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Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A Automanualr Manual

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Astrel Instruments
AST-8300-A
Astrel Instruments
AST-8300-A
AUTOGUIDER MANUAL
rev A
Autoguider Manual
1/14
rev A

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Summary of Contents for Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A

  • Page 1 Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A AUTOGUIDER MANUAL rev A Autoguider Manual 1/14 rev A...

  • Page 2: Supported Hardware

    Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A Description Lin_guider is a simple autoguider program for Linux operating system.It is designed to help you get quality astroimages with long exposure. Once connected to your astro hardware and properly configured, Lin_guider will compensate for the periodic tracking errors of your telescope mount during the exposure time.

  • Page 3: Setting Up The Hardware

    Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A Supported actuators (ST-4): • QHY5 / 5II / 5LII • QHY6 • Starligth Express (Lodestar, ...) • ZWO ASI • Generic Atik • FTDI compatible • GPIO interface • GPUSB • LPT interface • NEXSTAR compatible SETTING UP THE HARDWARE Before starting to work with the program, make sure your videoequipment and the mount actuator are properly identified and operational.
  • Page 4 Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A It is necessary to specify the guider device you will work with. To do this, you should choose it from the 'Device' list. Every time you change guider it is necessary to restart the program for the connection to the specified device to occur.

  • Page 5: Actuator Setup

    Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A Actuator setup Open 'Setup' -> 'Driver setup' in the menu. You should choose the device to work with from the 'device' dropdown list in the first place. It is necessary to restart the program for the connection to the specified device to occur. If all went right, the program would start without pulse driver error messages.
  • Page 6 Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A SETTING UP THE PHYSICAL PARAMETERS OF THE GUIDER From the menu, select 'Setup' -> 'Guider setup' and choose the 'Guider physical parameters' tab. When the video device and the telescope mount control device are connected and working in the program, you must specify several parameters before the guiding can be started: 1.
  • Page 7 Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A their size being 5.6x5.6 um. If we choose the default camera resolution of 640x480 in the list of available resolutions, the pixel size will be defined as 5.6x5.6 um, just as in the camera specification. If we choose the resolution 320x240, the pixel size must be defined as 11.2x11.2 um otherwise, the scale of all displayed and calculated values will be wrong.
  • Page 8 Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A CALIBRATION It is necessary to calibrate the autoguide before the start of the guiding. To do this you have to complete at least one procedure - determination of the orientation of the celestial reference frame in the image, taken from the camera. In addition, it is advisable to perform camera calibration with the dark frame.

  • Page 9: Automatic Calibration

    Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A Automatic calibration Set time in seconds during which the drift along axes will be performed, making sure it is long enough that the star moves but always remains in the field. Use 'Find' to let the software automatically choose a suitable star in the field or grab the green square and drag it over the guiding star you prefer.
  • Page 10 Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A Calibration with the dark frame In order to calibrate the camera with a dark frame, define the amount of frames to accumulate in the field 'Frame count'. Cover the guide objective to prevent light from penetrating the camera and press the 'Start' button. At the end of the process the dark frame will be formed, that will be substracted from every new frame, taken from the camera, if the 'use calibration' parameter is chosen in the dialogue box of the guide setup.
  • Page 11 Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A drift' to checked and specify the file name in the 'Configuration block'. The file format is a plain text with two columns with numbers - deviations along RA and DEC. Next you have to specify parameters in the 'Control' tab. All parameters are defined separately for each axis RA and DEC.
  • Page 12 Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A PID control coefficients adjustment should by performed empirically, using the specific equipment and with full load. The idea of the adjustment is to find coefficients that don't lead to 'under-guiding' (corrections are too slow) or 'over-guiding' (sinusoidal oscillations with increasing amplitude).

  • Page 13: General Recommendations

    Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A need to change this value. The 'Minimum pulse' value is of more improtance. This parameter defines the threshold of the correction duration. If the calculated correction is more or equal to 'Minimum pulse', it is transfered to the mount, otherwise the correction is discarded.
  • Page 14 Astrel Instruments AST-8300-A 1. Everything on the photographic setup should be tightened: focusers, camera mounts, mounting of the optical tubes to each other and to the telescope mount, mounting of the mount head to the tripod/column, etc. The camera wires shouldn't dangle. The floppy cable parts should be as short as possible.

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