OK, so I "got by" with my printed out Bahtinov Focusing Mask in my home made mount. But I wondered if I could do better with a "real" mask....
So I spent the dime and nickel for a real mask. A Gosky Bahtinov Focusing Mask. And it does give much sharper spires and view to focus with. Money well spent. (I've been very happy with Gosky as well)
Last night, although a short night for me, I discovered a greater value in it.
Very well done Sonny.
Craig
Vega seems to be a favorite alignment star for my location and mount. It seems to be a go-to first for me.
So, last night, not at all happy with the Parfocal between my CCD camera, and my eyepiece in my flip mirror box, I noticed Vaga was close to my nubula I wanted to image. :idea:
So I picked Vega in Stellarium and slewed, (Sloan? Slided? Slid? Skedaddled?) to Vega, put the mask on the scope, and set the program to a 5 second exposure loop.
A-HA! :mrgreen: I had the lovely focusing spires radiating from Vega so I could adjust the focus of the image on my laptops screen. Brilliant! (OK, brilliant for me anyway.)
I then carefully flipped the mirror and adjusted the eyepiece (@ 8mm) focus to get the eyepiece in Parfocus with my CCD image.
Finally, getting a great focus between the two.
Thank You Vega! Thank You Bahtinov Mask! Thank You Knuckelhead (me)!

I seem to learn something every time I fire that mother up.

Thank You, Craig!
Buying a "real" Bahtinov Mask really made a sharper difference!

Thanks Jim!
Blueberry Cheerio, Well I suppose so. :lol:
That little Cheerio has been one of my faithful Go-To's when trying out different methods, or new to me discoveries. :lol: (Wide eyed wonder here... :shock: )
I use Stellarium of late to try and seek out my targets. It gives me a 'Pre-View' of where something might be so I can imagine if my scope can see it over, under, or around, my native obstacles.
If the target looks viable, it's a simple series of clicks to slew it into the telescope. ;)

PS: I did select the (Store Original), twice. But oddly it did not store the original in 2 attempts. :?
Sorry, I wanted it to be downloadable. :|

Oh, and my Gosky 12.5mm Illuminated Eyepiece failed miserably last night.
I was able to use the crosshairs for centering by playing my red LED headlamp into the front of the scope.
So at 3 AM I sent an email to Amazon about wishing to contact Gosky, and requesting an email address for them.
At 8:30 this morning I opened an email that Amazon was refunding the purchase price and I could reorder a new one if I'd like. :shock:
I didn't expect that...
The email went on to say I could keep or dispose of the defunct unit. 8-)
But I credit an amazing night of alignment to that eyepiece you lead me to add to my box.
If it had been a Mead like yours, it probably wouldn't have failed. :roll: