by Bill Pellerin

Houston Astronomical Society

GuideStar editor

An amateur astronomer is one person, with one telescope, observing under clear, dark skies, right? It's you, your telescope, and the sky. Much of my observing is like that, but not all. You can (and you should) connect with fellow amateur astronomers because these connections can significantly enhance your observing program and your appreciation of the night sky.

Recently, I had dinner with one of my long-time astronomy friends. We were chatting about the issues he was having with his research-grade instrument and control system and about my equatorially mounted setup. We talked about how the control systems model the sky, the accuracy of pointing systems, the benefits of adding software that improves pointing, and so on.

I talked about my variable star photometry program (measuring the brightness of stars) and how some of my unguided images have tracking errors and had to be discarded from the image stacking process. Then, he mentioned the PEC (periodic error correction) capability of my mount and asked if I was using it. Uh, no, I haven't been. This is one of those 'duh' moments when you realize that you have a capability and you're not taking advantage of it. So, I'm going to work with my mount's PEC capability, learn it thoroughly, and see what it can do to improve tracking. Sometimes, you need a friend to remind you of the obvious.

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