Scope Upgrades

Sold the CG-5asgt and my other 8" deforked SCT. Used the proceeds to prep my scope for the Orion Awesome Autoguider Package (which will be here next Tuesday). I upgraded the finder to the ubiquitous Telrad, and added the signature orange Celestron losmandy D dovetail rail. I also purchased 2 astrotech losmandy-d rail adapters that I am going to mount the guidescope rings on. There were several reasons why I decided to use this configuration. The vixen style rail that comes with the Orion package is too long for my OTA, so either I cut it and paint the end or leave it on and let it overhang. Either way would look ugly. Also, as the kit comes, it will not be able to be mounted to the OTA. I would have had to buy radius blocks from ADM to give the bar the clearance necessary to mount the rings. Again, expensive and would look hideous. The combination of the celestron bar and astrotech adaptors was around 90 dollars, not much more than just a pair of radius blocks from ADM. I am very happy with this setup and wish the SSAG package was here to install.

Only bad thing? The extra weight has thrown my scope far out of balance. I cannot use my scope again until I order another 11' counterweight. Bummer. Will have to be next paycheck.

Holiday weekend fun

So I sit here downing a Coors light and putting the finishing touches on the hand controller box for my DIY motorized focuser. I had posted a link a long time ago but tabled the project. After imaging Jupiter the other night with the DBK camera, I decided a motorized focuser was not a luxury item, but rather was an essential needed device. I still think that my final images were a little soft on the focus, so hopefully this will remedy that. Looking at the JMI MotoFocus designs, I figured that the price was just too prohibitive, and since I am always on a low budget, decided to go the DIY route explained in the following two links:

http://emediadesigns.com/emediadesigns.com/focuser/

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=nexstar&Number=5038166&Forum=,,,,f36,,,,&Words=focuser&Searchpage=4&Limit=25&Main=5038166&Search=true&where=sub&Name=&daterange=1&newerval=&newertype=w&olderval=1&oldertype=w&bodyprev=#Post5038166

I had a bunch of various parts laying around so I decided to tackle the hand controller, which I am glad to report is complete. It really was pretty easy, but as I found out earlier soldering is a frangible skill. After scalding the hell out of my thumb on the iron, I decided I need to do it more often (incident occurred pre Coors light BTW). Only deviation from the above mentioned plans is that I decided to mount the battery container on the outside of the box so that I would not have to unscrew the cover plate if I needed to change the batteries. Being clumsy I also decided to make the box bigger so that I could manipulate the controls easier in the dark. I am pretty happy with the results, now all I have to do is cannibalize a phone or ethernet cable and attach some mono plugs. I then need to obtain a servo and cut the stops out of it so it will work in full rotation. Fashion a mounting bracket to connect to scope and I will be in business at a quarter of the cost of the JMI unit.

I will post updates as I complete the project. 

First Jupiter of season

Got the Baader UV/IR cut filter in the other day, but work and weather kept me from getting a decent shot at some imaging. Broke that streak last night, and here is the best of the lot. I decided to simply use my OTA on it's original NexStar mount and found out quickly just how much worse an altaz mount is at accurate tracking with high magnifications. Always had to chase it around last night, I guess I got spoiled with the EQ mounts. I should have used my Sirius mount last night, but I wanted quick setup and tear down. At any rate, .avi  sequences averaged around 600+ frames at the 90 second mark. Stack, alignment, RGB alignment, and wavelet processing all done in Registax V6. Scope is C8, camera is original DBK-21.

Focus seemed a little soft. I am working on a DIY Bahtinov mask for fine focus. Couple things were evident as critical for my shopping list last night, though. A 3x barlow and motorized focuser are a must. Flip mirror and illuminated crosshair eyepiece parfocal on the mirror would be REALLY nice as well. Time to start pinching pennies.