I'll be in the Kentucky area till after the eclipse, depending on the weather.

If this hobby was easy, anyone could do it.
Matthew

Very nicely done, looks like your new camera is suiting you well. Since I've been out of the country for a few months I haven't been able to image at all really and cannot wait to get back home. it's nice to see you have a handle on all the new equipment. Pretty sure you will be able to handle almost any issue your equipment can throw at you.

Matthew

Very well done. I like you and many others, am completely shocked at the growth all of us have come through. I have fought with so many issues, and the hardest thing for me was to stop throwing good money after the bad.

In the end, all that really matters is that you enjoy the journey.
Matthew

Lol, that totally sounds like my luck.

Matthew

Very cool,
Matthew

Very nice.

Matthew

Look in any astrophotography store or website they are quite plentiful
HTH,
Matthew

Lol not a chance, when my parents came to visit I had to meet them out at the road as I live about a mile off the "highway" which is a simple step up from a farmer's two track, which is what my driveway looks like. It's comical, a 1.5 lane dirt road is a state highway. I do have a concrete apron in front of my garage. Mostly to keep the soil from eroding way from the foundation though. We built our house so you cannot even see it from the road, which is how I like it, as I have hermit like tendencies.

Lol only in ND,
Matthew

East side heavy means that when balancing the RA axis if you have the counter weights pointing east and the scope on the west side it will be slightly off balance with the weights pulling just a bit more than the scope. This is when imaging east of the Meridian, when you flip the meridian you adjust your weights so it swings the other way. This way you have more weight always on the east side of the mount so the RA gears is always meshed together. With my AVX I used a small tether looping around the RA clutch which is on the west side of the mount, then slung the tether over the rounded base of the mount so it hung down past the tripod spreader, and attached a 3-5lbs weight. This always kept tension on the Eastern side of the mount no matter what direction it was pointed.

I have read both sides about whether PEC should be on or off during guiding, personally I have better results when I remember to turn it on. This being with my AVX, I haven't even bothered training my Mach1 as it doesn't seem to need it. More than likely it's something simple, although honestly I don't think you really need to worry too much until you begin imaging with a much longer focal length.

HTH,
Matthew

Just a thought what is your exposure time for your guide camera, if it's low, around 2-1s you could be chasing your seeing. Where PHD has an issue determining the centroid of the star. It might even be that the focus has shifted.

As a side note when I worked on my AVX it was under warranty and did not void it, as it was their engineer who advised checking the gear mesh. YMMV

Matthew

I had much better results with my avx after I stripped it down and used Super lube to regrease everything. I don't know if this is your issue or maybe your settings may need tweaking. Do you know if you main tracking errors are in RA or Dec. If it's in the Dec axis, I would try tracking in only a single direction, so you aren't fighting yourself. If it's in the RA I would first make sure my polar axis is close, perform and use PEC and verify the balance is weighted to be heaviest towards the east, to keep the gears meshed. If your comfortable taking your mount apart, I would check to make sure the gears are properly meshed, and not binding.

One positive is that you are imaging at such a short focal length too. I'm not sure what FL your guide scope is but, I haven't noticed any tracking issues in any of your images.

Matthew

I also find but I like to calibrate my guiding close to the object I am Imaging

Matthew

If you mean which guide cam, it depends, I use my SSAG for wide field. So with my refractor, since it's only 420mm regularly and 380mm with the TV85 reducer. When using my RCs, I use an OAG, and here the SSAG performs horribly, and I was having to utilize the rotator to find a star, which messed up my framing, so I went with an older lodestar. The lodestar is able to pick up much fainter stars.

If you meant imaging cameras I use CCDs with either the 8050 or 8300 chips, I also am in the process of modifying my D800e to remove the hot filter and CFA. I have yet to make first light with it yet, since I've been swamped at work lately.

Matthew

Just a simple 50mm finder scope with a locking focus ring. I was using a SSAG camera, which is a waste of money in my opinion. Orion selling these cameras, that are nothing but a firmware hamstrung QHY5M for more than QHY sells the same camera, but with more features, turned me off from anything Orion ever again. When I bought it I had no idea what I needed though so, caveat emptor.

I think the reason I am able to get tight stars is more based on my location, than any equipment. I normally try getting SNR in the 2-4 range, since my seeing is usually pretty decent. I little to no light pollution, little to no wind impacts my setup. I can easily see the milky way with bare eyes on most nights.

Matthew

Very cool image, at a guess the edge issue is probably based on the reducer. Maybe some mild CA. I don't do planetary so forgive me, but wouldn't you want as much magnification as possible, I would think the reducer would be detrimental. Again I very little experience in this field though.

I do love seeing the images you guys can produce of our celestial neighbors,
Matthew