I would like to be able to dither my scope without having a guide scope. The tracking of my scope is good and the images from my Hyperstar/ASI295mc pro do not require very long exposure times. It would be great to allow dithering between each exposure. Dither left, right, up and down between each exposure so it never go very far from the normal tracking spot.

Charding, I would love to be able to do this myself. I have an Ioptron CEM25ec with a WO GT71 with a .8 reducer so I am at about 340FL . With that combo the tracking is good enough for me to get very decent 5 minute subs. But I need to guide to dither. And there in is by far my biggest problem. In spite of every effort and countless adjustments even including the recent FW update for my ASI 120mm mini my guiding is a total mess. I'm reaching the point where I am seriously getting ready to give up on the ASIair Pro. I'm starting to consider going to PHD2 and whatever else I need to start enjoying my equipment, and getting some decent subs to stack, instead of wasting the few clear nights we have struggling with the guiding. Obviously your suggestion has a lot of merit for me. If I could dither without guiding I at least could start using my equipment productively while ZWO hopefully finally completely resolves whatever the problem is with the ASIair Pro guiding software.

    Byrdsfan1948 i do not have an autoguider. I polar align and then use my scope to track my objects without any additional guiding help. AAP does not have dithering in this mode. It would be a great feature. Between each exposure, a simple routine would dither, wait for the scope to settle (it could take 1 second exposures with the main camera to verify it had settled) and then start the next exposure.

        charding, I'm a bit unclear about what you're exactly saying here. I get it that do not have a guide scope but when you say you use your scope to track you're objects I assume you mean you mean you are actually using the tracking built into your mount to do that. In other words you set up as accurately as possible and then let your mount earn it's money?? No big deal but if I have that wrong please try again in explaining what your doing. In any case I still totally agree with your suggestion. If we could dither without needing to auto guide it would help in many ways Al

        2 months later

        charding exactly! Between each exposure, it on whatever schedule you set (maybe every third exposure) forget the scope without a guide camera. To go a step further, for this that have fast scopes (mine is an f/2 because of a Hyperstar) then you could consider using the main scope as a guide scope too. Pick a guide star, take a 30 second light, use it to see if it is tracking correctly, make an adjustment, check again, make any additional adjustments, then take the next 30 second light. Rinse and repeat.

          a year later
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