Finished and Tested

I was finally able to get the total rig out the other night for a test. Took about an hour to get the guider all working but the results were fantastic. 7 arc seconds of error in the RA axis and 5 in the DEC axis. Thats up there with the 8 and 10k mounts. Keeping the weight low vs the capacity and careful 3-D balancing does wonders. Its easier to get things framed now since I can use the handcontroller or software buttons from inside the house. That came with the upgraded electronics for dual axis motors. The guide camera (Lodestar) is really sensitive and low noise. I had an ST-4 the last time it was the first autoguider and it was terrible compared to this one. I had my pick of guidestars easily with a 2 sec exposure. Had a little overshoot on one axis the one I let the program figure out instead of actually testing it. Had the guiding rate a little too high so next time I can tweak that error out. Wasn't much 1.5 or so pixels. But since the mount is tracking so well it only had to correct the position on 30% of the frames shot in the 11 minute run. So 70% perfect on the first run. Of course the cost has gone way up with the capabilities. Not so bad since I can use it for more than just astro. Lots of wires running everywhere now. Looks like a proper imaging mount.



Business end.







Mount and dual saddle with Canon and guide scope and camera. The DEC axis clamps onto the truss just like the single axis camera mount arms.







The guide scope and guide camera. Tiny thing only 1.25 inches wide.







Tons of wires. But it all works and works very well







No excuses not to get some killer shots of deep space. I have to have more surgery or I could loose my leg. Hopefully stents so I'll only be down a few days but if they have to go in there and clean it up it will be 6 weeks. Won't be for 3 more weeks so I'm hoping the weather will clear up for a few days and I can get some images to work on while I'm down.



Griz