Polar Aligning Celestron 6SE 8SE Wedge Using Hand Controller & Imaging Globular Cluster M15

Рет қаралды 5,618

11 ай бұрын

This challenge comes from the comments. What if you can't use a computer to control your mount? How to manually polar align a Celestron NexStar 6SE / 8SE mount using the hand controller with enough accuracy for astrophotography WITHOUT guiding. I use an ASI294MC Pro camera with APT, but the same process applies for DSLRs, although with an added difficulty modifier for viewing star trails on a small LCD screen. #astrophotography #celestron #nexstar #wedge
As proof of concept, I'm imaging Globular Cluster M15.
UPDATE: THERE *IS* AN OPTION TO DO A POLAR ALIGNMENT USING A HAND CONTROLLER ON THE NEXSTAR MOUNT: i.e. the hand-controller version of performing an ASPA. It is poorly documented, and the NexStar mount instructions that came with the scope, the wedge, or the ones available online certainly did not cover it properly. However there is a document that covers this on Celestron's knowledge base:
www.celestron.com/blogs/knowl...
Please also check out the following video which covers the steps:
‪@ThatScienceLife‬
• Polar Aligning the C11...
I still think that you would need to do a manual drift alignment in order to properly orient the scope for better guiding, but performing the Polar Alignment would definitely help to bring your scope closer to where it should be thereby reducing the effort to drift align (similar to using ASPA with CPWI).
Thanks for watching, and clear skies!
Equipment used in this video:
-----------------------------
Celestron NexStar 6SE
Celestron Focus Motor Celestron Motor Model # 94155-A
Celestron f/6.3 Focal Reducer Model # 94175
Celestron Wedge Model # 93665
Celestron Piggyback Mount-NexStar 5, 6, 8 Model # 93609
Celestron C8 Dovetail Base for Finder Scope (Generic)
Celestron T-Adapter for Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes Model # 93633-A
StarPal 40cm Dovetail
SVBony SV106 50mm Guide Scope
SVBony SV905C Guide Camera
ZWO ASI294MC Pro
Telescope Filter Drawer System
Nikon D5200
SVBony UV/IR Cut Filter
UPPDMAT (Custom Made)
Telescope Control And Image Capture Software:
---------------------------------------------
NexStar Mount & Hand Controller
Astro Photography Tool / APT
Post-Processing Software:
-------------------------
DeepSkyStacker
Siril
GIMP

Пікірлер: 36

@orlandobloom9502 10 ай бұрын

Thank you 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👊🏽🔭😎

@andrewoler1 Ай бұрын

Thanks for the video. How long are you able to get your exposures with guiding? Also are you using off-axis guiding or separate guide scope? I’m trying to set up guiding using a separate guide scope (120mm focal length) with my CPC 8” but I’m wondering whether the different focal lengths will be an issue.

@Felldisulfide Ай бұрын

Hi Andrew, I use a separate SVBONY 50mm guide scope with a focal length of 190cm. The short of it is that the longer the focal length of your main scope, the more precision you need in guiding. Longer focal length guide scopes will catch star drifting more acutely than shorter focal length. There's also a dependency on the pixel size of your camera. In an ideal scenario, your guide camera's detail resolving power would match or be slightly better than the power of your guide scope, and the guide scope would be able to catch stars drifting before your images become visibly distorted. Here's Agena Astro's write-up on guide scope to main scope ratios: agenaastro.com/articles/guides/selecting-a-guide-scope-and-autoguiding-camera-for-astrophotography.html (they recommend a ratio of 1:10 at a minimum) Here's a calculator that should help you identify your ratio: astronomy.tools/calculators/guidescope_suitability Without knowing what cameras you are using, I would guess you need a longer guide scope. The ratio for my setup, based on the above calculator, is 1:8 Clear Skies!

@Felldisulfide Ай бұрын

To answer your other question - my exposure time varies based on the target, light pollution conditions, and filter. In good conditions, and when using narrow band filters, I set my exposures for 180s. I use shorter exposures when imaging brighter targets such as globular clusters, or in poor light pollution situations when imaging in broadband. CS!

@andrewoler1 Ай бұрын

@@Felldisulfide Thanks, that’s very helpful. I have several camera setups that I use, including DSLR alone, DSLR + f/6.3 reducer, QHY5iii715C alone or with 0.5x reducer. Based on the calculator it looks like my 120mm FL guide camera will only work with the widest setup (dslr + reducer). I might need a few guide scopes, unfortunately. Or I guess one with long FL that would work for all, not sure.

@Felldisulfide Ай бұрын

I can't see a down side to one longer focal length guide scope to fit all your configurations. Also, I don't like re-calibrating the guide scope, I just leave it be, so would not be keen on having multiple guide scopes!

@awoytb1720 11 ай бұрын

I will try am always using my phone magnetic compas on the mount and i was bassicaly just playing btw eyepiece and the camera to know if the camera look in the right direction.

@Felldisulfide 11 ай бұрын

Good luck and Clear Skies!

@awoytb1720 11 ай бұрын

@@Felldisulfide Also do you have a video if i want to use my camera as a autoguider ?

@Felldisulfide 11 ай бұрын

I don't - it's not something that would work with my equipment. In order to guide with my mount, I need the guide pulses at 0.5s intervals. Because my Nikon has a mirror, taking guide images every 1/2s would create too much vibration. I've read suggestions about using live view, but that would not work with my camera either as there is a timeout on live view which I can't override. My live view would turn off after a few minutes leaving me without guiding.

@SlimeyCuber Ай бұрын

Hey, I’m relatively new to astrophotography and I’m just very lost on how to adjust the azimuth, is there a technique or is it just a trial and error thing?

