Shopping list for Autoguiding setup

[Daniel]

Im thinking of buying a guidescope to fit on my Celestron C8n, I've looked at the Starlight 80mm refractor as this is cheap and i've been told will do the job fine, my problem is mounting, can anyone give me a wrough shopping list of what i'd need to mount this to my main tube?

I've seen some mounting rings, but there £100, and cost as much as the scope im going to mount, is there any cheaper option?

Thanks

Daniel
:O)

[Ian]

I'd make sure you can interface with your mount to autoguide first. Then ensure you know how you'll get guiding commands to the mount and from where. You'll need a guide camera and a scope.

As far as rings are concerned, don't most scopes come with some sort of mounting rings, even if it's OTA only? If not, how about making your own? Not that I have, yet at least... Otherwise, about a ton seems to be the going rate, unfortunately.

[Daniel]

Hi Ian, I've got an autoguiding port on my CG5 mount, and i've also got the required RS232 leads. Im thinking of using my Celestron Neximage camera for the autoguiding, although this has made me think, looking through any camera I've hooked up to my scope I've only been able to see the brightest stars on the laptop, how do you guy's get around this?

Daniel
:O)

[Ian]

I'm a bit confused. Which controller are you using with the mount? RS232 leads are great for connecting the laptop to the mount to sent lx200 commands to it, but those commands may not be accepted by your hand controller, not all hand controllers support any or all of the appropriate command set. Usually, autoguiding is done using an RJ11 socketted connection and the mount is moved by shorting out one of four pins corresponding to the appropriate direction. 

[Daniel]

Hi Ian, sorry, got my wires crossed (literally) the RS232 part is what plugs into my laptop, the guide port on my CG5 is indeed RJ11

:O)

[MarkS]

... looking through any camera I've hooked up to my scope I've only been able to see the brightest stars on the laptop, how do you guy's get around this?

Make sure you point your guidescope at a brightish star ...

[Daniel]

Can the angle the guidescope is aiming be different to the main scope then? and if so how is this achieved if the scope is mounted to the other?

[JohnP]

Hi Daniel, Yes - as long as it's reasonably close - Often you find you'll have to move the guidescope around so you can pick a suitable guide star. See this page for suitable guide rings etc. as you can see most of them are adjustable...

http://www.kendauzat.net/rings.htm


John

[Daniel]

Ahhhhh, thanks for clearing that up for me, I was worried about getting the registration of the two scopes exactly aligned, that will make things much simpler, think I'll be picking up a scope at astrofest next week

By the way, is anyone here going to that?

[JohnP]

No Problems - good decision on Astrofest you often get got show deals/ discounts... Yes I plan on going on the Saturday - I'll be there with my son Luke (as usual)... I'll start a new thread about it because if we don't Rick will anyway....

Cheers,  John

[Rocket Pooch]

Karen and I are planning to go on Saturday.