Top 10 EAA Challenges - What Can & Often Does Go Wrong

[curtismacc]

I am sure that anyone reading this post has experienced many different challenges while doing EAA. Unfortunately they can ruin an entire viewing session and cause a ton of frustration. Worse, we sometimes suffer through the same challenges more than once. And, maybe, even forgot the root cause and have to trouble shoot all over again. In my 15 years of enjoying EAA I think I have faced just about every challenge that is possible, many self inflicted. So I decided to share my experiences and put together a list of my Top 10 EAA Challenges. I plan to discuss all of these in a series of Blogs on my web site with specific emphasis on trouble shooting guides for each one. This is my Top 10 list, more or less in the order that a beginner is likely to encounter them. I realize that others may have some different ones in their own Top 10 list, but I suspect from what I see posted on the forums that most of these would be in every Top 10 list. Without further suspense here is my list;

1. Cannot Get the Camera to Connect to the Imaging SW
2. Cannot See Anything in the Image
​3. Can See Stars, but Not DSOs
​4. Live Stacking Not Working
5. Poor Focus
6. Elongated stars
7. Comet Shaped Stars
8. Noisy background
9. Significant Vignetting
10.Plate Solve Fails

I am sure that Robin has had to address many of this on his forum at one time or another. I have already covered the Top 3 in my first blog which you can find here https://www.californiaskys.com/blogs/archives/07-2024. I will address all the rest in additional Blogs over the next few months. So if you find these useful please check back from time to time for future installments. I would also appreciate feedback on other challenges folks consider to be in their Top 10 and any corrections to anything I have written.

Best Regards,
Curtis

[kaymann]

Greetings Curtis - I just wanted to say your YT's are some of my favorites! I have been cruising through your blog and have found it very good as well. Thank you for sharing your talent!

[curtismacc]

Glad you find my content helpful. That is why I do it.

[admin]

Hi Curtis,

looks good - numbers 1 and 2 are long time favourites on here! Looking forward to the rest of the series

Robin

[curtismacc]

Robin, thanks. If you have a few minutes, and I imagine that you are a busy guy, take a quick look at what I wrote about #1 and #2 and let me know if I missed something important.

[admin]

Hi Curtis,

I think you have covered pretty much everything. One thing that people sometimes miss is that a new version of software (SharpCap, TheSkyX, etc) might require you to install a new version of the camera driver (or ASCOM driver or ASCOM platform) - just because everything worked with old SharpCap that doesn't mean that the installed driver is compatible with new SharpCap...

The other thing maybe in the software side is to emphasize the need for the very latest versions if you have a brand new model of camera (just released by manufacturer). I see plenty of messages that SharpCap isn't spotting the brand new ASI9999GTX-R camera (just released this week!) - and the user is still on a version of SharpCap from 9 months ago...

On the 'I can't see anything', I usually suggest getting 'first light' of a distant tree, roof or other terrestrial structure during daylight when you can see what you are doing and see *something* on screen even if badly out of focus/off target. Once you have focus on a tree half a mile away, astronomical focus won't be far off.

cheers,

Robin

[curtismacc]

Just added the next installment in the Blog series. This time I cover Challenges #5 and #6 "Live Stacking Doesn't Work" and "Poor Focus". I believe failure to get live stacking working is one of the biggest frustrations folks run into with EAA. And, it can be difficult for someone new to figure out where to start troubleshooting to fix the problem as there are many possible reasons for this to happen. Hopefully, my step by step guide will prevent some folks from experiencing too much frustration. Poor focus can lead to lots of problems besides a bad looking image. Poor focus can impact the stacking process and also make it difficult for plate solving to work properly. A good focus is so easy to achieve, especially with all of the helpful tools available so there is no excuse for it anymore. You can find the latest Blog update on my web site here along with lots of other help for EAA beginners (and intermediates as well) https://www.californiaskys.com/blogs/category/archives

Best Regards,
Curtis

[Gfischer]

Curtis,
I was reading your 10 mistakes , great work. A problem I have with my 12” dob regarding focus is the change in focus when moving to different altitudes. I assume the so-so focuser is to blame but checking focus on each object is good practice. I just run the sharpcap view to 300% and do a quick touch up.

Thanks for the help

[curtismacc]

Thanks for the feedback and glad I could be of help. I agree, it is good practice to focus on each new object. Doesn't take long.

[curtismacc]

I just posted a video version of my Top 10 Challenges to EAA on my YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzrHl83qotY&t=1s. Some things are best explained by video and others by text so I decided to cover this important topic both ways. This video is Part I and it covers the first 3 of my Top 10 Challenges.

Hopefully, those who could benefit from this will find it before they suffer through the Challenges alone.

Best Regards,
Curtis