cheap auto guiding

[redfox1972]

hi

im very new to ap[ and was wondering

what are the cheapest ways in to auto guiding

I have a celestron vx mount /6" newt  and have had some reasonable images (imo for a noob ) without guiding upto 60s sub (no stacking ).

what is the longest recommended un-guided images with good balanced set up

iv put my first images 0f m42 + double cluster ( with out doubt plenty of room for improvement )

thanks in advance

[redfox1972]

double cluster 60s sub

m42 15s sub both 1600 iso from Panasonic G3 micro 4/3 rds

[Leveye]

A used 9x50 finderscope and a used mono Meade CCD was the trick for me. Found both for under $150 Merican.

[lensman57]

There is no cheap guiding. You need a guide camera, £150~£200. A guide scope, either a 50mm guidescope or a 50mm finder with an adapter to attach the camera and allow £ 20.00 for some cabling and I am assuming that you already have a laptop . You may get lucky and find these items on the used market in which case it will save you 40% approx.

You max unguided sub length depends primarily on the accuracy of your polar alignment in the first place, then the accuracy of the mounts mechanics and the balance of the imaging scope and gear. you will also find that this differs to a degree on which part of the sky you are imaging. I think realistically with your scope 90~120s is the upper usable unguided limit.

A.G

[hjw]

Since you mention that you don't use stacking, I would start with this first. Take a number of frames of a given target and use DSS. This will give you a big jump in image quality without any expenses. Only when you reach the limits with this technique would I consider going into guiding.

[glowingturnip]

you can do it cheaply - I started guiding with a Celestron T70 travelscope - £45 on eBay and a Meade LPI which was also about £40. 

The Meade is a bit tricky to find guidestars with tbh, and I have since upgraded to a QHY5liic.  I'm still using the travelscope, see no reason for changing that,

[redfox1972]

Thanks for all the replies.

What are your thoughts on stand alone guiding systems

[lensman57]

Thanks for all the replies.

What are your thoughts on stand alone guiding systems

Some love and some don't. Depends on how  and where you want to use it. In a field without power or a laptop they have a place. I rather use a separate system that can be monitored on the screen as it guides. A Syn Guider for example has no way of letting you know if there is problem with guiding.

A.G

[toxic]

there must be something wrong with me then because i still use the finder and a webcam to guide 9x50 finder and a microsoft lifecam 3000 with a home made adapter and so far it aint done to bad cost £20

[tingting44]

by hand most be the most cheapest way!

[Steve789]

I modified a MS LifeCam Studio (about £60) and won a cheap 70mm travelscope on eBay (£30). I made my own guide rings as per this thread http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/234217-sub-£15-guide-rings/. I already had a spare dovetail bar but it would be easy to make something to mount the guide rings on.

I'm not sure I'd recommend the LifeCam Studio though as I get a lot of what must be amp glow on the left of the image at high gain settings. The few times I've has clear skies this winter I have always managed to find a guide star but the signal to noise ratio is high and I've always chosen targets with at least mag 5 stars near by.

I'm now looking at buying a dedicated mono guide camera (probably a QHY5L-II) which will make the LifeCam pretty much obsolete after very little use. My recommendation, coming from someone who always looks for the cheapest option, is to wait until you can afford a purpose built guide camera.