New user of PHD2 software. Need help.

[Arindam Das]

Hi,

I just downloaded the PHD2 software and had been trying out the software to know its features and how to use it. I am a newbie on auto guiding. 

I read online that PHD2 should be used with Equatorial Mounts. 

So does it mean that it won't function with Alt-Azimuth mount? I understand that for astrophotography, Equatorial mounts are the preferred choice and hence PHD2 with azimuth doesn't make sense. 

But still, will PHD2 at all work with Alt-Azimuth mount?

I have Celestron's Nexstar 6se azimuth mount and using Orion's star shoot auto guider with 80mm short tube for auto guiding.

It seems to me that the PHD2 is unable to move the azimuth mount. When I do manual guiding and clicking on the "North, "South" buttons, I don't see the mount moving. Hence I was wondering if I am doing anything wrong. The camera was connected to laptop & azimuth's auto guide port. 

Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Arindam

[Andy Galasso]

Hello Arindam,

Putting aside for a moment the question of the apparent lack of response of the mount to the manual guide commands, I'll try to answer your question about guiding an alt-az mount.

An alt-az mount is not appropriate for long-exposure astrophotography because of field rotation.  However, if you use an equatorial wedge to align the azimuth axis to the pole, you now have an equatorial mount you can use long exposures.  If you want to use the mount in alt-az mode without a wedge you will need to keep your exposures very short (see link above for calculations.) Guiding without the wedge is possible, but you would need to re-calibrate PHD2 frequently since the orientation of the camera is continually rotating relative to the orientation at the time of the calibration. You may be able to take a few exposures before the guide error becomes excessive and then re-calibrate. I'm not recommending this, just trying to give an idea of what you would experience if you decide to pursue it. (you should go with a wedge or a new mount)

Regarding your question about your mount connection: I'd start by looking at the Equipment Connection section of the help file if you have not done so already. You'll see there that we recommend an ASCOM or INDI connection to the mount and not the auto guide port. Feel free to post back once you've checked out that info and we'd be glad to provide additional guidance.

Andy