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| Does anyone uses the FMA180 as a guide scope? For using it as a guider, is it better with or without the reducer? |
3.81
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I looked at this recently and was thinking the same. I need a lightweight guider for my epsilon. I was thinking the FMA230 though, so it can do double duty (guide + widefield on occasion) just guessing, but I assume no reducer since you don't really need the flat field and you may want the extra focal length |
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1.20
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| Yes, I don’t need the flat field and I will get a longer focal length. But then the scope will be slower, at F5.5, instead of F4.4 . Do you think F5.5 is fast enough for a guidescope? |
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3.81
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yes, F5.5 should be fine for most areas. Most guide scopes you purchase are F5ish anyways. So this would be about the same. double check your guiding resolution though just to be sure you have enough compared to your main imaging scope. https://astronomy.tools/calculators/ccd I ended up using a much longer guide scope for my 1000mm FL refractor. (1000mm main x 3.76um pixels with a 600mm guider x 2.4um pixels) |
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| I use it with the reducer and it is one of my best guide scopes. I think it would be also fine without the reducer if you needed to use that that way. |
4.02
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For a second I read "Askar FMA180 as a guitar". Lol, what's wrong with me.  |
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1.20
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For a second I read "Askar FMA180 as a guitar". Lol, what's wrong with me. Well, I think it’s to small to use it as a guitar, but I will try that tonight. What songs do you recommend? 😃 |
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hat tonight. What songs do you recom sadly, I thought the same thing when i first read it lots of sleep isn't part of the formula for this hobby |
3.21
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Yes I use FMA180 (no reducer) + 174mini for 130PHQ guiding. pinpoint sharp guiding star. https://www.astrobin.com/tqg18l/B/ |
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3.81
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Yes I use FMA180 (no reducer) + 174mini for 130PHQ guiding. pinpoint sharp guiding star. the image looks great, but I'd be a little worried about the guiding scale. the FMA180+ASI174mm is about 6-7"/pixel, whereas your 130PHQ+ASI2600 is about .8"/pixel You must be getting great alignment at the beginning of the night |
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Nick Grundy: Hi PHD2 will guide at 'subpixel' (center of luminosity weights, can go to 1/10 pixel or less, also PHD2 looks multiple stars) accuracy, so I think 6-7"/10=0.6-0.7" is good enough for 130PHQ. I expect peak resolution of 130PHQ is around 1.8 arcsec FWHM. Polar Alignment is done by ASIAir, can be less than 10 arcsec... according to ASIAir. Here is another Askar FMA guider accuracy (AM5, 80PHQ, FMA135 + 290mini, almost on Zenith, clear and calm night) example. sure??  |
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10 arcsec is about as good as you can get for PA from my experience. (though I can only judge by the tool that helps me set it) Seeing is usually my limitation here with pretty sporadic conditions. |
2.71
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I use an FMA180 with the reducer and an ASI174M mini as a guide scope for my Hyperstar on a C8. The image scale is close enough but with the Hyperstar at fl 390mm, there's not a great deal of guiding required. At F10 I use an off axis guider, but if I want to find planets, I can plate solve with the FMA180 and find them in a very limited FOV in the C8. For a third purpose, as mentioned here before, I can guide with the OAG and grab wide field DSO with the FMA180 at the same time. Three in one is not bad. I have it with the Deep Sky Dad autofocuser which works well but does add weight. Also, if you want to align both scopes the stock tube rings that came with mine didn't allow for this but I bought after market ones here https://www.365astronomy.com/askar-55mm-guide-rings-for-fma180-and-other-guidescopes-36mm-to-50mm-1-pair?path=111_129_463 |
4.89
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Yes, I am using the FMA180 with ASI290MM as guidescope. Both in combination with a Mewlon180+reducer/flattner (1760mm) and an FS-60CB (370mm). In both cases I'm using the reducer on the FMA180. As a guidescope it worked well in both situations. I've had guiding issues with the Mewlon, but this was related to an issue with the mount, not the guidescope. But good point about leaving out the reducer for the longer FL scopes. https://www.astroworldcreations.com/image-details/m3 |
1.43
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| Yeah, works very well. I was getting between .3 to .6 total error with my Askar FMA 180 Pro and ASI120 Mini guiding setup on my AM5 last friday night. |
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Chris Beere: Thanks! Did you use ASIAIR ? If so, may you share your guiding parameters, and calibration steps? |
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Willem Jan Drijfhout: Thanks, did you use the FMA180 with the reducer? |
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Rafael Sampaio:Willem Jan Drijfhout: Yes, so far I have always used it in what Askar calls 'Photographic mode', so with reducer |
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Rafael Sampaio: Yes, using the ASIAIR Plus. AM5 ------ PA ~50 arc seconds of error in both RA and DEC. Guide Rate - 0.5 x Sidereal ASI120 ---------- Exposure - 1s Gain - High Darks - Disabled Dithering - Disabled Calibration Step - 1146ms RA Max - 150ms Dec Max - 150ms Dec Aggression - 35% RA Aggression - 35% |
1.20
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I am in a dilemma since I am going to mount the remote, and I have the 120 mini in the 130PHQ and the guado is not bad with AM5, in the remote I will be able to EQ6 pro, which leads me to buy a gui camera for the oag L Do you recommend the 120, 220, or 174 Zwo minis? |
