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Woodwind

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Everything posted by Woodwind

  1. You asked about power supply - that is usually provided by one of the two cables that connect the guide camera to the PC or to the mount (the former can be one of several types of USB, the latter a standard US phone-type connector); I am not sure which one does the power, to be honest. Some guide cameras might use separate power supplies but the Orion Starshoot system is the one I use and it is as described with only the two cables.
  2. You have a second small (60mm approx) scope piggy-backed and as long as it points in roughly the same direction, and also as long as the mount is roughly aligned to the Pole Star, you simply select a single star to guide on and press the button. The link goes direct to the mount at that point and you have no further interraction for the guidance to take over. You do have to select a star and that requires you to have a PC or laptop for the display of course. But that really is about the sum total involvement at a basic level. If you want to get more involved you can select a number of parameters such as refresh rate and guidance tolerances etc. It is pretty close to a "plug and play" guidance system as far as I am concerned.
  3. A really good set of notes IanL. I meddled with all sorts of software and systems some ten yers ago and then one day went out and bought the Orion Starshhot autoguider. What a difference it made. As you mention, suddenly all the things you thought were going to be nigh on impossible became easy and the stars turned out to be round after all. After a good mount I would say that an autoguider is the next best thing to invest in if you are going to be imaging. It is a terrific morale booster !!
  4. I'm on Exmoor Lardy. Can be beautifull and dark - but very cold and windy in winter of course.
  5. This is simpler set up using the FS-102 on the AP 9000 with a guide scope and camera etc for moon imaging.
  6. New - or possibly newly rejoined after a ten year break I think. I saw a post about the Tak FS-152 and the fact that there are only about 10 in the UK. Well there is one more ! I brought one back from the US a few years ago. It has been unused for most of the last few years as the weather is very different to the US and I have been promising myself that I would build a small observatory to avoid lugging the Tak and an AP900 mount in and out of the house. The photo shows the Tak on the AP 900 as used in the US with dew-heaters, and a 66mm Astroc Tech guide scope with Orion Star Shoot autoguider. The saddle is a laminated plate I made up using two layers of alloy bonded by a very strong epoxy to reduce warp and heat distortion in the hot US nights. I use a DSLR for imaging, adapted for astronomy (IR filter removed). I sometimes have a Tak FS-102 piggybacked on the larger Tak for viewing as well as imaging.
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