Tutorial - using autoguiding with an ASIair mini

 Newly arrived to my blog? Want to know more about me before you dive into my posts? Why not visit the home page first and start your exploration from there: 

https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html

And welcome. 

Welcome to 'UnderSouthWest Skies'. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find the experience worthwhile. This blog post has been written from my own 'beginner perspective' after doing lots of reading on  various basic astronomy and astrophotography topics of interest to beginners.  In getting my head around it all, I may have got odd bits slightly wrong; but, like you, I am on a leaning journey, so please forgive any unintentional errors.  Also, just because I have gone down a particular road regarding equipment, it doesn't mean that I have chosen the 'CORRECT' route!  

Meanwhile, clear skies to you. Take care and thanks for visiting   Steve aka PlymouthAstroBoy 

A few months ago I took the plunge and dived into autoguiding! 

Let me remind you - this is my current astrophotography kit

• Canon 800D (which is about to be astro-modified)
• Samyang 135 and 14mm lenses at F/2
• Canon 22 and 50mm prime lenses at F/2.8
• SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i 
• Ioptron skytracker
• Optolong L-Pro filter 

The autoguiding set up I assembled comprises of 

• ASIair mini
• ZWO 120mm mini guide cam
• RVO 32mm Guide scope 

Why did I delve into autoguiding? 

Fair question. Well after a couple of years of getting solid 2 minute subs, I wanted to push this a little further to 3 - 6 minute subs. I have tried with the SWSA 2i to achieve this but it has been hit and miss. I decided that simple autoguiding would help me achieve this more easily. 

These were the four videos that set me off on this journey: 

As always, the notes I provide below are my 'cheat notes' which I take with me on most shoots. I assembled them from research notes made whilst watching various YouTube videos and reading various blogs and websites.  They are written for me - but they may help you if you are beginning your auto guiding journey. 

As always my blogs come with a caveat. I may have things wrong. I may have misunderstood things. Remember this is a blog written by a beginner to astronomy and astrophotography for other beginners starting a similar learning journey. 

If you think I need to add further detail or correct something, drop me a comment below and I will get it sorted. And thank you! 

My 'cheat' notes for setting up autoguiding on an astrophotography night: 

For tips about connecting everything - see the very end 

A . Setting up mount  and Polar Aligning

1.       Focus main dslr camera on polaris to focus lens/WO ZS 61ii – use bahtinov mask

2.       Rough Polar align tracker  – level tripod – polar line MANUALLY (tracker off)

3.       Balance the rig as usual - green dovetail as low as poss; CW higher up bar near centre of rotation

4.       Switch star tracker on to app – do test shots on different targets – ensure tracker working and balanced – reset app to 0 or 999 photos after; then switch tracker off

5.       Connect cables to Asiair (0C temp – then bubble wrap ASIair as per manual instructions)

6.       Power up ASIair and focus guidescope/ camera – load app on phone; on app first page – leave main camera FL at 0

7.       To focus guide scope/cam - on main camera and guide camera menus - switch off both cameras in the app. Then on main camera tab - select guide cam as the main camera. Do test shots and focus guide scope manually using focusing rings. Do test shots - when focused - switch back to main camera tab at top and re-select the DSLR as main camera. Go back into Guide camera tab and re-select the 120mm mini as guide cam. Select guide speed x0.5 in settings. 

8.       On main app page  - check plate solving works – annotate to see DSO target; switch on cross hairs 

9.   Try PA immediately with ASIair on and star tracker mount off

a.       AA on/tracker off

b.       select PA in main screen of app and follow instructions. Aiming for less than 20” smiley face; slew 60 degrees. Preview. Give time for settling vibrations; Take test shot. Adjust until PA is accurate and smiley face gained. use 3" exposures. Increase to 10" if necessary. Refresh and keep adjusting RA and DEC until very close to target co-ordinates. Adjust RA first. Remember to tap synch mount button at end. 

c.       Now switch on mount tracker

d.       IF PA FAILS – go to preview – view an image – check what issue is

10.       Alternative PA – turn off mount – cancel warning screen – move scope manually. When PA finished – power off mount; power of AA mini. Power mount back on followed by AA mini. Finish by manually turning mount switch back on.

