What way do I orientate my cameras and focuser on the scope?

[Quetzalcoatl72]

This is my setup; and neq6 and 8" rc. Is this the correct positioning for my focuser and dslr camera(symmetrical with the dovetail)? and what about the zwo 120? which way is up? Thanks.

[vlaiv]

There is really no "up" or "down" in space.

However, there is convention that is more of a guideline than hard requirement - most people orient sensor so that width is aligned to RA axis and height is aligned to DEC axis.

In your case - that would mean putting camera "on the side" with respect to dovetail bar (90° from what you have on the image).

Depending on framing (if you want "portrait" orientation) - you should use it like on above image.

Although you can set any orientation that you want in order to frame your subject properly - above two are recommended as are fairly easily repeatable between sessions. This means that your framing on the same target will be the same between consecutive nights which is important if you don't want to crop away much of the image due to rotation (if you are not careful and shoot at arbitrary orientations in different sessions on same object).

You can be very precise with your alignment by using a simple trick. Find very bright star and start exposure. Now hit slew key in RA for example. Star will create a line on your exposure. If line runs horizontal then you have "landscape" orientation with respect to RA. If it runs vertically - you have portrait orientation. If it runs at an angle - well, rotate your camera to correct it unless you want exactly such orientation for framing.

Orientation of guide camera is absolutely of no importance. What is important is to have it exact same way for each session if you don't want to calibrate your guider every time. I assemble and strip my setup for each session and I run guider calibration each time (it's not that long - like 5 minutes or so, so not a big deal).

[Quetzalcoatl72]

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

There is really no "up" or "down" in space.

However, there is convention that is more of a guideline than hard requirement - most people orient sensor so that width is aligned to RA axis and height is aligned to DEC axis.

In your case - that would mean putting camera "on the side" with respect to dovetail bar (90° from what you have on the image).

Depending on framing (if you want "portrait" orientation) - you should use it like on above image.

Although you can set any orientation that you want in order to frame your subject properly - above two are recommended as are fairly easily repeatable between sessions. This means that your framing on the same target will be the same between consecutive nights which is important if you don't want to crop away much of the image due to rotation (if you are not careful and shoot at arbitrary orientations in different sessions on same object).

You can be very precise with your alignment by using a simple trick. Find very bright star and start exposure. Now hit slew key in RA for example. Star will create a line on your exposure. If line runs horizontal then you have "landscape" orientation with respect to RA. If it runs vertically - you have portrait orientation. If it runs at an angle - well, rotate your camera to correct it unless you want exactly such orientation for framing.

Orientation of guide camera is absolutely of no importance. What is important is to have it exact same way for each session if you don't want to calibrate your guider every time. I assemble and strip my setup for each session and I run guider calibration each time (it's not that long - like 5 minutes or so, so not a big deal).

That's a great idea thanks!

[Chefgage]

I would say it depends on what you are imaging. Some targets might only just fit in the field of view if the camera is rotated a certain way.

[CraigT82]

When with imaging with a new mount it's a good idea to have the camera oriented with RA along the width of the camera sensor and Dec along the height (or vice versa). If there are tracking problems they can be easier to diagnose if the direction of movement of the stars is easily identifiable as RA drift or DEC drift or somewhere in between