The last few nights I was attempting to plate solve and the 1st time it failed but, I was able to get a blind solve {disappointing}. Tonight after talking with my buddy Ed aka "Nikonshooter" and my lucky stars. I had a solve and sync in less than 1 minute . I don't know if I was supposed to slew to my target but, anyways it was a testing and figuring ut night due to the clouds filling in with a bright luna.

confirmation of my sync

They pads are for standing on made of neoprene and the mount is sitting on the driveway that has been marked , I use my anti-vibration pads but, I didn't have them on in the pic. Thanks for the heads up though.

I hope the clear sky god grants me a wish. Thank for the heads up Ed.

I tried to plate solve bwa but, I forgot to set the path . I wrote lil' notes , obviously it would help if I read them. Ed and I talked today and he's determined "he'll get this figured out" I'm at wits end. I've had these issues with my old affordable meade lxd55 goto mount and this is the 2nd , I fell on the other one and broke the dec housing when my leg gave out. I didn't have the issues until I put my 8in. astrograph on it , still trying to nail it down and auto guide successfully . I'm new to SGPro and never plate solved before. I've got a lot on my plate along with my rig still being built a lil' bit at a time per year.

The test that night was short after kicking the dirt several times. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't plate solve after Ed told me what to do and I wrote it down but, I can't read half of it , it was a success because sgp blind solved after the 3rd time. New anything is always difficult for me , I have to get an understanding what it's doing before I can stop kicking the dirt . Everything is a PITA at first but, it'll get better once I get things ironed out with my rig. Alanna bought me a dual adapter so , I don't have to remove/replace my finder and guider which throws off my alignment. Working with my left hand to do everything after aligning is frustrating but, I don't dare touch the rig with my right hand after I align .It took me a month to figure that out when I 1st started imaging.

The Po'man mount and tripod are used and old but, the optics are state of the art . It's still being put together and the mount will be replaced with a heavy duty one day.

I had my mojo going on and by 830pm , I was ready to image Orion again . I was using Sharpcap to position the nebula but, I let SGPro do the solve and the 3rd time was the charm successful solve. It might have been a blind solve , it was still a solve, Woohoo ! I was ready to image , NOT ! I got a message to fix it. I forgot to give it a path to find it , that took 2 hours to figure out after taking breaks from frustration .

1st time luck

Sonny, It's an Asi 174MM cooled. Life is HELL but, my astronomy keeps me knocking down barriers that otherwise would have me crippled. I do go through the pain with a lil' help , there is no magic pill, shot or solution for this cervical damage with my budget . I'm out once gain , the 3rd in a row "we're breaking records for heat this week". I've been collecting and stacking and trying to wave that magic wand but, it doesn't help .

I like what your catching Sonny , KUDOS ! I finally got out last night and tonight. I've been working on my guiding, plate solving , sequencing m42 and attempting to put it all together. I'm still working on m42 turning it every color of the rainbow and deleted more than I can count on my fingers and toes, wait till you see my red , red wine Orion . It's all just a work in progress, DSO processing is something that I've got to take my time doing because I can mess it up with the quickness.

Darn impressive Jim , I've not tried to image any satellites or the ISS but, they sure appear in my data. I've dumped a lot of data due to streaks and lil' figures whizzing through the subs , I must live in a flight path of everything flying . Keep it up ! My meade lxd55 mount and 497# meade autostar handpad {computer w/ 30,000 object database} has a track satellites function and I've not yet tried to do anything with that function but, it might be something worth trying out one night.

I like Jim , that's a setting that I've yet to try on my autostar.

Glad ya got something for me to look at Sonny, well done, stay the course friend in 80*. I've seen clouds fill , clouds roll by and the temperature drop down to near 20*. My mount doesn't perform well below 35*. but, as long as I can see something , I'll be alright for a couple more days until withdrawals set in.

Good one !

Nice lunar stay the course !

Ed , splendid kits. I can see how you set up and image so quick with 2 refractors that don't need collimation and no tree obstructions. You've got the right idea, a man and his toys ! I've still not been able to get out too cold, maybe after the front moves out , hopefully .