Actually, in looking at the photo, I'm not sure what caused the problem. I had an awful time getting it aligned that night, so maybe it's just off polar alignment. Maybe there is a little tracking error. Or perhaps there is some squishiness because of optics. Possible causes of the optics making stars less round, I think, are that the telescope was not as well colliminated as I'd thought, the focal reducer wasn't working as well as it should, or both. More to think about. -- Thanks, Joe
astrodeb@charter.net wrote:
Nice job Joe! Is your tracking error due to polar alignment or periodic error? I found out that my tracking problems were due to periodic error so I ordered the new worm gear for the RA drive.
Rather than (or maybe in addition to) new hardware, can't you use Period Error Correction?
Patrick
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