11.       Finish by slewing to DSO – do plate solve below 

B. start the autoguiding focus/calibration

1.      tap guiding on LH menu on home page of app to bring up graph. 

2.   Make sure that rig is swung outwards - always calibrate on target near celestial equator target

3.       Clear calibration tab – top right corner graph

3.       Double tap graph – guiding screen comes up – check DEC IS OFF; RA aggr set to 55 - 70% in first instance; DEC set to 100% ; (Confirm under the mount tab at top that mount settings ensure guiding rate = x.0.5; try RA aggr at 55% first – aiming to get RMS figures <1.0. If >1.0 = focusing issue on guide cam start again!  

4.       Tap looping arrows symbol RH menu  - 3” exposure  zenith 2”(gain 60 – 70) (can take 5 to 10 mins for calibration) if stars too bright reduce gain

5.       Tap on a star to select  - may automatically select a star for me  – mid range brightness and size

6.       Tap cross hairs RH menu to start calibration – Should move guide camera around 25 pixels (px). First west/then east – optimally 5 – 8 steps.

7. By the time reach 10 - 15 steps west, the box should be off the star and then moving back towards it; it clears backlash on the east on its way back and should end up centred in the green box at end. 

8.       Watch guiding graph – blue RA line should be between +/- 4”  - allow graph to run for 40” to calm down. Aiming for RMS ,1.0 and RA 0.5 ish

9.       Determine maximum shutter speed when guiding for main camera image; Adjust ISO and interval etc to check image

10.   Tips - Aim for star peak of 80 – 200 for proper lock on.  If number of steps <4 – calibration = poor  - adjust calibration to smaller number . If number of steps too many – ASIair wont reach 25 px in reasonable time – time out message – adjust calibration step to larger number  - try 5000 – 8000 initially. Other settings try 2000 or 2500.    Should take around 10 – 20 steps max. If imaging towards zenith – increase calibration step.     If dec red line jumps off graph – poor polar alignment – redo. Aiming for +/- 4 on RA line. If graph jumpy – decrease RA aggressiveness in guiding tab

12.   If calibration fails tips – tracker on and working? All cables in correctly? No cables snagging? Not pointing at Polaris? Dec mode – off?

13.   To touch camera for any reason – stop guiding  - clear graph after; tap looping again to start  - DON’t redo calibration 

In this screenshot - I have started guiding calibration

It wasn't going well but that was because, as I later discovered, my tracker wasn't working properly

C. set up auto run/main camera settings 

1.       Select auto run page and then tap three lines/dots icon. Set up shooting plan - regarding exposure length , interval and number of shots. Do test shots on DSO in auto run – do not touch camera if not done above   - first delay 15” – interval 3” – set up for 1 image only; put in target 

2.       When image appears on screen – zoom in and check no star trailing – if unclear STOP GUIDING - go back and refocus main camera with bahtinov mask and then restart guiding and do test images in preview. Star trailing lower exposure length and test again  

3.       Now having completed test shots - set up auto run details for night  - fill in target etc

4.        lights info  - AVOID MERIDIAN FLIP – DO CALCULATIONS OF EXPOSURE TIME TOTAL  - work out how many lights required before meridian flip – enter data  - press autorun

5.       Watch the graph – watch RMS values on RA and check guiding accuracy

6.       Tips -  DO EXPOSURES IN 20 – 30 MIN BLOCKS . At end – repeat main camera focusing procedure – preview – test shots x 3” – zoom in on screen and check sharpness and adjust main lens focus accordingly . Repeat autoguider refocusing procedure. Adjust for temperatures changes 

Again in this shot  the guiding calibration isn't going well - too many steps! 

here is a screenshot showing good guiding in the graph

RA blue line is showing 0.59' and this is good. The stars in the previous image, which is the one shown, are pin point with no trailing evident. On the RH menu we can see the next image is being shot and we have 112" left of a 120" image. So far, on the auto run - 6/15 lights have been taken. 

This shows a good autoguiding.

The two cross lines are green and meet centrally in the green square. RA is 0.66' - well below 1.0. 

