Introduction

[dutchy_holland1975]

My name's Paul born and bred in Orpington till I joined Royal Navy IN 75 - then lived in various places around the country.  Now dwelling in Derbyshire.  Not totally new to astronomy but recently purchased a decent mount skywatcher HEQ6 with synscan and Cannon EOS 1000D.  Having problems with star trails despite having what I consider decent polar alignment.  Have ventured in to purchasing an illuminated reticle two days ago, now waiting for clear skys to carryout PEC.  Will give that a decent amount of time and trials  before I seriously consider autoguiding.

[Tony G]

Welcome Dutchy,

As you will see once you have started reading through a few thread, that usually if you have any problems, there is someone on here that is willing to help in one way or another, and 3 times out of 10, usually solve the issue. 
Seriously, (which is a word I don't use) the people on here are very helpful and welcoming, as no doubt you will find out.

Tony G

PS.........................I hope this isn't another spammer that I have been duped by, like yesterday.

[PhilB]

Welcome, Paul or do you prefer Dutchy? I think you'll find everyone here friendly and ready to answer any questions you may have.

Tony, don't feel too bad about yesterday - you only applied for a couple of jobs....I actually got an interview!!

[Carole]

Hi Paul,

Welcome to the Forum.  You've purchased some good kit there for imaging.
What length images were you trying to take with your Canon?

Unless your alignment is really spot on you won't be able to do much beyond 30 sec/45 sec without guiding.  But I agree that it is a good idea to practice on what you've got before leaping into the next stage of guiding.

I'm only just a little ahead of you, so I am now speaking from experience which is a first for me.

Carole

[Mac]

Greetings.

Likewise. between the collective we can normally sort even the most challenging of problems.

Polar alignment and star trails.
There are many ways to skin a cat.

1) how long are your exposures?
If you are getting star trails on 30s exposures, then there is a serious problem.
if its on exposures of 300s, then thats no so bad.

2) polar alignment.
Have you set the correct settings on the polar finder?
You might have correctly and accurately aligned polaris in the finderscope.
but if the date and time are incorrect then your polar alignment is off and you will get star trails.
Is it polaris you have aligned on? sounds silly, but is a common mistake. (ps been there done that )

Once you have aligned on polaris (or so you think) have a quick look at drift aligning.
Pick a star on the meridian +- 10deg and either due east or due west ish.
If your alignment is spot on (ish), the you should be able to keep the star in the middle of the eyepiece for quite a while.
If not then it will drift, this is noticable even after 30secs.
You also need to do this due south as well.

Have a look at this site to give you some help.

Tutorial.
http://www.petesastrophotography.com/index.html?mainframe=http://www.petesastrophotography.com/tutorial/polaralignment.html

simulator.
http://www.petesastrophotography.com/index.html?mainframe=http://www.petesastrophotography.com/guidingsim.html

Mac.