How to Improve Guiding Performance - ASIAir Tutorial

[@PeterZelinka]

Here's the articles I mentioned in the video: eastwindastro.blogspot.com/2021/02/how-to-adjust-asiair-guide-aggression.html bbs.zwoastro.com/d/15989-getting-the-best-performance-from-my-am5 bbs.zwoastro.com/d/15711-very-large-backlash-in-new-am5/13 www.zwoastro.com/2022/10/18/systematically-improving-guiding-quality-and-zwo-am5-mount-review/

[@chrislee8886]

Your first section needs more explanation? The attached (excellent) eastwind reminds us that the calibration steps depend very much on your camera pixel size and is the real determinant for this number vs “trial and error”. It needs this to be added?

[@cesarpixel5160]

Thanks for sharing.

[@TheLonewolf75074]

Thanks! Great information, and presented in a calm, concise, and easy to understand manor. This particular video completely changed the way I approach guiding, and has drastically improved my guiding and understanding of the function.

[@darrencoleman4506]

I have been running the asair plus for about a year and I watched this video and it helped me get my guiding numbers down below a 1.0 , I got some of the best subs I've ever taken last night,due to using your advice, thank you for posting this video, if you are having guiding issues, I highly suggest anyone to watch this, I gained a whole different understanding of what the settings do and it works, clear skies and keep the videos coming,I'm not new to Astro, but this video helped me save a lot of time last night so far I got 88 perfect subs because the guiding was staying under a 1.0 again great video and very informative, and in laymen's terms. Clear skies, Mr. Zelinka.

[@tomdaigon8707]

Bravo! Ive been using ASIair for several years and this video has increased my knowledge and improved my guiding. Well done!

[@bobpepitone1849]

Thanks again Pete for another great video. You have taught this beginner so much I decided to join.

[@cesarpixel5160]

Wow... Someone finally came through for the AM5N users. Thank U, thk U, Thk U!👌🏾 Having the same issue with my AM5N. The RA Randomly spikes during guiding. I Tried different settings with low exposure time (guide cam) but its still there. You mentioned that yours got fixed after U changed the settings. This means i'm on right track and I must keep trying. As usual with your videos... very helpfull!👍🏿

[@chrzanik666]

Thanks Peter, it's always good to know you're always on the lookout for us and help smooth the hoops we sometimes have to jump over. Cheers mate 👍

[@Mr77pro]

Great video Peter! Nice to have a re-cap of all the parameters in one place. I have 3 asiairs mounted on diff scopes, my AM5 prob averages .5" error, EQ6r prob .6-.8" Some nights are better of course, some worse. I averaged .4" with the AM5 on a particularly clear night a while back. Two tricks I use for focusing the guide scope 1) get a small bhatinov mask and 2) switch the guide cam to the main camera temporarily so you have more control over parameters and can zoom in on the screen (which you can't do in the guiding screen) Once again, great info and keep up the great work!!

[@dacio144]

I've been waiting for an in depth guide like this one Peter, thank you so much! If you can, expand even more on guiding settings if you think more can be covered, I don't think this topic has been covered enough for ASIAir guiding.

[@myketripp3838]

This was very timely! Tonight is the first night I've used my new ZWO guide scope. So much I didn't know, especially about calibration locations based on targets. Thank you. Excellent video.

[@mark2220]

I needed this video in my life. Those settings were never very clear to me. Ty!

[@P-FIVE-ONE]

Great video, i used my ASIair for the first time last night as a test run with the arcseconds around 1s but was shooting 100mm so it wasn't too critical. This video helped fill in all the blanks for when i try it again at 600mm.

[@SAKinDXB]

I am facing some issues with guiding on my ZWO AM5N mount. I will try to apply this knowledge to improve the guiding. At least, your tutorial will give me a place to start thinking through, and hopefully, it will be helpful. Thanks very much for sharing this information.

[@chrislee8886]

As a strainwave, Am5n prefers short exposures. Certainly this complicates long focal length scopes and OAG’s so gain (and always use dark frame setting) and bin 2 helps out…

[@SAKinDXB]

@ noted. Thanks. I asked ZWO and they also asked me to use an exposure of between 0.5 to 1.0 seconds.

[@thecaravanham]

I'm still watching, but great video so far Peter, many thanks!

[@KevinRudd-w8s]

Thanks Peter for this excellent tutorial. All I need now is some clear skies.