Problem solving on the night:  If getting trailing or inaccurate guiding, initially check

1.       all settings are switched on in app - e.g. main cam, mount and guide cam

2.       correct focal lengths entered in various tabs

3.       focus is absolute on both cameras

4.       settings in app not interfering 

5.    cables are not snagging anywhere around mount

6.   Mount is is powered and working. Ditto with ASIair mini

7.   Internet signal still established between app and ASIair mini

NOTES:

Connecting equipment together

1.        From back of ZWO 120mm mini guide camera – usb cable to ASIair mini usb slot; 

2.       ST4 cable from guide cam to SWSA 2i tracker

3.        From Canon 800D dslr – cable from usb port to ASIair mini usb slot

4.        To ASIair mini – 12v cable from power tank; 

5.         USB storage drive into spare USB slot on ASIair mini

6.        From separate power banks on tripod legs – (a) dummy battery usb cable from canon 800 dslr to       one power pack  (b) Dew heater bands for guide scope and lenses or zenithstar 61ii to second           power pack  

7.        Attach ASIair mini to tripod to reduce weight on star tracker – ensure all cables will rotate freely       with tracker 

Equipment - Astro-modifying my Canon 800D - should I?

  Newly arrived to my blog? Want to know more about me before you dive into my posts? Why not visit the home page first and start your exploration from there: 

https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html

And welcome. 

Welcome to 'UnderSouthWest Skies'. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find the experience worthwhile. This blog post has been written from my own 'beginner perspective' after doing lots of reading on  various basic astronomy and astrophotography topics of interest to beginners.  In getting my head around it all, I may have got odd bits slightly wrong; but, like you, I am on a leaning journey, so please forgive any unintentional errors.  Also, just because I have gone down a particular road regarding equipment, it doesn't mean that I have chosen the 'CORRECT' route!  

Meanwhile, clear skies to you. Take care and thanks for visiting   Steve aka PlymouthAstroBoy 

Getting my DSLR camera astro-modified

When I heard that after so many years, and over 2500 astro conversions, Andy Ellis of ‘Astronomiser’ was hanging up his tools – I immediately did some research and reached a decision. 

My research was – ‘what are the advantages and disadvantages of astro modifying my camera’ and I have sort of summarised my findings below.

The decision? I am posting my DSLR to Andy ASAP, having got one of his last conversion slots. He came highly recommended and I haven't been able to find someone else in the UK at the moment who would do it. Ideally I wanted to wait another year or so until I was better at post editing but, as is always the case, I've decided to jump right in and get it done now. 😕

So, what is astro modifying a DSLR all about?

I have a Canon 800D. It is several years old now. It has become my astrophotography camera. I tend to use a compact Canon digital zoom for my daily photography as it is compact, easy to slip into a pocket on my travels and takes really good photos.

Copyright: Astronomiser Andy Ellis 

And this is why I could never ever do such a modification myself, despite several good YouTube tutorials on line! 

Now my Canon camera, like other Canons, has a fitted filter that cuts out swathes of red light at a particular frequencies (about 75% of the light in the red band I think) – and this can really affect the Hydrogen Alpha band of emission nebulae. Thus to have a better chance of capturing the red in nebulae etc, then I have to do lots of long exposures - making an astrophotography session, very long! 

But, what is the science behind the astro modification? 

I am going to defer to my go to guru on astrophotography, the one and only Alyn Wallace, who very sadly passed away last year. In his video which I have put in below and in his outstanding book 'Photographing the night sky' , Alyn sort of sums up the science as follows

"The Bohr model - electrons exist in quanitsed energy levels surrounding an atom's nucleus. An atom absorbs energy and the electrons may jump to a higher state - this is described as them being excited. Excited atoms drop to a more stable level and the excess energy is emitted as  photons of light. 

H-alpha emissions produced by hydrogen atoms happen when the electrons fall from the 3rd level to the 2nd lowest energy level.  The photon of light emitted during the process has a wavelength of 656 nm, putting it into the deep red section of visible light"

So, what does this mean? Stock cameras only record 15 - 20% of the H-alpha light detected at the sensor.  Remove the filter and the cameras red response gets improved by a whopping x4 in this Hydrogen Alpha band, thus reducing the amount of imaging time required. The mod will also improve my milky way photos, shots of star forming regions and enhance any hydrogen alpha in galaxies.  

