I'm pretty sure I got the last one at Highpoint Scientific. I also bought the Cat Saddle/Handle-bar.

Let's take a look at the Space Gray version of the William Optics Cat Saddle/Handle-bar. That is a beautiful piece of hardware.

Posted October 8, 2019

Last month I picked up an iOptron SkyGuider Pro, because, well who doesn't have one of these best-in-class star trackers? I felt left out. It also gave me an excuse to get the Stronghold Tangent Alt-Az base from AstroShop on AliExpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32822479423.html). I've been looking at images of this one for a while, and in reality it doesn't disappoint. It's a nicely machined piece of equipment, very sturdy, with a 10kg/22lb carrying capacity! I'm using this instead of the very compact light-weight version that comes with the SkyGuider Pro. 

Here's my ultra-portable astro setup, with the William Optics ZS61 APO, ZWO ASI071MC cooled color, ZWO ASI120MM-S guide cam, DeepSkyDad AF1 focuser, homemade powerbox (2 x 12v out, 1 x 5v 4 amp out, 1 x dew control out), controlled by a Raspberry Pi 4 4GB running Stellarmate 1.4.2 beta. The SkyGuider Pro has it's own battery for power, and the scope, cameras, focuser only require a single 12v 7-10 amp input. All other cabling and control functions are mounted on the ZS61. I'm using an old Celestron tripod--I tightened the bolts on the legs, and it's definitely sturdy and stable enough for any payload the iOptron can handle.

Posted August 24, 2019

I'm testing out my color widefield setup with the William Optics ZS61 APO, ZWO ASI071MC cooled color, ZWO ASI120MM-S guide cam, DeepSkyDad AF1 focuser, homemade powerbox (2 x 12v out, 1 x 5v 4 amp out, 1 x dew control out), controlled by a Raspberry Pi 4 4GB running Stellarmate 1.4.2 beta. I ran some test sequences in Ekos and everything appeared to function normally. I am getting an error for the focuser ("...temperature value (!100)"), but the AF1 doesn't support temperature controlled focus adjustment, so not sure if this affects anything. It focuses properly, so I'm choosing to ignore the error for now. And I'm not absolutely sure this is a Raspberry Pi 4 thing, instead of an INDI/Ekos thing on any hardware.  And you may have noticed that I'm testing this out (remotely, using Jump Desktop) from my brand new Apple iMac 5k 27" i9/8core with... yes, I ordered it with 8 GB RAM, but I have 64GB on order, and I'll add that myself. (No sense paying $1000 to have someone at Apple do that for me).

What's funny is Dylan O'Donnell on his Star Stuff channel posted about upgrading his iMac and the giant performance improvement with PixInsight--same iMac I just bought, but I haven't used PixInsight processing software. I'm a Photoshop guy from way back in the 90s and version 4. https://youtu.be/J_EsH54XqjE

Posted August 24, 2019

Tonight I'm testing out the ZWO ASI071 and the AstroTech RC6, with an Off-Axis Guider (QHY5iii178 guide camera binned 2x2). I've never tried this mix together, so we'll see how it goes. At 1350mm focal length this setup has a 0.73/pixel resolution. So, yeah, it's going to be oversampled. And there's also a big old gibbous moon out tonight, and the weather is not planning to cooperate. My hopes are fairly low.

Posted July 13, 2019

Going to run some manual focus tests on my wide-field narrowband setup, if I can see the stars tonight. I just want to see if I have the backfocus correct for the Nikon f/2.8 180mm lens. I'm using a 2" Optolong 7nm Ha filter with the Atik 414EX mono CCD camera. No guiding with this tonight, but normally I would have the 130mm guide-scope and ZWOASI120MM-S on top of the aluminum camera/lens ring (ZWO 78mm Holder Ring for ASI Cooled Cameras). My hydrogen-alpha filter is in the AstroShop 2" Filter Drawer System with the tripod foot, which just adds more stability to this setup. You may also notice--if you're familiar with the iOptron CEM25P--that I'm using the short counterweight bar with a single weight. I can carry this whole rig around without taking anything apart.

Posted July 5, 2019

Yesterday I set up for a couple broadband color targets, and went with the Astro-Tech 6" f/9 Ritchey–Chrétien with 1350mm focal length. I paired the RC with the ZWO ASI071MC cooled color camera. And this is the first time I'll be using the DeepSkyDad Autofocuser AF1, which fits perfectly on the stock Crayford focuser--although you can't see it in this shot because I have the focus knobs vertical on the right site of the scope. Not using an OAG with this setup, but going with the William Optics 200mm guide scope and ZWO ASI120MM-S mono camera.

NGC 7023, Iris Nebula is a beautiful reflection nebula in Cepheus, about 1,300 lightyears away.

Posted June 7, 2019

I ran into a funny situation with my off-axis guider and one particular filter, an Optolong 685nm longpass filter. The filter itself gave me some amazing shots of star clusters and even did well with IR emissions from nebulae and galaxies. I run a set of mid-range Astronomik narrowband filters in the ZWO EFW I have attached to the ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro mono camera, and within reason, they’re parfocal. In SGP I’m running the autofocus process every filter change anyway, but I don’t see much difference. The IR filter glass on the other hand is thick enough to move the focus far enough to affect the focus of the guide camera in my OAG. I had to go out to the scope and adjust the guide focus in PHD2.

One solution is to go with the guide scope when using the IR filter, but I don’t know if PHD2 can support this automatically, or if I have to stop, disconnect the OAG camera when switching to IR, and connect the camera on the guide scope. It will be an interesting workflow. I’m wondering if ASCOM/SGP can work with three connected ASI cameras? ASCOM’s approach seems to be to add a number after the device name, like ASI Camera [1], ASI Camera [2]. Will there be an ASI Camera [3]?

Although this sounds like a fun experiment, I’m going to stick with my OAG, and swap out the near IR filter at some point--maybe for a tighter Ha filter, a 3nm? Up to now I’ve never paid attention to the thickness of the glass for filters, but I’m going to look into that now.

Image: I got one frame into the IR sequence and PHD2 wasn’t happy:

Posted May 24, 2019

I'm back on Windows to play around with Sequence Generator Pro (http://mainsequencesoftware.com/) and NINA (https://nighttime-imaging.eu/) NINA stands for Nighttime Imagine 'n Astronomy.  I used SGP almost exclusively before moving to Ekos/KStars about two years ago. It's one of the most powerful astro apps on Windows, and I've always recommended it. I'm also going to be trying out the latest version of NINA, which just looks amazing. I can't wait to see where this app goes.

Equipment Setup Notes

ZWO ASI 1600MM-Pro
William Optics GT81 + WO 0.8x Reducer
Sensor: 3.8µ pixels, 4656 x 3520
Scale: 2.05"/pixel
f/4.7
FL 382mm
Ap: 81mm

ZWO ASI071MC + Nikon 180mm f/2.8
Sensor: 4.78µ pixels, 4944 x 3284
Scale: 5.47"/pixel
f/2.8
FL: 180mm
Ap: 72mm

ZWO ASI017MC + AstroTech AT6RC
Sensor: 4.78µ pixels, 4944 x 3284
Scale: .73"/pixel
f/9
FL: 1350mm
Ap: 152mm

Nikon D750 + AstroTech AT6RC
Sensor: 5.98µ pixels, 6016 x 4016
Scale: .91"/pixel
f/9
FL: 1350mm
Ap: 152mm

QHY5III178 + 50mm 1.4 lens
Sensor: 2.4µ pixels, 3096 x 2080
Scale: 9.89"/pixel
f/1.4
FL: 50mm
Ap: 36mm

Posted May 19, 2019