Reversed C11 & ST-80 scopes for pictures
Jan 18, 2018 01:54:50 #
Fooling around tonite to see what would happen, I took a couple shots - Pleiades and Orion's Nebula - and found it worked rather well. I left the QHY autoguider on the ST-80 and the ZWO on the C11 SCT and simply reversed them by selecting the other camera in PHD and SharpCap. Both pictures were 30 second exposures, unguided, stacking 15 exposures in each pix. I was astounded at the difference in field of view between the cameras on the two scopes. I knew the ST-80 would have a larger field of view than has the C11, but I had no idea how much greater! I think I will create appropriate profiles for both cameras in SharpCap and PHD and interchange them for shooting and guiding (the ZWO has an autoguider port) when I need a wide field picture.
Jan 18, 2018 02:24:59 #
I assume you were using the ST80/QHY on the Orion Neb. The guiding was very different. Of course the diff in guiding could be that M45 was directly overhead?
Jan 18, 2018 13:06:21 #
Never occurred to me to try that.
My guide camera is mono though, so I'd get B&W images. (Which are ok)
My main is an 80 mm, and my guide is a 50 mm.
My guide camera is mono though, so I'd get B&W images. (Which are ok)
My main is an 80 mm, and my guide is a 50 mm.
Jan 18, 2018 19:44:11 #
Thanks for the responses! 'preciate it!
Yes, M45 was so directly overhead that I had to wait a bit before I could shoot it. I could see it in the C11, but the view of the ST-80 (mounted on top of the C11) was obstructed to start with by the roof of my SkyPod so I had to wait till it crept out beyond my roof line. That is the only problem with the SkyShed POD - it has a split dome where the hinged half of the dome lifts upwards and slides under the non-hinged half when opened. That leaves several degrees of near the zenith which cannot be viewed no matter how you rotate the dome. Therefore, sometimes I have to shoot a target either early as it rises, or wait a while until it clears the zenith and starts its decent in order to see it. There is a fix. SkyShed folks have an attachment for the POD which allows the dome to slide completely away from the POD like a sliding roof observatory. But for $ome rea$on, I ju$t don't have one. ($$$!)
I have decided to modify what I did here a little. The ZWO as a guider did work, but not as well as the QHY. Dunno why. But, I have an older Orion autoguider camera that I THINK will work under Windows 10. I am going to try it, and if it does, then I shall substitute it for the ZWO when reversing the scopes. More on that, perhaps, later on!
Yes, M45 was so directly overhead that I had to wait a bit before I could shoot it. I could see it in the C11, but the view of the ST-80 (mounted on top of the C11) was obstructed to start with by the roof of my SkyPod so I had to wait till it crept out beyond my roof line. That is the only problem with the SkyShed POD - it has a split dome where the hinged half of the dome lifts upwards and slides under the non-hinged half when opened. That leaves several degrees of near the zenith which cannot be viewed no matter how you rotate the dome. Therefore, sometimes I have to shoot a target either early as it rises, or wait a while until it clears the zenith and starts its decent in order to see it. There is a fix. SkyShed folks have an attachment for the POD which allows the dome to slide completely away from the POD like a sliding roof observatory. But for $ome rea$on, I ju$t don't have one. ($$$!)
I have decided to modify what I did here a little. The ZWO as a guider did work, but not as well as the QHY. Dunno why. But, I have an older Orion autoguider camera that I THINK will work under Windows 10. I am going to try it, and if it does, then I shall substitute it for the ZWO when reversing the scopes. More on that, perhaps, later on!
Jan 18, 2018 23:54:25 #
Didn’t know that about the dome, but I guess it doe$ make $en$e. I have an Astro gizmo and I have to pull the opening far beyond midway.
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