At least, that's what I understand thus far! 

Copyright: Astronomiser Andy Ellis

I know that if I did this, after re-assembling the camera - i'd discover bits 'left over'! 

So, I am getting the rear filter removed. This is a UV/IR cut and colour correcting filter so I am told. Hence its an ‘IR Mod’. They key here is its removal stops the colour correcting bit which is where the 75% of light loss occurs.

At least I think this is right. As always, I flag up my long-standing caveat – I’m a beginner at astrophotography and so I may make mistakes, for which I apologise! If you think I have anything wrong, drop me a comment and I will correct it immediately. Remember, this is a blog written by a beginner, for beginners!

Back to my astro-mod. I think Andy will remove this rear filter and reposition the sensor to correct for the loss of the filter glass.

Copyright: Astronomiser Andy Ellis 

So, lets move onto the advantages of doing this mod – I have already raised a few:

·        Removal of the filter will allow more sensitivity light to the Hydrogen Alpha band  - easier to capture faint red wavelengths!

·        Increased sensitivity means I can capture more detailed vibrant images of DSO’s in shorter imaging sessions - more accurate colours

·        I will be able to do better narrowband imaging

·        With shorter imaging time, my images should suffer from fewer stars overwhelming the main DSO I am imaging

·        I can still use my  existing DSLR lenses and Zenithstar 61ii small refractor

Disadvantages of doing the mod:

·        My camera will now capture all images in the red spectrum and so I will need to make a custom white balance adjustment if I want to use the camera for daylight shots OR I can use a clip in astronomic OWB filter to compensate (although many report that this filter causes flaring if there is a bright light source in your image). I read somewhere that setting a WB of 2500K for daylight photography will work but only time will tell. I could do post editing WB adjustments but as I am already struggling with affinity photo already, adding to my woes seems daft! Basically day time and night time landscape shots will have a magenta tint!

·        an astro-modified camera might struggle with capturing detail in bright objects like the moon due to its increased sensitivity to red light. 

·        For capturing lunar details or wide-field shots with a high dynamic range, an unmodified camera might be preferable. 

·        I may lose automatic focusing on my lenses (not an issue for me as I tend to use them all in manual focusing mode at night)

·        The costs of the astronomic filter and conversion

·        It will void my factory warranty (but that was already out of date anyway)

·        I am going to get post editing frustration as I will need to do colour corrections to my milky way landscapes – they will have a purplish hue! So, I will need to re-write my cheat notes about post editing work flow.

Is the modification worth doing? 

Jury out on that as far as I make out on various forums. For everyone who says yes, someone says no! Many say invest in a tracker instead for any landscape photography and don’t mod the camera.

I have decided to take the plunge. If nothing else, it will force me to master colour correcting techniques in Affinity Photo! Or I buy the Astronomik / Optolong OWB filter and use that. 

https://www.365astronomy.com/optolong-owb-ccd-(original-white-balance)-clip-filter-for-canon-eos-aps-c-cameras?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAh6y9BhBREiwApBLHC0QP_4hdXEvA_H_2CjmBSeZpL4PiGSJtZu4wXTzTF7hk4mDdcxT2sRoCOsMQAvD_BwE

Below are some of the videos I looked at: 

Alyn Wallace

AstroOnBudget

Nico Carver Nebula Photos

Nightscapes Images 

PhotoPills 

Kamil Pekala

NOTE: The videos above are just ones I watched. There are plenty of others out there which detail the pro's and cons' of astro-modifying your DSLR.  I am not recommending these channels as such, although I will admit that Kamil's, Nico's, Alyn's and Nightscapes - have been channels that I have found to be really informative. 

So what about this custom white balance malarkey? 

It is one of the major disadvantages to getting the camera modified. Theoretically, I have read that the Ha mod shouldn't really affect the white balance when I use the camera during day time. As I said, this doesn't worry me - the camera is for astrophotography - my compact canon will do my daytime photography. 

Its is whether it will affect my mightlime milky way landscape shots - that's the issue. I have learned/been taught to take two separate images when doing such a shot - one of the sky; the other of the landscape foreground features. I then blend them together. 

