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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

How to track C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in Ekos

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Are there any particular settings that I need to use in Ekos/INDI so that my HEQ5 Pro mount will track the comet ?
I tried using the usual method of trying to align and centre it but with every slew the comet seems to be getting away hence Align module is struggling.
1 year 1 month ago #90229

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Bump....Any help appreciated before the comet disappears
1 year 1 month ago #90264

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Hi, I have imaged this comet without any trouble with plate solving. Have you updated the data of solar system objects in Kstars ?

The real trick for comet is guiding, you need to use the center of the comet as guide star. A couple of month ago, I have tried again guiding using PHD2, and it seems to guide better than the internal EKOS guiding feature. So in PHD2, you have a option for guiding a comet, maybe you should try this.

Btw, in the next days, i plan to compare my guiding with PHD2 and the internal EKOS guide. I used the internal guiding with the option GPP, but I had lots of weird guiding movement after each dithering.Maybe I will try without the option on.

Valentin
1 year 1 month ago #90269

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I dont use PHD2, just the internal guider. Any idea how to get the guider to select the comet ? I am sticking to low exposures between 10 & 20s so was advised by friends that guiding is not needed. But I notice that the comet drifts off the centre quite soon, hence not sure if I need to do some config changes to Ekos or INDI to help track better.
1 year 1 month ago #90273

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Maybe you should guide, because you will track the comet without needing to plate solve between the lights. To do this, you need to disabled the automatic star option in guiding tab in EKOS, but it does not mean it will work as the comet core is bigger than a star. By luck, it was ok with PHD.
The following user(s) said Thank You: AstroMuni
1 year 1 month ago #90274

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Will give it a shot when I get next clear skies
1 year 1 month ago #90275

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Something to consider is to just shoot the comet letting the telescope track at the normal sidereal rate (guided on the stars, or not if guiding not needed). You'll end up with a sequence of frames with the comet moving across the star field if you blink them. If you are using PixInsight, there is a Comet Alignment tool that allows you take star aligned frames and align the comet and then you can integrate the comet only images (you can remove the stars as part of the comet alignment process and add them back to a stacked comet image when you're done).

I was able to do a series of 120 second frames this way and got an image I was happy with. As a small bonus, PixInsight's Blink tool allows you to make a short video of the star aligned images where you can see the comet move across the sky - pretty cool. If you don't use PixInsight, I believe other programs may provide similar tools.
1 year 1 month ago #90288

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Somebody did set the comet core as the guidestar with PHD2 and was able to do 3-4hrs on the comet.

The best way is still just guide on sidereal with the stars. Either way the stars gonna be trailed out anyway, whether guiding on the comet or on the stars.
1 year 1 month ago #90290

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