Altair Astro 115/805 EDT Imaging Setup

[terrym2002uk]

I'd been sitting patiently on the waiting list for an Altair Astro 115/805 EDT since last year sometime, which eventually arrived the other week.

This was roughly about the same time as the current spell of clouds and rain rolled in so I have only had a brief visual 'half-light' with the scope.

Sorry to say that during my eager unpacking I completely forgot to take the ceremonial photo's. Nadeem as done a very nice review in the past, so I'll just cut to the final setup.

My current setup now consists of:

Altair Astro 115/805 EDT F7 with Planostar Field Flattener

HEQ5 PRO Mount

Rigel Systems Focus Stepper Motor + USB nStep Focus controller

Orion 50mm Finder Guider and Orion Starshoot Autoguider CCD

Revelation Pro Dual Channel Dew Controller

GSO/Revelation RDF with Kendrick RDF heater

Dew-Not Dew Straps for Main Scope and Guide Scope

Locally Mounted D-Link 7 port Powered USB HUB

Canon EOS 500D Camera (unmodded)

Altair Astro 115/805 EDT Tube Baffling - The bits that look silver are just a trick of the flash, they are really grey/black but not quite matt. This is actually on the focuser assembly rather than the tube itself.

A close up of the triplet cell. This is number 40 and has an RMS of 0.029 and a Strehl of .967 as shown by the optics test report.

The standard 3" dual speed (1:10) crayford focuser is quite substantial with plenty of options for adjustment and has two points of rotation, ie the whole focuser or the camera/business end. The focuser also has a lock, but this shouldn't be necessary has the stepper will additionally help in holding the load.

The stepper motor attaches to the focuser using a supplied bracket that screws onto the focuser. The Stepper has a nice feature in that you can disengage the motor using two thumb screws for manual focusing. The motor does tend to foul the camera rotating ring thumb screw lock when racked at 1cm, but is not a real issue given the focus point of the setup.

and USB-nStep Controller. This little box allows me to control the Focus Stepper Motor remotely via USB. A separate temperature sensor cable can also be connected (not shown) to allow for temperature based auto refocusing. This can be configured within the driver, or controlled at a higher level via an ASCOM enabled application.

The supplied Vixen dovetail bar is a little flimsy for imaging and has a strange flat machined edge. This did not sit well in the ADM Dual Saddle Plate. I have replaced this with an Altair Astro TMS Losmandy Plate in a clear anodised finish . These plates are very nicely machined and fit very snugly and securely on the ADM Saddle. A second dovetail has been mounted on top on the CNC rings, to securely mount the Orion Optics 50mm Finder-Guider. Note: The tube rings are completely metric threaded.

I use the Revelation Pro Dual Channel Controller to power the Dew-Not Straps on the main scope and finder-guider and also the Kedrick RDF heater. The Altair Astro 115/805 EDT cell has been known to pinch a little at near zero temperatures and this will hopefully ensure that this wont happen, as well preventing dew!

The d-link 7 port powered USB hub is cable central, allowing me to run two in-line 5m active USB cables back to my laptop in the warmth of the kitchen.

The wait is killing me, but hopefully the weather will clear up in the next week or two so I can get out and take some test images. I'll post these up when I get the chance.

EDIT: Hi-Res images can be found on my flickr page below.

[Demon Barber]

Hi Terry nice one mate!

You have been a busy bunny over the winter.

You`ll be lucky if the weather clears this year,i`ve started digging founds for my obs,lol.

Hope to see you soon,

ATB

Mike

[terrym2002uk]

Hi Terry nice one mate!

You have been a busy bunny over the winter.

You`ll be lucky if the weather clears this year,i`ve started digging founds for my obs,lol.

Hope to see you soon,

ATB

Mike

Cheers Mike. I'm hoping this will up my game a little over my 200PDS. Set up time should be quicker as I wont have to faff around with collimation each time and the focuser is much more sturdy too. I'm just waiting on my temp sensor cable and focus mask.

Good luck with the new swimming pool. Get your deck chair and trunks out

[Demon Barber]

Terry,just debating which end to make deep enough for a diving board!

ATB

Mike

[wackyscot]

Great looking set-up Terry, how are you both, and HI Mike, remember to include a bar in the obs build lol.

David

[ollypenrice]

I tested one of these for Astronomy Now and found it excellent. I hope you enjoy it.