So will the conversion affect the hue/tint of the latter foreground shots? 

Well the answer seems to be - it might OR it might not! 

How can I get around this?  Firstly, I could do post corrections in Affinity Photo. Auto levels adjustments will probably do it. Easy to do, I already have AP as well. The downside? Well, you won't know whether it works until you try it and so I might lose a whole night of various landscape foreground shots, when I discover 'auto-levels' doesn't work! 

OK! So option 2 then! 

I use a corrective filter. The obvious one is the Astronomik OWB - type 3 one. A simple to fit design, like my Optolong L Pro, you just go shoot your images in daylight or nigh time as normal.  Disadvantages? Can't use EF-S lenses because they project back into the camera body and so will collide with the clip-in filter. Apparently, when you look through the viewfinder, they will give the scene a bluish tinge. And currently retailing at £166 they are pricey. As well as difficult to get hold of it seems!! 

Option 3 - set a custom white balance! 

As I understand it to set a custom white balance, I shoot a piece of white paper under the same lighting conditions as I will be shooting in during daylight. I keep it on my SD card. Andy Ellis on his website gives this description: 

"The piece of paper is on the floor in a well lit area; focus manually and to infinity, fill the viewfinder with the out of focus sheet. Take the shot."

Then to set the custom white balance all I do is navigate my menu system until I find Custom White Balance  - select it and then choose the image you need and press the 'set' button.  Advantages? Relatively straight forward to do and quick. Disadvantages? I think you need to reset it each time for the differing conditions you shoot in and I'm still none the clearer as to whether this applies for night time photography! 

Anyway, when the camera is back, I will do some test shots and come back and update this post with my findings. 

Clear skies, have fun, stay safe out there at night

Steve 

Postscript:

Well here we are a few weeks later and I managed to do several nights imaging whilst on a recent motorhome trip to the Isle of Purbeck area. 

First thing to note, yep, there is a definite magenta tint to daytime/blue hour photographs. There is a horrendous tangerine tint to any night time shots in a Bortle 4 area! 

Upside - the Ha gases definitely come through x 4 what they did when it was un-modded. 

So here are the first test shots - single frames taken across the nights:

Canon 800D Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ISO 800 60"

Canon 800D Samyang 135mm f/2.8 ISO 800 40"

Canon 800D Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ISO 800 60"

with samyang 14mm ISO 800 f/2.8 20"

with samyang 14mm ISO 800 f/2.8 55"

And straight away we can see the orangery-magenta cast across the images. But, at the same time, the image of m42 orion nebula does show increased magenta H-alpha colouration - more than I would normally get.  

And here are some quick images processed - all stacked in sequator and quick dirty first edits in affinity photo:

In this image you can see the M42 orion nebula, the running man nebula and then top right, the horsehead nebula and the flame nebula as well 

First off, it is amazing how many different colour variations I can get processing the same stacked images! 😕 

Secondly, there are definite post processing tricks to getting a correct white balance and I need to work out how to do it and when to do it in a post editing work flow - so some YouTube tutorial studying to do! 😉

On a positive note - firstly, so much more of that H-alpha gas is coming out in the images - even if the colouration is wrong. So - how to colour balance is something else to explore!  I may get better results stacking is Siril although the very first two images of this set above were done in siril - GraXpert - affinity photo. Somewhere I am doing something really wrong and it is trying to work out what and where! 

I will keep you posted and update this post as and when I learn the new techniques. Meanwhile if you have any post editing tips or comments about what I might be doing wrong, please share them in a comment below so that all of us still learning can benefit from your knowledge and experience. And, thank you for doing so - it is much appreciated.

Clear skies, warm nights, and great stargazing to you all. Stay safe out there and have fun

Steve 

Postscript:

My first effort at using the above and blending to form a composite image with some taken at same time during and just after blue hour 

Equipment - Have I accidently broken my SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i tracker?

 Newly arrived to my blog? Want to know more about me before you dive into my posts? Why not visit the home page first and start your exploration from there: 

https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html

And welcome. Welcome to 'UnderSouthWest Skies'. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find the experience worthwhile. This blog post has been written from my own 'beginner perspective' after doing lots of reading on the various blog topics.  In getting my head around it all, I may have got odd bits slightly wrong; but, like you, I am on a leaning journey, so please forgive any unintentional errors.  Meanwhile, clear skies to you. Take care and thanks for visiting   Steve aka PlymouthAstroBoy 

 

Hello!

