Arcturus, and SYNCHED..? GOTO Antares, Center.. SYNCH.. ALIGN..? GOTO Arcturus.. Centered it, as it was off towards the top left, and ALIGNED..? GOTO Vindemiatrix and it is nowhere to be found and I didn¡¯t try! I did a Goto to Arcturus.. On the way, I saw Vindemiatrix flash by.. *Importantly* Arcturus was in the same top left corner it was previously, so I went to MENU / ALIGN / UNDO LAST ALIGNMENT.. This time I centered Arcturus, SYNCH, then ALIGN..? GOTO Vindemiatrix, Center SYNCH, then ALIGN..? Arcturus to Vindemiatrix is around 20 degrees.. Arcturus to Antares is ~ 56 degees.. Antares to Vindemiatrix is ~ 62 degrees.. Not the best choices, but good enough.. Now I have three stars in a model on the West. And?regardless of which order I went to them via GOTO, they were all quite close to being centered in my little 6 arcminute FOV.. My guess is they were all within 2 arcminutes of being perfect.. I used a camera and changed the Region of interest.. If you use eyepieces, like I used to do, start out widefield until you locate the target, then increase the power ¨C i.e take the time to be exact as possible before adding them to the model.. and remember, SYNCH, then ALIGN.. The ¡°New¡± thing for me was to try and go back to previous stars to make sure they were correct before adding another one, as if it is wrong in any way, you can ¡°UNDO LAST ALIGNMENT¡±..? I parked it at CWD and will do a WARM RESTART and see how it works next time out.. :-)) Derek ? ? ? ? ? Put the Counterweight bar horizontal , use the clutch knob as needed, and level with a torpedo level.. Spin the RA dial and set it to something like 18 hours.. Loosen clutch and lower the Counterweight bar and set it at 0 hours.. Lock the clutch.. Loosen the other clutch and adjust the scope until the level on the dovetail is centered.. Tighten clutch.. Your visual, so do this ¡°well¡± but do not obsess with it.. I have a solution for you to try.. Just worked perfectly for me.. First time and I am quite pleased about it! See next email.. It¡¯ll take a minute.. Derek ? ? Agreed about ¡°should.¡±??? ? What is the best method for making sure I have CWD a good as possible? ? ? Mark, Assuming you are polar aligned it is not just the CWD position that matters but the top of the dovetail should also be levelled, both with a small level. This is easy and quick and should get you fairly close. Then centre the star and synchronise the first star. If you are not so closely polar aligned then take the time to do alignments on three or more stars spread across the sky. This sill build a pretty accurate model and no camera is required. It will need to be rebuilt if you move the mount, but should only require a synchronisation if you only warm start. ? ? On 7 Aug 2022, at 8:41:23 am, Mark de Regt <deregt@...> wrote: ? I really appreciate all the suggstions! Two things have resonated: - I only guestimate CWD position with my eye.? If precision of CWD matters, and if there is a simple way to get it perfect, that may be the cause.
- People keep taking about using plate-solve to work around the poorly-functioning Gemini2 model building.
- I need a camera to do that; I¡¯m happy to buy a cheap camera for that, but not an expensive one; any suggestions?
- I own TheSkyX Professional Edition, a very powerful planetarium program.? Would this do that is being suggested, and, if so, how?
?
|
Re: Controlling Losmandy GM811 with ASIAir Plus or Pro
>>>
?I like that I will be able to use it on my iPhone or iPad, once they become available, they are so backordered now.
iphones and ipads are backordered? holy smokes
with the new iphone 14 coming up next month i would expect them on sale!?
Thank you so much, Brian, I am listening to the podcast right now.? I like that I will be able to use it on my iPhone or iPad, once they become available, they are so backordered now.
?
Darryl
?
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open
attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
?
PS
here's a recent podcast where we discussed AAP with losmandy owner/guest Jim Potts
?
Hi Darryl
I use ASI Air Pro with my G11 pretty frequently. There are others here with plus/pro and other mounts that I'm sure will chime in
?
Hey everyone,
I was thinking about ordering the ASIAir Plus for my GM811 but want to make sure that it can control my mount.? Does anyone have any experience using the
ASIAir Plus or Pro to control their mounts?
?
Darryl
?
--
--
-- Brian?
Brian Valente astro portfolio? portfolio astrobin?
|
Re: Controlling Losmandy GM811 with ASIAir Plus or Pro
Thank you so much, Brian, I am listening to the podcast right now.? I like that I will be able to use it on my iPhone or iPad, once they become available, they are so backordered now.
?
Darryl
?
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open
attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
?
PS
here's a recent podcast where we discussed AAP with losmandy owner/guest Jim Potts
?
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Sun, Aug 7, 2022 at 3:54 PM Brian Valente via <bvalente= [email protected]> wrote:
Hi Darryl
I use ASI Air Pro with my G11 pretty frequently. There are others here with plus/pro and other mounts that I'm sure will chime in
?
Hey everyone,
I was thinking about ordering the ASIAir Plus for my GM811 but want to make sure that it can control my mount.? Does anyone have any experience using the
ASIAir Plus or Pro to control their mounts?
?
Darryl
?
--
--
|
Re: Controlling Losmandy GM811 with ASIAir Plus or Pro
PS
here's a recent podcast where we discussed AAP with losmandy owner/guest Jim Potts
(skipped to this topic)
Hi Darryl
I use ASI Air Pro with my G11 pretty frequently. There are others here with plus/pro and other mounts that I'm sure will chime in
Brian
Hey everyone,
I was thinking about ordering the ASIAir Plus for my GM811 but want to make sure that it can control my mount.? Does anyone have any experience using the ASIAir Plus or Pro to control their mounts?