Just one thing: you have no overhang on your dovetail plate so no safety bolt to stop it sliding through the saddle plate. This would make me nervous when balalncing, and once I found that a scope/dovetail had slowly worked its way down through the saddle plate (which I had tightened hard) - presumablmy through the effects of expansion and contraction in the observatory. I got to it before it fell out but have never forgotten the fright!

Olly

[Demon Barber]

Hi David,warm room is 16`x10` so plenty of space,you are going to supply the single malts?

Terry, as Olly points out a simple fix would be a hex bolt of correct thread,we did this on Tom`s setup at the weekend because exactly as Olly described Tom`s scope hit the ground focusser first,turned out no damage save for a mark on edge of focus asssembly.

It was as Olly says a heart stopping moment!!

All in all a nice setup

ATB

Mike

[terrym2002uk]

I tested one of these for Astronomy Now and found it excellent. I hope you enjoy it.

Olly, I think it was your review that swung it for me to be honest. I'm hoping this will be a good long term scope for both visual and imaging. I've still a long long way to go, but hopefully it will be a good starting point when I eventually get to CCD.

Just one thing: you have no overhang on your dovetail plate so no safety bolt to stop it sliding through the saddle plate. This would make me nervous when balalncing, and once I found that a scope/dovetail had slowly worked its way down through the saddle plate (which I had tightened hard) - presumablmy through the effects of expansion and contraction in the observatory. I got to it before it fell out but have never forgotten the fright!

Olly

You know, this crossed my mind as I was screwing the new dovetail plates on. There is a small threaded centre screw on both ends of the plate which I intend to screw some solid steel L plates to, these will overhang the saddle to catch any slip and avoid that dreaded cringe moment. I would have gone for the large dovetails, but it would have added to overall weight and done a lot more damage to my wallet.

EDIT: Temporary bolt now in place

[terrym2002uk]

Great looking set-up Terry, how are you both, and HI Mike, remember to include a bar in the obs build lol.

David

Thanks Dave. Just hope it performs as good as it looks.

Were doing great and will both be at Galloway this year. So hope to see you there, if not sooner.

[Nadeem Shah]

If the scope does not show the same problem which my lens cell had including the lens collimation problem, then you have a winner ! Regardless how the picture gets painted in the beginning...

[terrym2002uk]

If the scope does not show the same problem which my lens cell had including the lens collimation problem, then you have a winner ! Regardless how the picture gets painted in the beginning...

Nadeem, could you please elaborate on your issue either publicly or via a pm? I had noticed that you have since passed on 0001.

[MikeWilson]

Gorgeous setup! How do you power the D-Link hub?

[terrym2002uk]

Gorgeous setup! How do you power the D-Link hub?

Hi Mike,

I use a "TOBSUN" 12v to 5v 3A step down transformer. Got it off ebay from China or HongKong. Its mounted above the hub in the last picture.

Needs to be around 3A capable as each port could draw up to 500mA peak depending on what's plugged in.

Heres a similar one, sure you can get it cheaper if you hunt about DC/DC Converter Regulator 12V Step down to 5V 3A 15W | eBay

[brantuk]

Very nice setup Terry

And good to know about the slippage problem thanks Olly

[MikeWilson]

Hi Mike,

I use a "TOBSUN" 12v to 5v 3A step down transformer. Got it off ebay from China or HongKong. Its mounted above the hub in the last picture.

Needs to be around 3A capable as each port could draw up to 500mA peak depending on what's plugged in.

Heres a similar one, sure you can get it cheaper if you hunt about DC/DC Converter Regulator 12V Step down to 5V 3A 15W | eBay

Thank you for the heads up! I didn't even realise something like this existed

Cheers,

Mike

[laser_jock99]

Cool set up- bet you can't wait to get it under the stars?

[terrym2002uk]

Cool set up- bet you can't wait to get it under the stars?

Thanks

I think the weather is definitely against me at the moment, So ive taken the opportunity to get the focuser swapped over for one where the camera rotator does foul the focus motor. Hopefully I will have a chance this weekend.

[terrym2002uk]

Well finally the weather is looking promising for the next couple of nights. So if all goes well I should be able to post a few subs from the 500D and maybe some from the 460EX. Now if only the sun would go down a bit quicker!