Howdy. I was going to try out my old LXD55 SN10 for a bit of astrophotography work & all has been going well including drift alignment. I have very little drift(but there is some in alt) which occurs over 30-40 mins as tracked in the eyepiece with a barlow and an out of  focus star(approx 209x), as I have no illuminated reticle and visual observing is wonderful as it seems to track very well and smoothly, however, when I try to guide with Envisage, I always seem to get one axis that doesn't want to behave. It always wants to send one axis off very fast, faster than any drift you would see in the sensor plane. When you release it from guide, it then settles back down again. I have the mount adjusted pretty well and it has been stripped and smoothed out and well greased, I have reversed my  directional buttons, I have tried the correction gain etc. I know it is actually trying to do it by what I can see on the screen. Im running software that is a bit old(3.3e, I think) but it is at least 3 star alignment routine, which gives the 55 way more accuracy. Do I need to upgrade my software or try to use a guide scope( I have an 80/f5) and PHD guiding as I have a GPUSB and an extension cable. Id really like to get this working as a 4 minute exposure on M42 really shows heaps of detail, but I get star trails like its unguided.
Thanks.

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LXD55 SN10
LX90 8"
Orion 80 ST
Celestron 102
DSI & DSI PRO2
Atik Electric Filter Wheel
EQ6 Pro
Canon 40D
Lots of other Astro bits

Well, if you're "guiding" with the camera that's taking the image you're not really guiding. You're simply correcting for drift between exposures. To correct for trailing in a single image frame you have to have a second camera taking short exposures and making guide corrections during the image exposure. Usually (but not always) this is done through a second scope piggyback mounted on the imaging scope.

...........Mike

http://autostarsuite.net/photos/mike7mak/

LX200gps 7" Mak
Takahashi FS78
DSIpro, DSIpro2
41deg 50' N
73deg 44' W

So really I need to put a guide scope on and then can I use Envisage to guide with my DSI1 while Im imaging with the DSI Pro2 or do I need to use a guide program and a guide port?

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LXD55 SN10
LX90 8"
Orion 80 ST
Celestron 102
DSI & DSI PRO2
Atik Electric Filter Wheel
EQ6 Pro
Canon 40D
Lots of other Astro bits

Guiding with a separate guidescope and camera is the way to go.  You can use envisage to guide with your DSI 1, but I would recommend downloading the great free guiding program PHD Guiding (http://www.stark-labs.com/phdguiding.html).  It works great, much better than Envisage, and it's free!

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Buckeyestargazer.net
8"LX200GPS
Orion 80ED
DSI-Pro I
DSI-Pro II

Also I have heard that it may be necessary to upgrade my handbox software to enable guiding. Does anyone know about this and can I just use the Aux port on the face of the mount or will I need to use the #909 Accessory port. Is it really neccessary to continually upgrade the handbox software or "if it aint broke, dont fix it!"

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LXD55 SN10
LX90 8"
Orion 80 ST
Celestron 102
DSI & DSI PRO2
Atik Electric Filter Wheel
EQ6 Pro
Canon 40D
Lots of other Astro bits

Hello!!?? HELLO!!???

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LXD55 SN10
LX90 8"
Orion 80 ST
Celestron 102
DSI & DSI PRO2
Atik Electric Filter Wheel
EQ6 Pro
Canon 40D
Lots of other Astro bits

I think the Aux Port on the LXD55/75 is for the electric focus drive (I have an electric focus drive on my LXD75 SN6). I've heard a lot of good tings about PHD and I'd love to give it a try, I'm just not sure how it will work with my LXD75. I've had pretty god luck using Envisage, but I'd love to be able to tell the software to correct the dec in one direction only; that would solve a lot of problems.

-John

 

The #909 seems to work ok in the aux port, however, I didnt like the way that PHD was working, so I forgot about it for the moment. We have a bout of winter here after a record hot spell at the end of our summer- 16 days over 35 degrees celcius, with numerous days at 39, 40 & above, so I'll have to wait a bit till I can sus it out better. Also wanna try some PEC training. Any real results and I'll post them here for you to try. It is said that the only difference between a 75 & a 55 is the bearings & shaft, all electonics etc are the same, so what works for me should work for you.

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LXD55 SN10
LX90 8"
Orion 80 ST
Celestron 102
DSI & DSI PRO2
Atik Electric Filter Wheel
EQ6 Pro
Canon 40D
Lots of other Astro bits