Raspberry pi guider

[gajjer]

Hi folks

I don't know if this is going to go anywhere, but I've been looking at the Pi for guiding.

If you are interested, have a look at this http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=45246&p=575895&hilit=astrophotography#p575895

In particular, have a look at what Gordon77 has to say

I have a Pi B+ and the standard Pi camera. I built up an assembly which mounted the Pi and the camera onto a small fibreglass board. The camera is mounted so that

it is line with what I will call a nose. The nose is 1.25" OD so that it will fit onto one of my scopes ( either for photography or for guiding )

I then made a matching fixture to accept the nose and connect to a standard Canon lens. I used an old Canon extension tube to provide a bayonet mount.

This means I can use any of my standard Canon lenses, depending on what I'm doing.

The Pi camera is 5M pixels so potentially quite promising.

So far I have got it running connected to the telly. I am using putty and tightvnc to try to control remotely. As yet I have not got it operating correctly with the laptop.

I can control many things from the laptop, but the actual screen with the guiding image can not be displayed just yet. I have my team of brains working on this!

I bought my first Pi quite a while ago and found it quite clunky. The latest Pi with the latest software is a lot less painful. However, as a hardware engineer, I feel

like I am dealing with black magic.

I have a guiding set up already and it is reliable albeit controlled by an idiot. So I am not sure just how far I will go with the Pi. It still has quirks and we have precious

few good nights to spend fiddling with kit.

I'll try and get some photos later.

cheers

gaj

[gajjer]

Here are a couple of photos

If you are wondering what a sweet paper is doing jammed in there; it is to cover up an LED which lights up the rear of the lens!

cheers

gaj

[NickK]

That's a nice solution!

I've been looking at the Odriod.. then using that as a guider where the guider and mount control are kept onboard.. capture done onboard and then allows offloading and screen share via ethernet. I still need to automate my focusing (I'm using a borg focuser so I need to make a support as the camera weight makes it a little harder to turn than a stepper motor ideally would like)..

Nick

[fireshipjohn]

Hi, you can disable that led in the setup, see this:

http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2013/05/how-to-disable-the-red-led-on-the-pi-camera-module/

John

[Paul M]

My son bought me a Pi B+ for Christmas and I'm looking for a project to get me going.

Unfortunately I don't really need a guider but I try and follow any projects that pop up so I can get some ideas.

It's proving to be a steep curve!

I hope you make progress with your project. We need more pi's in amateur astronomy!

I'd like to utilise mine for Wifi control of my NEQ6 via SkySafari on Android devices.

[gajjer]

Hi again

NickK - I had not seen the Odroid - it looks like a very capable beast. I'm hoping there is plenty of support for the Pi. There does seem to be a lot of activity with it but I am very much in the dark at present.

fireshipjohn. Thanks for that. My solution was going to be either blutak or just remove it!

Paul M - I'm feeling very much in strange territory. I did buy the guide but it seems a bit out of date now. I have since bought 'The beginners guide' and the annual and they are helping. This could take me well into

retirement! And I agree - we need more Pi's in astronomy.

I've just bought a quad core version and a heap of other toys today so that's me sorted for a while!

cheers

gaj

[JamesF]

The new RPi does look interesting.  More powerful CPU and more USB ports is certainly welcome.  I was tempted to buy one last week just to test out cameras with oacapture as it takes a while to build on the original B model, but I bought something else instead

James