[@johnTsantes]

One of my astro buddies sent me this video after I had some weird guiding issues with my rig, I have a Sly-Watcher Quattro 200p newtonian sitting on an EQ^ Pro mount. I am running the usual ZWO ASI accessories including anEAF, ASI Air Plus, 2600MC pro camera, 120guide scope and a Nexus reducer bringing the FL down from 800 to 600 at F3. The other day my guiding went crazy, generating numbers in the 4+ area but the 200 subs I took at 90sec were without star streaks. I live in Tucson close to Starizona so I asked them for some advice. They told me that as long as the subs were perfect, don't worry about the guide numbers. Your video does a great job showing how to properly set up and calibrate guiding. What I can't understand is how can my guiding be so good when the numbers are so bad. I've asked this question to many folks in my imaging group and have not gotten a reply.

[@luboinchina3013]

Maybe you changed numbers in guide scope length or you pressed binning after you started tracking. If the focal length or binning changes, it will change the numbers in guiding.

[@johnTsantes]

@@luboinchina3013 That might explain it but nothing was changed. I don't understand how the guiding numbers could be so high, yet the subs were perfect with no star trails...thatis the question.

[@VytoAstro]

Nice! It helped me alot i always was limited to around 1.1 guiding. Now most of time it's 0.6-0.7

[@seanthorntonmd3908]

Great tutorial for a newbie like me. Well done and thanks!

[@jackbernstein3029]

Thanks, Peter. Wish I had this 1 or 2 mo ago when I was going nuts with my guiding. I have an AM5 and an EQ6R. They are VERY different. For the Eq6, 3s intervals and high aggression. Getting 0.4-0.5 RMS. For my AM5, 0.5-1s intervals and rel low aggression. Can’t get RMS much below 0.7 and it is sometimes over 1. Haven’t found mount speed to have a major effect and I usually use 0.25. Thanks again.

[@ballashoes]

Thanks for this, can't wait to try out some new settings on my GTI

[@dougfinch452]

Fantastic video! I really appreciate this as a beginner. I followed you for the most part. Love your channel. Can you do something like this with the EAF?

[@SarahMathsAstro]

This is awesome, Peter! I'm currently working on an AM5N review and mention the posts from w7ay in the ZWO article on how to tune your mount. Would you mind if I linked your video in my upcoming review?

[@AlexN-Astro]

You need to calibrate again to properly gauge changes to the mount autoguide speed. Because that is how the mount responds to a guide command. I'd you calibrate at 0.5x, then guide at 0.25x, the mount will respond half as abruptly as the calibration indicated... food for thought.

[@MikeGentry]

Hopefully people see your comment because this IS important after you make a change it needs to be recalibrated.

[@TheHelicapt]

Even for aggression changes ?

[@AlexN-Astro]

@TheHelicapt not for aggression changes, but definitely for guide speed.

[@TheHelicapt]

Got it. Thanks

[@Diocrew]

Thank you Peter! This is great help! 👏👏

[@larrycable984]

awesome info - great job explaining this 🍻

[@nikaxstrophotography]

Awesome information the best explanation I have seen

[@luboinchina3013]

EQ6R Pro here. Had bad guiding, released pressure from all bearings, got smooth movement at balancing and now guiding at around 0.6-0.7 average. My Settings ASI290MM GAIN 450 (f10 off axis) exposure 2-3 sec Max duration 2000ms, Ra agr 70 Dec agr 100 all at 0.9x guiding speed. I am happy now.

[@stephenb3026]

Great video Peter.

[@bluespeck-qc2zv]

Very helpful. Thanks Peter. :)

[@xe1zlgg]

Excellent explanation... 100% agree

[@litacatalin3261]

Awesome video! Thanks! Clear sky!

[@StevenBarnes-MrRat]

Thank you. That cut my guiding in half.

[@IronMan-2024]

Hi! Still watching this video but I really wanted to ask: If my target crosses the meridian should I do a calibration in the western sky after the flip? I use NINA so I can set it up to do it.

[@andreguimaraes96]

That’s what I’m talking about. Thank you 🤟🏼🤟🏼🤟🏼🤟🏼

[@lavers_1]

great information, I heard not to pick one star as you don't get multi star guiding triangulation or something???... not sure if this is true though

[@allenbaylus3378]

I have noticed that I mostly do not see the stars in the Guiding section in ASIAIR. I used to see them but I do not any longer. I wanted to select the comet recently in order to have the comet tracked and not the surrounding stars (so the comet would be more central in the frame for the images I was taking - instead of eventually marching off the screen). I may have to consider upping the time or changing the gain (I believe that I tried both but I am uncertain) just to have the visual and then set it back to the original settings before I start the Guiding routine..

