Posts Made By: Greg Bradley

Very nice Dan.

Greg.

Really sweet shot Ivan.

Greg.

I like the second one and the third one. They're beauties.

Greg.

Wow, I wished my first posted image was as good as that!! Well done!

Greg.

Nice Tyler.

It looks like your camera wasn't square to the scope. The top left corner shows elongated stars yet the rest of the image does not.

Greg.

Wow, Evan, fantastic review.

I'd love to hear a comparison between the TSA 102 and your FCT100. I am still suspicious about the performance difference between FPL53 and Fluorite.

How does your TOA130 compare to the TSA102 (apart from the obvious aperture difference)?

I enjoyed that review.

Greg.

You're getting very refractor-like stars for a 10 inch compound scope.

Greg.

Beautiful colours and contrast. Nice star colours. A winner.

Greg.

Hi Rob,

Check a few points with your autoguider:

1. You calibrated on a star nearby.
2. Your scope is nicely balanced in both axes. You may need to check the balance isn't different at a different angle (especially if piggybacking another scope).
3. You have the correct declination set for the autoguiding software (I use CCDSoft and I have to manually put the current declination in the box).
4. Not sure for your area but I find the shorter the autoguiding exposure the better. For my skies 1 second guide exposures is my target and gives best results. If your seeing is poor that may need to be longer. Also with Ha or blue filters, longer guide exposures are needed if you are guiding through them.
5. Make sure cables are supported and not adding unneccessary weight on the camera and can move freely without tangle or sudden slips as the scope tracks.
6. Check your polar alignment. The autoguider has to work very hard if the polar alignment is off and it cannot compensate for rotation so you will get elongated stars no matter what if the polar alignment is off. This is really the number one point and the most important point of all of these.
7. Check your guiding rate. I experiment with this using Chuck Faranda's Temma driver. It allows you to change the guide rate. I usually use 50% but sometimes use 90%. It is a simple matter of typing in the new number and then hit send and then watch the guide error numbers to see if they improve or get worse. If you are not using his driver then post on the Tak Uncensored Yahoo group and he will send it to you. I use it with the Sky V6.0.
You can also park the mount with this driver so that it is still aligned the next time you power it up. Very handy.

I hope this is of some use to you.

Generally it is; polar alignment not right, scope not balanced well or too long a guide exposure.

If you have all the above in, you can get below .5 pixel errors guiding at 2118mm focal length routinely.
Certainly below 1 pixel which is where I draw the line and start handling things.

Greg.

A very nice image Dan.

Greg.