@Felldisulfide Ай бұрын

@SlimeyCuber trial and error more or less sums it up for me. Seriously though - there is a technique to the trial and error. At about the 5 min mark in this video I try to explain the direction of the star movement in relation to which way you need to adjust the azimuth. If you are asking how much to adjust by, then you have two options. You can start with larger adjustments until the trailing changes direction, then make smaller adjustments in the other direction until you trailing disappears, or you can use tools like drift align in PHD2 or Plate Solving to tell you how many arc minutes & seconds you are out by, and using the size of your field of view as a reference, adjust the azimuth by that exact amount. Whichever method you use will require some practice to perfect. When I started out, polar alignment would sometimes take me 45 minutes. Now it takes me 5 to 10. Are you using a Celestron mount, and have you familiarized yourself with ASPA?

@AmatureAstronomer 10 ай бұрын

Could be worse. You could be wrestling with a CG-4 German equatorial mount. Mine is easy to balance and align and I have no problem shooting 10 minute exposures, once I get on the target, which is very, very difficult for dyslexic me. But, I can see how difficult and admirable your struggle was.

@Felldisulfide 10 ай бұрын

10 minutes on a CG-4 is great! Are you guiding?

@AmatureAstronomer 10 ай бұрын

@@Felldisulfide No. No guiding. Just an Orion right ascension motor drive. I level the tripod, using a carpenters level. I live at exactly 37 degrees latitude. So, I put my cell phone on a block of wood and put that on the top of the mount (parallel to the OTA) and set the mount to 37 degrees, based on AstroHopper, which indicates current altitude accurate to one tenth a degree. I then place my cell phone on a block of wood at the back of the mount and adjust until it faces true North based on a compass application, as I cannot see Polaris for the trees. I have tested up to 10 minutes, though usually go for 3 minute exposures (lots of aircraft and satellites). I have gone in and had supper and came out, still on the spot. As a dyslexic, I do find wrestling the German equatorial mount on to the target to be a real challenge, so I recently started using a Sky Watcher AZ GTi go to mount, which will sometimes get me near the target and occasionally will sort of track it for 10-15 seconds.

@Felldisulfide 10 ай бұрын

That is excellent tracking for the CG-4 and fantastic alignment on your part. My issue with the NexStar mount was the periodic 'wobble' in RA, probably caused by a defect in the gears, which limited my unguided exposures to be within that period i.e. < 60s. In the video, I stuck to 30s exposures. Shame about the star tracker. I almost picked one up last month, but opted for a Rokinon lens instead :)

@AmatureAstronomer 10 ай бұрын

@@Felldisulfide posted, "Shame about the star tracker. I almost picked one up last month..." And, I have been thinking about picking up a Celestron 5SE. Issues being weight and inclusion of wedge with 5SE. Maybe not, now. Well, you did good and nice video.

@evastronomy8048 3 ай бұрын

My nexstar mount does good alignment on altaz mode, but on the wedge, doing eq north alignment it doesn't do it good. Maybe updating the firmware would fix the problem?...

@Felldisulfide 3 ай бұрын

Hi @evastronomy8048, did you do the drift alignment or the 'Polar Alignment' after EQ North to adjust and fine-tune your alignment? The video covers the drift alignment. In addition, and/or as a prior step, you can also do a 'Polar Alignment' which is the hand controller version of ASPA. There is a document that covers this on Celestron's knowledge base: www.celestron.com/blogs/knowledgebase/how-do-you-polar-align-using-a-fork-mounted-scope-with-a-wedge Please also check out the following video which covers the steps: @ThatScienceLife kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a76KZ6Vhy62afWw.html If this does not help, it couldn't hurt to update your firmware, but more than likely your alignment is just too far off.

@evastronomy8048 3 ай бұрын

@Felldisulfide thanks, but I did the eq alignment following the instructions, didn't work, then doing the polar alignment, after selecting it, it doesn't give me the option "align Mount", so I think I have to update the mount, hopefully that fix the problem. Thank you very much for your help.

@Felldisulfide 3 ай бұрын

Let me know how it goes!

@Corrieofficial Ай бұрын

Make sure the stars you align with are far enough apart

@evastronomy8048 Ай бұрын

@@Felldisulfide everything is good now...better doing the alignment and ASPA throughout skyportal...I could capture NGC 7000 North America Neb with 50 lights 30 secs each...CS!

@steelersfan1951 6 ай бұрын

What is your setup including the spacers you use for the 6se?

@Felldisulfide 6 ай бұрын

Hi @steelersfan1951, I have a couple of videos that go over my setup, including: Celestron NexStar 6SE With Wedge Astrophotography Setup kzfaq.info/get/bejne/f9ahg8ibndPFqX0.html Building a Celestron NexStar 6SE with Wedge for Astrophotography (timelapse) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mZahYKeYnrSVqo0.html Celestron NexStar 6SE Review for Astrophotography kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hbFjZKl3r8fXYpc.html Are you asking about back spacing spacers? If so, I've got my distance set to 106mm because I'm using filters.

@steelersfan1951 6 ай бұрын

@@Felldisulfide I am having a strange issue where I am not seeing stars with my asi 224mc my telescope is focused

@Felldisulfide 6 ай бұрын

What imaging software are you using, and at what gain and exposure settings? Can you see bright objects (moon, street lights)?

@steelersfan1951 6 ай бұрын

@@Felldisulfide I’m using asi studios I can see the moon but when I point at bright stars no matter the exposure level I can not see it

@Felldisulfide 6 ай бұрын

That is odd. I don't have much experience with ASI Studio - I went to APT right away, but I do remember that ASI Studio had different modes depending on what you were imaging. Have you tried both of ASICap (planetery.. might not work for stars), and ASIImg? When I got the ZWO camera, it came with SharpCap as well as ASI Studio. Have you tried SharpCap to rule out issues specific to ASI Studio?