Resolved Self guiding

Colin,
I don't have remote internet access, and I didn't take care to save dark frames.

Luis

 

I cheat when I test the camera off of the scopes. I tape a sheet of aluminum foil over the camera aperture with the filter wheel on and use a needle to make a pinhole in the center. I aim at a lamp or something lit and take images. A quick and easy way to find out if the detectors and filter operations are working. The images will be soft, but discernible. The only time with the internal guider was a weird optical train problem with an 1.8 x tele-extender. The other with the external guider was a Windows 10 update problem.

Joe

 

Joe,
Excuse me, but I don't understand "...The only time with the internal guider was a weird optical train problem with an 1.8 x tele-extender..."

Luis

 

Luis,
This was my only problem in the past with the internal guider in my camera and my optical train. I added a tele-extender that time to nearly double the size of a bright comet coma. That cast a shadow of a pick-off mirror to the guiding sensor due to the widening of the light cone. Sorry for the vagueness.

Joe

 

Bill,
When this camera was in your hands, does the self guiding work?
Lus

 

My optical train is OTA Celestron 11" f 0.63. Where I put the tele-extender? Or in my case is a barlow?
Luis

 

Luis,
Mine is an 18" F/4.5 Newtonian. You are imaging at the Cassegrain focus on the corrector plate? In this case at F/0.63 you would a different system. That is usually made for wide shots. I haven't seen anybody use a barlow at this focus. The barlow would have to be made for the extreme short F/ ratio.

Joe

 

Colin is correct. f/6.3 Then, in my optical train what is the place of tele-extender for self guiding?

 

Luis,
It should be in between your camera and the focusing drawtube. Check the specs on it for the back focus spacing from the lens elements of the tele-extender and the detector. Otherwise you may get greater than or less than the 2x specified. As for guiding, it should work. In my case, I have an old Lumicon pick-off diagonal for the external off axis guider that was a proper step ring size for my 1,4x - 1.8x tele-extender or the field flattener. That, I usually flip that pick-off diagonal opposite so it would not shadow the internal guider chip.

Joe

 

Joe and Bill,

Returning the subject of why the self-guiding of my ST-8XE doesn’t work. I have the opportunity to journey to my observatory to night. Your advices were:

1. Take dark frames with the self guiding and send to Joe to investigate something.

2. Look directly if the camera have the secondary CCD or it is broken ¿Throught the hole of the filter, or I need to disassemble the filter wheel from the camera?

All the other functions of the camera work well. I have not test the AO-7 yet, I suppose that it is necessary the self wokrs.
Other advices? Thanks for your time


Luis

 

Colin, Bill
Finally I could arrive to my observatory but the sky is full of clouds. I could investigate following Colin's advices: my camera has two chips and looks well. I couldn't to test the self guiding for the status sky, but take darks from the autoguider and other one from the imager with CCDSoft and with MaxIm. Colin, I don't known if these darks could give you any information(the camera wasn't attached to the OTA/mount). To night, if the sky is good I will try the self guiding with darks.
Luis

 

Last night, the sky was cloudy again, but in a few minutes I can see Mars between the clouds and gave me the opportunity to take some pictures using Mars like a star with TheSkyX Pro camera ad on as unique software (yes, the previous pictures were with MaxIm in “Internal guide chip”). You can see Mars in the imagers but not in the selfguider. If the problem is the hardware, is there any solution? Is it possible use the AO-7 without the self guiding? I attach the pictures. Thanks once again for your advices

Luis

 

Coli,
I just sent the camera to Bill. Again, thanks you so much for everything.

Luis