In my last post you will have noted that I couldn't get my tracker to work. An absolute nightmare of a night! 

https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/02/making-basic-astrophotography-mistakes-1.html

This morning, the tracker is being tested extensively in the living room. I have put my lighter rig on it (Samyang 135mm+Canon 800D + RVO guidecope+ZWO 120 mm mini guide cam). 

I have suspended a small pen on a string from the counterweight arm to help me discern how well the tracker is moving. The issue seems to be when the rig is on the east of the tracker and the counterweights arm to the right. The rig will track fine up to the horizontal position. From there, it seems to stop tracking and I have no idea why. If you swing the rig the other side - there seems to be no problems with tracking. It is just that 9 o'clock to 11 o' clock position that it seems to go on strike. 

How bizarre is this? 

I updated the tracker with the latest firmware in the early hours of this morning (shows you how worried I am that I am doing a firmware update at 0100) and so this morning, I am hoping, with fingers crossed, that all is well. I will let you know at the end of today if the firmware update has fixed the issue. 

If you need to update the firmware on your SWSA you can get the various software and uploader programs here: 

https://www.skywatcher.com/download/software/star-adventurer/

My concern is that I may have somehow damaged the mechanism. I can use the side buttons to x12 the tracking rate - the motor works and movement is fine at all angles. Same when it is in app mode. 

So is it a clutch or software issue? 

If it was a clutch issue, then I will probably find the mount's tracking axis slipping or rotating unexpectedly, when it is loaded up. That could account for the trailing in all my images the other night. However, against that is the fact that in Live View - the stars didnt change their positions at all. So this is really bizarre! 

On a slipping clutch, you would expect to see the following symptoms/issues: 

• sudden movement in camera/telescope even with clutch being tight
• drifting during long exposures
• star trailing across the frame
• noticeable slip or play when trying to rotate the mount by hand when the clutch is engaged
• clicking and grinding noises

I have to say I haven't noticed any of these symptoms, so I am beginning to move away from this as an issue. 

This morning I checked and then re-checked that I had tightened the clutch fully and correctly before the test runs. Excessive tightening can cause damage so I am being careful and paranoid! 

So, that brings me back to software issues?  Lets hope the firmware update solves the issue. If it doesn't I need to find a repairer of trackers based in the UK? Know of anyone? Let me know in the comment box and thanks. 

Meanwhile, I did, as you will have seen in last post, manage to get some imaging done. And here is the initial result. Welcome to NGC 457 'The Owl Cluster' 

So, what can we see in this image?

Firstly, the acquisition details - 45 x 120” lights and no calibration frames. Stacked in Affinity Photo and then cropped, denoised and background extraction in GraXpert. Finally further processing in Affinity Photo once more.

The larger cluster is NGC 457 The owl cluster – which is sort of obvious – when you look closely – and imagine an owl shape! It is also known as the ‘ET’ cluster. I like this nomenclature better! Huge ET fan!

NGC 457 is one of the star clusters in Cassiopeia, discovered by Friedrich Herschel in 1789, and comprises of two bright stars of 5^th magnitude which form the eyes. Scattered rows of fainter stars then make up the arms and the body.

The cluster contains over 100 stars and is a relatively young star cluster about 7,900 light years away from us.

The very bright star?

Ruchbah, the fourth brightest star in the Cassiopeia constellation, derives its name from Arabic – the word means ‘knee’.  It is 99 light years away, so its light takes almost a century to reach us. With a surface temperature around 8400 K, it is somewhat warmer than our own sun and its radius is just under four times the diameter of our own star.

A giant or sub-giant star, Ruchbal’s hydrogen fusion core is shutting down and so this 600million year old star is in its death throes. Ten million years from now it will be a much larger orange giant.

And what about the smaller star cluster? This is NGC 436 – 30 or so 11^th magnitude, fainter stars.

And here is a cropped version losing Ruchbal!  Sorry Ruchbal! 

