AP 1200 mount 88min image unguided, round starsPosted By Mark Keitel |
Glad this is not the 1st
Yes the above statement is true
How I was able to achieve this is really a mystery, the object in the perfect position? PEC recorded just right? Polar alignment that perfect?
Well this is what I did and what happened
Tuesday night I spent two hours making sure that my polar alignment was as perfect as I could get it on my AP 1200 mount. I used the STV and CCDops to double check eachother. I then recorded PEC slightly east of the Zenith. I have just gotten a new SBIG 8XE camera and want experience the fast downloads, so I figured that since I would be imaging at .66 arc/sec I best make sure the mount was set right.
I then went on my way to image Tuesday night. Though the STV had some large spikes the images were dead on with round stars. So I disregarded what the number on the STV were and kept right on going.
Then last night, at about 9:30 I decided to image NGC 2903. Set the STV up and started my first 8 min image in a series. Within 2 min the STV was beeping and having no guidedstar. I looked up and a cloud had covered the imaging area. I thought why not see how good I really did get the alignment and decided to try it for kicks with the STV off. I Turned it off, and within about 2 min the cloud had passed and my first 8 min image had round stars. I thought that will not happen again and went for the next one. Again round stars. This went on for 11x 8 min images.
Processing is not complete but wanted to post this anyway
Ap 1200 mount
SBIG 8XE, Dall-Kirkam scope, FL/2700 F/9.1 ( with reducer)
Imaging at .66 arc/sec
Yes the above statement is true
How I was able to achieve this is really a mystery, the object in the perfect position? PEC recorded just right? Polar alignment that perfect?
Well this is what I did and what happened
Tuesday night I spent two hours making sure that my polar alignment was as perfect as I could get it on my AP 1200 mount. I used the STV and CCDops to double check eachother. I then recorded PEC slightly east of the Zenith. I have just gotten a new SBIG 8XE camera and want experience the fast downloads, so I figured that since I would be imaging at .66 arc/sec I best make sure the mount was set right.
I then went on my way to image Tuesday night. Though the STV had some large spikes the images were dead on with round stars. So I disregarded what the number on the STV were and kept right on going.
Then last night, at about 9:30 I decided to image NGC 2903. Set the STV up and started my first 8 min image in a series. Within 2 min the STV was beeping and having no guidedstar. I looked up and a cloud had covered the imaging area. I thought why not see how good I really did get the alignment and decided to try it for kicks with the STV off. I Turned it off, and within about 2 min the cloud had passed and my first 8 min image had round stars. I thought that will not happen again and went for the next one. Again round stars. This went on for 11x 8 min images.
Processing is not complete but wanted to post this anyway
Ap 1200 mount
SBIG 8XE, Dall-Kirkam scope, FL/2700 F/9.1 ( with reducer)
Imaging at .66 arc/sec