robrj
Member
Posts: 248
home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Jul 16, 2016 1:45:20 GMT
Here is my Celestron 130SLT. I added some things to it. I bought tube rings and a 13" bar to make it a little less wiggly on the mount. I also added an Orion Accufocus to help with the poor focuser that comes stock on the scope. I have an Orion 50mm Guidescope that uses the ZWO 185MC. I use it as an electronic finderscope. My main camera is the Ultrastar-C Here, you can see how it's wired up. I put a powered USB hub that everything on the scope connects to (ZWO, Ultrastar, & the mount). Off the scope, I only have two wires, the main USB 3.0 cable and the power wire for the hub. I use velcro dots to hold the hub and the Orion Accufocus on the scope. I bought some short USB cables to run from the cameras to the hub and some cable holders which stick to the tube. The Ultrastar sits out far from the focuser because i moved the mirror forward when I just had the ZWO camera. That allowed me to focus with and without a focal reducer. The Ultrastar didn't need as much infocus, so I have to use my Skywatcher 1.25" adapter to get enough distance back. I may return the mirror to it's stock position. This shot is pre-Ultrastar but it shows my scope and my Microsoft Surface 3. The chair is there for scale.
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Post by ChrisV on Jul 16, 2016 7:06:06 GMT
That's a nice little portable setup.
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Post by Dragon Man on Jul 16, 2016 14:14:44 GMT
Fantastic setup Rob. Very tidy with minimal wiring
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Post by davy on Jul 17, 2016 8:16:54 GMT
Cracking set up,i like the add on finderscope,,i have one on my ed80 ,great upgrade.
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My 130SLT
Sept 22, 2016 7:35:58 GMT
via mobile
Post by ChrisV on Sept 22, 2016 7:35:58 GMT
Hey Rob. How do you focus the finderscope with the camera ?
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robrj
Member
Posts: 248
home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Sept 22, 2016 16:58:51 GMT
I have a small bahtinov mask for the 50mm. To focus it, you turn the front lens. I also put an Orion 1.25" Parfocal ring on the nose adapter of the camera. So, when I put it at each setup, it's almost dead on (as long as the lens isn't inadvertently turned).
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My 130SLT
Sept 23, 2016 7:00:44 GMT
via mobile
Post by ChrisV on Sept 23, 2016 7:00:44 GMT
Thanks. So it's not the fancy guide scope with the helical focuser. Might follow suit and stick a camera on my finderscope.
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robrj
Member
Posts: 248
home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Sept 23, 2016 15:29:26 GMT
Thanks. So it's not the fancy guide scope with the helical focuser. Might follow suit and stick a camera on my finderscope. No helical focuser. I was told to get the one without the helical focuser as it may not have enough in-focus. Even better that it's cheaper. I really like having the electronic finderscope along with the main scope. If you have two cameras, it allows you to also do two shots at once (one wide, one up close). If it's using the same software, the software needs to be able to run two instances at once with different cameras. Mine use different software (SharpCap for the ZWO and Starlight Live for the Ultrastar) so it's not an issue. Another option is to put a parfocal ring on the camera and focus the Guidescope, and set the parfocal ring. Then insert it into the main scope and try to get focus. If you can, you can just swap the camera between the two at will. For example, I took these shots of NGC 7635 at the same time: ZWO in the Orion 50mm scope: Ultrastar in the Orion Skyview Pro 8":
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Post by davy on Sept 23, 2016 15:43:46 GMT
That's a really nice image from the finder scope,i have the orion mini guide scope and the qhy5lii colour I'm going to use,what zwo camera are you using, I like it 😃
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robrj
Member
Posts: 248
home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Sept 23, 2016 22:00:13 GMT
I have the ZWO ASI185MC. It's similar to the 224. Not as low read noise as the 224 but a bigger field of view (1944x1244). It gives me about 2.5°x1.5° field of view with the Orion 50mm. I took Ken's refractor advice and tried an Astronomik Luminance Filter on it. It really cleans up the star bloat.
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Post by Dragon Man on Sept 24, 2016 16:26:30 GMT
Good to hear Rob. That Astronomik UV/IR 'L' Filter really sharpens the stars up nicely.
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