First autoguided shot, M27

Man, I was having the shakes already, as we have not had a clear night in months...

Last night cleared up and needless to say, I was out with the equipment waiting for the darkness... (well, somewhat dark, since I'm smackdab in the middle of a city, so it is more like GRAYNESS/ORANGENESS...) 8)

The almost Full Moon was out already, and definitedly making things worst for imaging, but that's what Ha is for!

This is my first attempt at autoguiding... I was not searching for perfection, but more for acquaintance with the whole procedure...

I used my laptop with a GPUSB interface to control my Orion Atlas mount, Stark-Labs PHD for guiding (free-software that works great) and a Meade DSI Pro.

Used the Orion Starshoot with the Orion Ha filter, and took a series of 10x3min exposures. Then stacked them with Nebulosity and processed with Photoshop.

Surely not perfect, but happy that the "whole enchilada" worked without a hitch... 8)
(Now to keep practicing, if weather permits)


Clear skies to all!

Attached Image:

Ivan,
Those stars look nice and very round. Nice going!
Larry

Excellent! You get used to autoguiding, you'll never want to go any other way.

Hey Ivan, the guiding looks like it was working well! What scope was used for guiding? PHD is great, I love it, easy to use and good results.
I ran the PEC on my LXD650 to help the guider, it seems to help too. I have read conflicting reports as to whether to use PEC with guiding, but I found it makes it better.
If you have any backlash, make sure you adjust that out as well, it will help to avoid any delay in guiding corrections.

Very nice, Ivan! Congrats! You'll never want to shoot unguided from now on!

Eric

hi Ivan,

there you go! very nice result for your first autoguided shot!
gald to see the system is working now for you!

Here's to nice round stars! Well done Ivan!

Tom

Looking good Ivan!