Equinox Pro 120 f/7.5

[Patbloke]

Arghhhhhhhhhhhh... 

Ok I've just purchased a beautiful 'used but mint' Skywatcher Equinox 120 Pro Apo F/7.5.... Great you say! Well during some double star splitting last night (testing her out) Saturn appeared between the trees... I wasn't going to bother but I hastily fetched my new ZWO ASI120 MC and my trusty Toshiba Satellite Laptop out to see if I could capture some film for processing this morning as I have a few hours spare... I have not long acquired the ZWO and have used it a couple of times to capture some images of Jupiter which I enjoyed doing and was pleased with my first efforts.

Ok so I focused my perfectly aligned AVX with the Equinox on at Saturn using a 6.5 mm EP... Then inserted the ZWO into the diagonal (only because that's the way I managed with Jupiter) and - Mmmmm black screen, lot's of black screen, focus in focus out, barlow in barlow out, focus in focus out... I spent the whole time trying to 1. find Saturn and 2. Focus... I tried upping my exposure and gain, I tried lowering it, I tried Sharpcam I tried ASICAP... I know I like to take short cuts and usually can get by without the detail, but my efforts last night were pathetic I feel! 

I've got every photon counts, I'm half way through it... Can someone be so kind as to help this fast failing amatuer (well, just amatuer) and describe their set up procedure when they are looking to image the wonderful Saturn please ?

By the way - That Black Beauty Equinox Pro is some star watcher... pin sharp and wonderful colour! I might post about it separately... 

[Thalestris24]

I would say don't use the zwo on a diagonal - get an appropriate length extension tube. Set up focus during the day (or early evening). That way you'll be ready to go!

Louise

[JamesF]

The ZWO sensor is really quite small.  It's easy to miss it entirely.  I use an eyepiece with a cross-hair reticle to centre the target exactly before switching to the camera.  That way there's a fair chance that the target will be on the chip even if it is badly out of focus.  Flip mirrors can make the process even easier because you don't have to switch between the eyepiece and camera.

I'd agree with Louise about losing the diagonal.  It's really just another thing to mess with alignment.  You may not even need an extension depending on how much focuser travel you have.  And, as she says, find out where the focus point is during the day if you can.  Use an eyepiece to locate a distant target and then find focus on that target with the camera.  The point of focus should be somewhere close when you get out at night.  If your focuser has a scale on that makes it easy, but I've also drawn a line on the drawtube with a pencil before now.

James

[PeterCPC]

The camera will not be focused if the EP is in focus. As said, lose the diagonal then focus the camera on a star using a Bahtinov mask, then swing back to Saturn without touching the focuser again. A flip mirror can help to locate the target.

Peter