[@allenbaylus3378]

saw you covered it at 14:30. Hope you can do the same with EAF/autofocus soon. SCT vs refractor are bight and day.

[@chrislee8886]

You can’t track on comets since the mount follows sidereal…

[@mahook]

I read somewhere that red filter helps to cut some atmospheric fluctuations. Is that true? should I get a red filter for my ASI120mm on zwo 30mm guidescope which i use along with redcat 51 and AM5n

[@davidsimard1522]

Thk you i was not sure what was the problem i will try that thk you

[@Martinko_Pcik]

Red filter on the autoguider can reduce flickering and atmospheric distortion

[@jonathanritter7364]

Ive had guiding that averages 2-3-4" all the way down to .5" and there is no visible difference in my subs. Maybe its cause im shooting at 250mm?

[@zdzichudwr8174]

thanks 🎉

[@ridetheliger4176]

Thank you!

[@epostiljon]

What nice music is it in the video? Pls do tell ✌️

[@darrencoleman4506]

I meant 88 , 3 minute exposures. Best I've gotten on my Heq 5 Skywatcher go-to mount.

[@tommyozzy317]

3-5 second guiding works fine on my am5n. I need it that long when using my 2600duo at 2k focal length f10, esecially narrowband. Can get 0.4” error plenty fine. Interestingly i cant even go past 1 sec exposure with my zwo 174. Anything more and it fails. Reported it to zwo a month or more ago.

[@andresoty]

Hola. Necesito el doblaje automático en este video. 😅

[@boondockit9661]

I focus my guide scope by making it my main camera and then focus.

[@gregdavidd]

With all the amazing imagery coming from JWST, I dont see the point in this anymore. I realize its just a hobby but. . . . For example, when I do underwater photography I can capture amazing images that nobody else can because they were not there at that instant. But with this, the quality of JWST makes anything I could capture seem irrelevant. Someone change my mind please :)

[@jorghaschke1033]

I do astro and landscape photography. Both are my hobbies and I do it for myself. I could download photos from the internet, but that doesn’t give me any satisfaction. I prefer to take my own pictures and create my own calendars or wall art from them. That’s why I do it.

[@KevinRudd-w8s]

If your heart is no longer in it stop doing it, but don't get rid of all your gear just yet. Sometimes walking away from a hobby for a while and doing something else is not such a bad thing, you might find after a year or two something will happen to reignite your interest. I do this myself from time to time, I always find when I come back to something I haven't done for a while I enjoy it even more. I capture images for my own personal gratification, they will never win any prizes and are certainly not as good as the ones you see posted on channels such as this but I don't care. How do you quantify happiness? Do people like Peter feel any happier inside when they look at their images than I do when I look at mine? I don't know, I just know that when I capture an image that turns out the way I wanted it to I feel really good about it. But that's just me.

[@publiux]

Time for you to find a new hobby. We aren’t competing with NASA. We do it for the challenge and the privilege. We do it not because it is easy, but because it is hard. We do it for a community. We do it for a sense of accomplishment. We do it to show our kids, families, and friends. If I want to get paid for it, I’ll apply at NASA. But for now, I do it for the love.

[@harveyblue4108]

And Hubble didn’t? NASA has always made baby food out of is amateurs. Not just with JWST. With this logic why do any hobby? That’s like saying painting is useless because of Bob Ross, or skateboarding is useless because of Tony Hawk, or sports is useless because of pro teams. If you are in it to be the pinnacle…then I hate to say, but that’s just not the right reason. We all look at the images from JWST in awe. However those photos weren’t made under a nice clear dark sky night by my own gear. There is a wealth of satisfaction in accomplishing things in your own. Even if you aren’t the best in the world at it.

[@roud11]

​@@jorghaschke1033exactly and it's the same with everything you do yourself. Every photo could be taken on Google or even IA generated but what's the point?

[@Masoch1st]

restoring auto calibration does not "do anything" at all and the advice to leave it off is ridiculous. if you dont move anything in your image train or the mount, then it will continue to work night after night. the end. anyone with a brain should know if you move it, you need to recalibrate. obviously.

[@mariospenard5125]

Thank you! 🙂