finder or guide scope

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi folks, another couple of simple question from moi. What's the difference between a finder and a guide scope and how does it guide?

[knobby]

Finder ... Helps you find objects as it's lower magnification so shows more of the sky .

Guider ... Can be another scope attached to main scope which in combo with a guide cam , monitors any tracking errors and uses software to correct for this.

A bit like a tiny man sitting on the scope saying ' up a bit , left a bit , up a bit '

[wuthton]

Finder ... Helps you find objects as it's lower magnification so shows more of the sky .

Guider ... Can be another scope attached to main scope which in combo with a guide cam , monitors any tracking errors and uses software to correct for this.

A bit like a tiny man sitting on the scope saying ' up a bit , left a bit , up a bit '

That would be much more fun than PHD.

[Uplooker]

You can also have a finder guider. This is usually a 9 x 50 finder, unscrew the bit at the back that you usually look through, screw on an adapter so that you can insert a camera such as a webcam or QHY5. People use finder guiders as they weigh less than using a SW ST80 scope for guiding.

Ian

[Dave Lloyd]

Thanks. That's cleared it up.