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Subject: problems with autoguiding the LX200
From: Luc Vanhoeck
Reply To: mapug@shore.net
Date: Thu Jun 15 01:16:18 1995

Hi, At the moment I'm trying to get the ST-8 working with my 8" LX200. I'm experiencing severe problems. The drive seems to be guiding unreliably. Even with exposure times of only 2 seconds, I had guiding errors that resulted eventually in the ST-8 giving up. This seems to be dependant of the scope's position. What I've done so far is removing the guide scope and adding some counterweights so that the telescope is in balance. But this didn't help very much. Is there something else I can do ? In addition the declination backlash is making things even more difficult. I tried to get the work tighter to the wormwheel but when turning this over 90 degrees, everything was blocked. So I had to loosen the bolt again. I must say I'm a little bit desperate. I'v been using the ST-6 for two years and was quite succesful with it. Now I have an ST-8 and I expected a lot of it. The camera itself already gave me good indications that it is able to deliver as advertised but is less sensitive than the ST-6 and requires longer exposure times. This would not be a problem if the LX200 would help me a bit.... Luc Vanhoeck Regulus observatory Breendonk, Belgium