IC-5076 (My First Guided Shot)

Comment

Comment by Jeffrey P Nunnari on December 15, 2012 at 8:13am

Thanks, Marc. Isn't doing a drift alignment hard and time consuming? I'm not all that good at figuring out east-west in the eyepiece, especially if the star isn't right on the meridian, let alone compensating for it. I'm sure the investment in time pays off in the end, though.

Comment by Marc Basti on December 15, 2012 at 5:25am

JP, good to see you got that up and running it makes a big difference. One thing you'll find (maybe you've read about it) is guiding on the dec. axis is not that great w/the cg5 (or the cgem, I have both). For lack of better words it's hurky-jerky. It is definitely worth the time to (after Celes's PA routine) to do a drift align (or a variation http://njstargazer.org/PolarAlignment.asp ) I like to get it to a point where I can turn off dec. guiding in PHD.-- I don't think you had beginners luck, looks good man. Marc

Comment by Russ Ruggles on December 14, 2012 at 7:14am

You still have the perverbial egg shaped stars but that could just be one or more subs that DSS let stack. good shot though.

Comment by Jeffrey P Nunnari on December 14, 2012 at 6:59am

Hey, Russ - yes, I use DSS for stacking. The target is small but fairly bright. As you can see, it has a rather bright star within/adjacent to it, so it made an ideal target for a first try at guiding, as the guide star and the target are both together. I had no problems running the guide scope and PHD software, and I am hoping it wasn't just beginner's luck.

Comment by Russ Ruggles on December 14, 2012 at 6:16am

5 minute subs!!! Now your in the game. The best I ever got was 5 minute subs with my CG5. I found that perfect balance was the key.
You are correct in saying the possibilities are endless. That looks like a challenging target - might have to give it a try.
Are you using DSS to stack?