?
Darryl
?
--
Brian?
Brian Valente astro portfolio? portfolio astrobin?
-- Brian?
Brian Valente astro portfolio? portfolio astrobin?
|
Re: Controlling Losmandy GM811 with ASIAir Plus or Pro
Hi Darryl
I use ASI Air Pro with my G11 pretty frequently. There are others here with plus/pro and other mounts that I'm sure will chime in
Brian
Hey everyone,
I was thinking about ordering the ASIAir Plus for my GM811 but want to make sure that it can control my mount.? Does anyone have any experience using the ASIAir Plus or Pro to control their mounts?
?
Darryl
?
-- Brian?
Brian Valente astro portfolio? portfolio astrobin?
|
Controlling Losmandy GM811 with ASIAir Plus or Pro
Hey everyone,
I was thinking about ordering the ASIAir Plus for my GM811 but want to make sure that it can control my mount.? Does anyone have any experience using the ASIAir Plus or Pro to control their mounts?
?
Darryl
?
|
Way back in January as a new GM8G / Stellarvue SVX102T-R owner I was on the cusp of some frustration with my GOTOs and put up a rather comprehensive post about it.? I got way more responses than I imagined and proceeded to disseminate, prioritize and alter the path I thought I should be on to gain the competency I needed.? There were errors in my modeling, aligning and synchronizing process, (Thank you Brian), and mechanical adjustments and lubrication required in the RA/DEC worms and transfer gearing, (Thank you Micheal H).? When the mechanical functions are not working optimally the electronics won't do their required task but usually get blamed for all the problems.? I use the PoleMaster for PA and with my 714mm FL model and align with a 24mm crosshair EP (30x) and the first star on both sides of the mount is rarely in my EP.? With the help of my red dot once the first star is centered everything else is nearly dead on.? What I realized is no two nights are ever the same, sometimes I get a little sloppy and other times its the "seeing" but you have to be realistic with expectations.? In an effort to further perfect things I'm now looking at Orthogonality following the guide from Wilmslow Astro which Micheal references in his optimization paper.? For what I can spend I've bought the best stuff I could afford price be damned.? Quality Berlebach tripod, scope and mount, Losmandy dovetails, all the while matching one component's performance to the other so the system is balanced.? Last time out it took .075" of shims under the front tube rings to get orthogonal in RA and I'm asking myself again am I doing something wrong or can it actually be the equipment mechanical tolerances.? The point is "baby steps", sit down and think about things and work through one problem at a time and test each solution.? With patience the first 8 months have been very rewarding but now I'm looking at the astrophotography side realizing this will be a whole other challenge.? I bought a PEMPro license, ran the PEC analysis and realized there is still work to be done. I read my Losmandy Daily Digest every day and very often find relevant information that's useful to me.? Thanks everyone!
|
On Sat, Aug 6, 2022 at 03:09 PM, HenkSB wrote:
On Sat, Aug 6, 2022 at 04:41 PM, Chip Louie wrote:
Oh, I forgot to mention that while I currently only have M8" ACF, M10" f/6.3, M10" f/10 and C11 SCTs I also owned and used C14s on my G11 for years with none of the GOTO issues people are having. My then new 10" LX200 was pretty poor at GOTOs until I went through the trouble of doing a careful orthogonal alignment of the SCT optical tube and the mount. The result of that careful alignment were virtually perfect GOTOs at over 200x.?
There is more to GOTO accuracy than polar aligning and building a mount model with larger narrower FOV OTAs. Everything has to be right from date, time, GPS location and mount mechanicals or you end up with sloppy hit or miss GOTOS.?
Are you implying that misalignment of the optics such as cone error and erratic DEC in the home position could be the culprit here?? My assumption is that any decent alignment algorithm would be able to detect such errors and compensate for it.? But let's say it doesn't, then this is what I would do:
<<SNIPPED>>
No, read what I posted.? ? -- Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
? ?Astropheric Weather Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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On Sat, Aug 6, 2022 at 03:41 PM, Mark de Regt wrote:
OP here again.
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I really appreciate all the suggstions!
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Two things have resonated:
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- I only guestimate CWD position with my eye.? If precision of CWD matters, and if there is a simple way to get it perfect, that may be the cause.
- People keep taking about using plate-solve to work around the poorly-functioning Gemini2 model building.
- I need a camera to do that; I¡¯m happy to buy a cheap camera for that, but not an expensive one; any suggestions?
- I own TheSkyX Professional Edition, a very powerful planetarium program.? Would this do that is being suggested, and, if so, how?
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Thanks again!
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Mark
Mark,? The maximum number of stars I use to align my G11G and GM8G Gemini 2 mounts is 4, normally I just do a 2 star alignment and GOTOs are fine. The Gemini works fine, thousands of people have proven this.? When there is an issue it has always been traced back to #1 the data given to Gemini to solve for position including mount type, mount model, date, time, time offset, location coordinates, and format of the data issed. #2 Polar Alignment, #3 mechanical issues primarily related to drive system backlash, wind-up, endplay, lose mechanical parts etc.? Fix these and you will resolve your issues with GOTO performance.? ? -- Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
? ?Astropheric Weather Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: I just have one question
Oh. The LX200 standard.?
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Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
? ?Astropheric Weather Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Kirk
Jamie Amendolagine
Ross Elkins
Chip Louie