From: "Milton Aupperle" <milton@outcastsoft.com>

Date: October 12, 2007 3:36:02 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: Orion Atlas

Hi Dale;

If the mount isn't great or is carrying more weight than it's rated

for, then the guide camera won't make any difference.

For imaging a general rule of thumb goes that your only supposed to

load the mount with around 50% to 60% of the rated capacity. So if

your mount is rated for say 20lbs, then you should not be exceeding a

total weight of 10 to 12 lbs for scopes, weights, cameras, filter

optics etc. Otherwise you wind up with poor or erratic guiding.

Since I changed my HEQ5 C8 configuration from guide scope to OAG, my

tracking has improved a lot. That's largely because my scope is now

lighter and because I removed all the flexure issues.

Another issue is whether PEC training is a good thing or not for

guiding. You should really not do it unless your 100% sure you have

repeatable errors. When I run the "Analyze RA-Dec Tracking..", I do so

for at least 1 hour and then graph the result. It's pretty clear with

my HEQ5 that my error is not repeatable and that there are at least 3

periods of oscillations going on. If I enable PEC, then it will be

shifting the mount all over the place, which will be as bad as if I

was chasing turbulence.

HTH..

Milton Aupperle

--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Dale J Martin <dale@...> wrote:

Hi Milton,

I'm still trying to decide on a better mount or rework my LXD75 and  

get  better guide camera....... I just spent a bit on having my my  

350 modified, a light pollution filter, and a WO 0.83 reducer/ 

flattener. This has all made a big difference, but my stars a still  

not as tight as I would like. Here is a link to 4 300 sec frames with  

no calibration files.

http://tinyurl.com/36e6u6

Regards,

Dale

On Oct 10, 2007, at 11:44 AM, Milton Aupperle wrote:

Hi Dale;

You may want to also check out the Yahoo EQ6 / Atlas-G group at:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/EQ6/

HTH..

Milton Aupperle

--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Dale J Martin <dale@> wrote:

Hi folks,

Is anyone using a Orion Atlas mount with Astro IIDC? If so are there

any other toys to make this combo work. I'm thinking about getting a

new mount...

Thanks,

Dale