guiding set up help

[pulsar pete]

Hi,

I'm looking to start guiding to extend the subs I'm taking past 60 seconds. At the moment I have an orion Skyview pro mount with motors on RA and DEC and a simple hand controller. The telescope is a WO Megrez 72.

I'm thinking of adding the following to use as guiding -

St80 wide field telescope

Phillips spc900 for guiding (I already have this)

PHD software

I think I then need something like a dual mounting bar. Modify the handset as the shoestring astronomy guidance to connect an ST4 type port (guide port conversion kit) and then add a Shoestring Astronomy GPUSB Autoguider kit.

Is the above set up feasible or am I completely bonkers.

Any advice would be appreciated.

many thanks

peter

[steppenwolf]

The above is certainly feasible with a caveat:-

The standard Phillips spc900has a slowest exposure length of around 1/25th of a second. This will limit the range of suitable guide stars that you will find in your guider's FOV. A good nominal exposure length is around 2 seconds from a conventional autoguider. Having said that, I used one to reasonable effect using an ST80 guide 'scope as detailed on my website here.

[pulsar pete]

Stephen,

many thanks for the help. I'll take the plunge and see if the SPC900 works. If not I'll upgrade to a QH5 or similar

Thanks

Peter