Useful EEVA setup

[Cosmic Geoff]

I thought I would describe my EEVA setup in hopes that it will help or inspire anybody who is interested in EEVA and wondering what to do.

102mm F5 'Startravel' achromatic refractor, ASI224MC USB3 planetary camera, EQ5 Synscan GoTo mount, Sharpcap 4 software, Dell Vostro laptop (7th edition, i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 42WH battery)

None of this, except the laptop, was bought with EEVA in mind.

The refractor - there are better refractors, but this model is cheap, quite well made, and the chromatic aberration etc is not too obvious in this role. The f-ratio matches the camera well, giving a ~0.5 deg. field.

The camera - this is a sensitive camera with low noise.  A bigger sensor would give a wider FOV but would cost more.

The mount - as many of you will have learnt the hard way, Synscan mounts are not easy to use, but the plate-solve & resync available in Sharpcap 4 transforms this mount from an annoying and inaccurate ornament to a really useful tool.  I previously used a SLT mount but while easier to use it was less stable.

Sharpcap 4 - installed when I upgraded to this laptop. I originally got Sharpcap 3 for planetary imaging but it works just as well for EEVA, and the plate-solving available via this version is great.

In a recent outing, this setup was highly productive and I was able to 'see' and record quite a large number of objects in 2 hours.   Aimed at Mizar, it separated the 14" double onscreen with ease. 

In terms of objects made visible, this competes with much larger visual telescopes and has shown me objects I have never seen with anything else, including M1, M33 and Pluto.

Edited January 8, 2022 by Cosmic Geoff

[JeremyS]

Very helpful @Cosmic Geoff

[Martin Meredith]

Very useful to see an example of a working setup.

Martin

[Planitair]

Plus for Sharpcap pro

[PatrickO]

Thank you

[gateway]

Hello,

my EAA setup is nearly the same. Also Startravel 102 and also EQ5 goto, but I only have a ASI 120 MC-s. I guided with a small 30mm scope with another ASI 120 MC (the old one)
I am glad to see that there are some other guys out there who do EAA with a "normal" refractor ... was afraid that it might does not work at all. 
But yesterday I did the first steps an I was impressed how good it worked. Normally I am observing with an 6" Newton or with a 5" Mak and I bought a 10" Dobson recently.

I am ordering a better cam within the next days... was thinking of a ASI485MC for wider field and better resolution... has anyone experience with this cam and EAA on a fast refractor?

Would be glad to hear some experiences from observations with your setup  

All the best!
Philipp

[happy-kat]

Having a go here too, evoguide 50ED, sharpcap 4, astap for plate solving, ASI462MC and a 7 inch W10 tablet though and a virtuoso V1 with synscan wifi dongle to Android. I'm trying live stacking with individual fits files. Only issue currently is the ascon driver installation on to the tablet I need to test the sharpcap sync option is still working (now fixed and working together). The mount is perfectly stable. My field of view is slightly more than 1 degree.

Edited May 3, 2022 by happy-kat

[Cosmic Geoff]

18 hours ago, gateway said:

Would be glad to hear some experiences from observations with your setup  

I have posted intermittently in the EVAA Observations sub-section and Planetary thread.

[M40]

Adding my setup to the thread: Stellamira 85mm, HEQ5, ZWO ASI385MC, no reducer, no filter, no guiding. So far just using the synscan handset and zwo asi live software that came with the camera. I have had limited opportunities recently but I am now getting to the stage where I hope that will change, so....

I have been learning in baby steps and churning out double stars (Thanks Agnes Clarke - discovering double stars) and have just started to look at galaxies, first effort with the above setup....

5 frames at 10 seconds each using only asi live.

I did one picture some months ago with a different camera which turned out very blocky, I feel this is much better, ignore the light top right (my laptop doh)

If this is the best I will get without doing all sorts of processing I will be more than happy, any pointers would be most welcome.

 

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by M40