SPC guiding via finder scope

[Russe]

Hi,

I know that an alt/az mount is rubbish for AP, but I'm still saving for a HEQ5 pro...

In the meantime, was wondering if I could improve my LX pics on an alt/az. Before dishing out 29£ for (an adapter) nothing, has anyone here connected an SPC to a 9x50 finderscope? And, does it make a difference to the guiding capabilities of a GOTO alt/az?

(yes, I know about field rotation)

And, if you successfully connected it, which program did you use for guiding, and where could I download it? EQMOD?

Cheers!!

[malc-c]

The problem you'll have is that the web cam is not as sensitive as a dedicated guide camera such as the QHY5, so if your target is in a sparsely populated area of sky there will be no stars to guide on as the SPC won't be able to pick them out.

As for software - as mentioned in another thread PHD is free and does the job when used with EQMOD (as for downloads , google is your buddy )

[Cornelius Varley]

Hi,

I know that an alt/az mount is rubbish for AP, but I'm still saving for a HEQ5 pro...

In the meantime, was wondering if I could improve my LX pics on an alt/az. Before dishing out 29£ for (an adapter) nothing, has anyone here connected an SPC to a 9x50 finderscope? And, does it make a difference to the guiding capabilities of a GOTO alt/az?

(yes, I know about field rotation)

And, if you successfully connected it, which program did you use for guiding, and where could I download it? EQMOD?

Cheers!!

You cannot guide an Alt-az mount. To guide a mount using an autoguider and guide software such as PHD the mount requires an ST4 port, something the AZGOTO doesn't have. As you know alt-az mounts are not suitable for long exposure photography because of field rotation so the abilty to autoguide is not a requirement.

EQmod is designed to control the Synta/Orion equatorial mounts and not the Alt-az goto mounts.

Peter

[JamesF]

But to answer the guiding question, yes, people have used an SPC900 for a finder-guider and a search of the forums should find some examples for you.

Would it perhaps be simpler to work out how long an exposure you can take before field rotation becomes noticeable, then just take a number of exposures shorter than that time and stack them? I believe some stacking software can handle the rotation between exposures. That way guiding shouldn't be a problem anyhow.

James

[Russe]

Thanks for all the replies.

I falsely believed that the port for the Synscan would be the ST4 port I could use. Utter rubbish then.

Won't throw my money away then...

[Russe]

The port is too unstable to do 30s exposures anyway...

Keep on saving then...