I'm always working to improve my images. I realize that half of a good image nowadays lies in the processing. I am gradually improving that skill. But, TBH, I really enjoy being able to fine tune the actual image acquisition,
that is "under the stars," a bit more than laboring over the image at the desktop. Plus, down the line as my processing skills improve, I want to have the best data that I can to work with. To that end, I want to encourage you
to work hard to get all the details right. One issue I've been working on for a while is tilt (italics intended). Tilt can come from a variety of sources; the sensor position within the camera, or something in the optical train,
the focuser, etc. I spent some time adjusting the tilt plate on the camera, with varying degrees of success. And it never seemed to stay very consistent. So, I decided to just rack in the tilt plate all the way in, solid on the camera
face and start from scratch. The result? Even worse tilt. 
Tonight, I decided to try something a bit different. I spent some time making sure my collimation was really good, and then I made sure that the coma corrector seated firmly against the face of the focuser so that everything would
be as orthogonal as possible. I also paid a lot of attention to how locked down the mount and tripod was. I discovered that one of the tripod leg tips was loose. Nothing like a jiggly tripod leg to mess up your guiding! I also very
carefully polar aligned. I upped the ISO on the camera and kept exposure time short at 10 seconds. The whole idea was to get the stars as round and tight as possible for the ASTAP tilt analysis. I'd say it went pretty well.
So, the lesson I'm learning is that a good image starts with taking care of all the little details. It takes time and learning to find out all the factors that come into play. It is worth the effort.
