What is a guidescope webcam?

[dazzst]

Hi all,

Topic title says it all.

Dazz

[JamesF]

With long-exposure imaging it's common to have a second scope or some other mechanism for obtaining an image of the stars to be used for guiding the mount so it maintains its position relative to the stars better than it would otherwise. Some webcams are suitable for capturing such images.

James

[dazzst]

Oh. I stupidly thought that a webcam could be 'plugged' in to the GOTO system and be used to align the scope like the new Celestron Skyprodigy range!

[UnderTheRain]

You can use First Light Optics - HitecAstro USB Guider to use a webcam for guiding. You can download the manual from there and have a read.

[dazzst]

but what does it do?

[rowan46]

you plug a second camera into your guidescope and into the st-4 port on your mount. the guide camera is then locked onto a star and this sends a signal to your mount. keeping the star in the same place on the ccd. effectively it improves the tracking on your mount making long exposure and thus imaging better.

[malc-c]

but what does it do?

The silver disk with the cable coming out of the small refractor is a QHY5 CCD camera. You could install a Phillips webcam with a 1.25" nose adapter in its place if you didn't have the cash for the QHY5. As explained the smaller scope is used to lock onto a target star and make small corrections to the mounts tracking to aid long exposure photography through the main scope