UPDATE: 

Have I broken my star adventurer?

No, I don't think so. I have tested it for three days now and it seems to be tracking as it should. The 'string dangling a pencil trick' worked in showing the movement more easily. The software firmware upgrade seems to have cured things. I double checked with First Light Optics and The Widescreen Centre that I hadn't inadvertently overloaded the mount -   my largest rig weighs in at 4.3kg and both retailers felt that should be OK.

So, I need to wait for a clear night and then go test things again! Wish me luck!  

Imaging session - Making basic astrophotography mistakes 1

 Newly arrived to my blog? Want to know more about me before you dive into my posts? Why not visit the home page first and start your exploration from there: 

https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html

And welcome. Welcome to 'UnderSouthWest Skies'. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find the experience worthwhile. This blog post has been written from my own 'beginner perspective' after doing lots of reading on the topic below.  In getting my head around it all, I may have got odd bits slightly wrong; but, like you, I am on a leaning journey, so please forgive any unintentional errors.  Meanwhile, clear skies to you. Take care and thanks for visiting   Steve aka PlymouthAstroBoy 

Date: 31st January 2025

Location: Wembury Beach car park

Time:  Arrived around 1815 - set up by 1900. Polar alignment completed by 1915 

Conditions: perfect - cloudless skies until 0100; no wind; temperature 3C falling to 1C by 0000. 

Target: NGC1499 The California Nebula

Equipment used: SWSA2i, Canon 800D unmodded, Zenithstar 61ii, various power banks etc; 

Shooting plan intentions:  40 x 300" lights and then 15 of each calibration frame 

A treat - arriving at sunset to see the new crescent moon; 

just to the east of it - Venus and just to the east of that Neptune

I love having a plan for a shooting night. I hate it when the plan goes out of the window almost immediately! 

Initial balancing of the tracker went fine in both RA and DEC. Polar alignment was spot on. 

Would it track? 

No! All over the place - at one time the tracking went 'West 50 steps' and still hadn't timed out. Without guiding - there was star trailing after 5".  

Four times I broke the rig down and reassembled it. Four separate polar alignments, all accurate. Four balancing the tracker - all done. 

Still the same result. I lost two hours of shooting time. 

I changed the tracker batteries as well by the way. I tried everything - altering calibration settings in my ASIair mini - the lot! Nothing. Nada! 😱

the useless tracking - four attempts to get autoguiding and exposures of 120" to no avail

repositioning to image something to the north led to pinpoint sharp stars 

and then  on guiding as well 

Eventually, I managed to get the whole thing to guide accurately and also shoot 120" exposures on the Owl Cluster. It was just to the North West of Polaris and so my small refractor scope with its camera were facing to the north west. It seemed to cope with this position as the counterweights were just off the vertical downward position and the camera/refractor rig almost over the top of the tracker. 

At 0400 this morning and sat bolt up right. Wait for it! Its a classic!  Don't judge me! You will want to but resist the temptation! 😳

The sudden realisation - I had used the wrong counterweight bar on the tracker. 

Let me explain. I have two counterweight bars. 

One has an extra 6 oz lead screwed into the base and uses just one normal counterweight - I use this for my samyang 135mm and canon rig. Balances and tracks perfectly. 

The second counterweight bar - uses just two normal counterweights and I use that on the zenithstar. Balances it perfectly and the tracker seems to do its thing with no problem at all. 

Yep, you are one step ahead here - I used the two counterweights AND the extra 6oz or so counterweight bar.

So, my thinking. I think the tracker couldn't cope with the extra weight and so wouldn't lift properly. The position to shoot the nebula was with the camera and refractor rig to the east and the counterweights to the west and the whole assembly was practically horizontal to the ground. 

So I am left wondering whether the tracker just couldn't cope with the weight and so the guiding wouldn't function either? 

Paranoid that I have stripped the gears in my tracker, I now have the rig fully assembled in the front room and I am testing that the tracker is working as it should. I will let you know the outcome in a few hours! 😬

PS: at least I got to see the parade of planets across the night - starting in the east with Mars just by Castor and Pollux, across to Jupiter and then the other planets as mentioned above. 

Meanwhile - I am feeling sooooo stupid! 😕