Astrophotography setup plans

[scitmon]

I have a plan to:

• Tidy up the mess of cables 
• Replace the ac adapters I place in a box outside next to the mount with DC alternatives
• Utilise my spare DSLR with 50mm lens for even wider field imaging

I plan to do this by fabricating a mounting plate that will attach to my scopes vixen mounting bar.  On this plate I want to attach:

• My SW ST-80 guide scope side by side with my spare DSLR
• My Mini PC which controls guiding and imaging
• A new Lynx Atro 4 way dew controller, which will power my cameras and dew heater strips and mount

My main question is, will it be ok if the guide scope is slightly off axis from my imaging scope?  I presume it will be because people use people use the finder scopes as guide scopes?

I'm also open to suggestions for improvements?  Any flaws in what I am doing?

 

 

[pete_l]

10 minutes ago, scitmon said:

I'm also open to suggestions

You could save weight (and money) by shortening the plate so that the camera end of the finder hangs out past the end of the plate.
It might even be possible to arrange for the guider to be placed above the dew controller and mini-pc, thereby saving more area on the plate and more weight (and making balance easier).

[hughgilhespie]

Hi,

No problems if the guide scope is a bit off-axis, it might be a problem if it is a long way adrift. The most important thing is to make sure that the guide scope mounting is rock solid to the main telescope to eliminate any chance of differential movement when guiding.

For a suggestion - have you considered using a Pegasus Astro UPB or the HiTec Astro equivalent in place of your dew controller. I realise they are more expensive but the in-built powered USB hub is brilliant and will do more than anything else to sort out cabling. With the extra USB 2.0 ports from these hubs the mini PC in your design can be one with say one or two  USB3.0 and one or two  USB 2.0 ports. This increases your choice of mini PC. I have just started using a Kodlix GN41 mini PC and while it is very early days, it does seem to be a good 'un.

I agree with Pete_l too. Shorten your mounting plate as much as possible. If I was designing this I would go for 6 mm thick aluminium plate to give plenty of rigidity.

 

HTH

Regards, Hugh

[scitmon]

Thank you for the tips,  my crude drawing was only to give an idea of position and it will be as minimalistic as it can.  The Powerbox looks like a neat product but it is too expensive.  The lynx dew heater is better suited because it provides a dedicated dslr power output at the right voltage.  Although I do wonder whether I should be more ambitious and perhaps go for a dedicated astro camera on a small widefield  scope... ?

[scitmon]

Here is the finished article.  I changed my design to putting the pc/dew controller/dslr onto a plate that piggybacked my guide scope.  This should significantly tidy up everything and make setup much more straightforward forward.

 

[ollypenrice]

Being somewhat off axis doesn't matter with good PA. If PA is poor, though, your axis of rotation will be a long way from the image centre and will be exaggerated because the stars will trail around the guide star.

Olly

[R26 oldtimer]

That looks a bit "top weight". I would mount the dslr under the main scope dovetail.

[scitmon]

I can slide the guide scope a lot further back which should help.  There is not a lot of weight to it I'm sure balancing will be possible.