I'm not saying it can't be done and I'm certainly not saying it shouldn't be done. I just don't see the reasoning behind doing it unless it is part of long term unguided imaging. After all, if a

Why not? How is that bad if your autoguider has to work less? -Ray

alignment and both RA different this pulse-driven of the it is perfection? Or is working on Roland, why would this be necessary unless it were for long term totally unguided imaging? I can certainly

I re-read your question and still come to the conclusions of why bother? Are you planning on unguided imaging for several hours per exposure? I have no idea why you would need to correct the

Why bother with this small part of the overall pointing errors. This is basically taken care of with software such as T-point which also zero's out other mechanical errors of the telescope system.

Hmmm...that's an interesting thought. What kind of hard shell did you come up with? I have a C14 on mine so it would take a pretty good sized barrel or drum... Morgan

Morgan, For a time, I kept my AP1200 with OTA in a bag. We had some high winds and something flying in the air hit the OTA putting a dent into it. So I recommend a hard shell rather than a bag. I

mphammick@... writes: Differential flexure. Rolando ************** Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides.

JunkMailGoesHere@... writes: Actually it's not negligeable at the arc second level. If you want no drift in Ra or Dec over 5 minutes time span, you will need to take atmospheric refraction

JunkMailGoesHere@... writes: T-Point does not do anything for modifying tracking. All it does is modify pointing errors and helps polar alignment. Modifying tracking can be of benefit for

samirkharusi@... writes: Yes, the tracking rate can be modified on the fly using a program that calculates the amount of refraction at any given point. Ray Gralack is working on

OK, let us all admit that even a mount with perfect polar alignment and perfectly smooth gears, and a perfect RA drive, will still show both RA and Dec drift because the atmosphere refracts

Thank you all for your informative replies - gives me the confidence to go ahead with my plan to build a nice viewing deck surrounded by hedges to block the neighborhood light...now on to mounting my

you can easily remove the control electronics box and I recommend that if you go through a long wet period my ap1200gto has been in the outdoors for over four years now.... just covered up with a

Well, I must of scared it into submission by the post... After 3 hours; multiple un- and re-installs; and a couple of restarts of the PC, it mysteriously links fine now! Go figure.... Anyway--I'm

I have left my AP900 98% of the year outside just covered in Tarpoline. I only bring it in when a typhoon is coming! Never had a problem with my mount. Although I don't have snow, I do get a lot

I've had my AP 1200 and RCOS 12.5 in a portable shelter for a few years. I haven't had an issue - other then heavy winds banging the shelter around. The system is fairly bombproof from the humidity

I'm considering leaving my APO 1200 GTO outdoors over the winter, so that setup/knockdown time is lessened, and since I use it by remote control to image anyway. I'm in the Northeast, so we do get

Hi gang, Sorry for any cross-posts from the ASCOM group, but here's my problem: I've recently acquired a 600E GTO CP2 (D chip series) and cannot connect to it through any ASCOM platforms. I used to

Thanks Rick. I have to confess, I have processed and re-processed this image until I was happy with it. I got a new laptop at the same time and am having a little trouble calibrating the screen.