Astronomic Equipment
values of +/-12 or 24 peak to peak that is quite good for this saddle. Nevertheless, sometime in the future I would be able to have the resources to go for a better mount or even a whole new telescope.
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Astronomic Equipment |
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My main telescope is a 1997 Celestron Celestar 8 Deluxe. It has automatic tracking and 4 modes (Sidereal, Solar, Planetary and King). A good equatorial mount with Goto capability would be preferable, but my fork mounted C8 performance is acceptable. In measurements of periodic error, I have obtained | ||
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values of +/-12 or 24 peak to peak that is quite good for this saddle. Nevertheless, sometime in the future I would be able to have the resources to go for a better mount or even a whole new telescope. |
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This error should be less because my setup is extremely overloaded and this affects a lot the tracking of many manners. Over the C8, a Willam Optics 66SD doublet APO refractor is used as a guidescope, although it is also used to take photos. |
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This secondary telescope is supported by a Losmandy 3.5 inches (90mm) system. As a guidefinder I’m using an Antares with prism and detachable eyepiece |
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An Orion dot finder with 0 magnifications for quick pointing is also mounted on a side. A self made counterweight system is balancing the group. Below you will read how I built it. |
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In order to get a very precise focus, I utilize a JMI crayford electronic focuser. The model is the NGFS for catadioptric telescopes. |
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| The Tasco that I had when child was rebuilt to use it as a guidescope. Later, it was replaced for a William Optics wide field refractor. | ||
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We can see the Celestron Celestar of Luxe with the Tasco reconstructed ridden in piggyback here. The support system was constructed using MDF wood agglomerate for the base and a PVC piping to make the rings. . |
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Three steel rustless screws were used on each ring as a supporting and adjusting of the guidescope. The Tasco telescope is an old 60 mm F/11.6 refractor. As part of the equipment, I have the Celestron Advanced Astro Master which can be appreciate in the previous photo. It is a little computer known as “tangen box” and serves good to locating celestial objects including Clusters, Nebulas, Galaxies and Stars from several astronomic catalogs (10,000 objects in total). The telescope's position determination is made with the help of two optic encoders. One for Right Ascension or RA and the other for Declination or DEC. An alignment procedure of two known stars is used to synchronize the telescope with the current real sky. Al this is functioning analogous to one big computer mouse. A serial port connection to a computer, allow to this device to communicate with Planetarium software like TheSky or Chartes du Ciel, to name only some of them. |
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| This is another setup configuration, where I’m using the ST237A camera with the eFinder as guiding setup and a DSI Pro as a photographic camera mounted on the C8. The DSI has a focal reducer to get a F/3.75 ratio, enlarging the photographic field of view. | ||
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| The shown configuration is this that I’m using now. I can interchange the cameras to use them like guide or photographic. | ||
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| And here, a William Optics 66SD detail and the Losmandy system: | ||
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SBIG ST237A camera |
MEADE Dsi Pro camera |
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| Telescope, Accesories and Cameras: | ||
Telescopes: - Schmidt Cassegrain Celestron Celestar de Luxe 8 inches F/10 F.L.: 2032 mm. |
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Cameras: - Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) ST-237A (657x495 - 16 Bits - 7.4 x 7.4 microns) |
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Accesories: - Fastar System for CCD imaging at F/1.95 |
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For questions, comments or corrections pertaining to this webpages please send an email to caracasastronomica Last Modified: March, 2007 - Design www.tubyte.com |
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