For a long time I was a user of Stellarium – however, I wouldn’t say I was using it to its full potential. I struggled with its quirky interface, and didn’t quite get to grips with the requirements to connect it to my mount and scope. Stellarium is resigned to my phone these days. Enter … Continue reading Using Cartes du Ciel with an ASCOM controlled mount
My enjoyment of astrophotography has increased ten-fold since being able to control my setup from the comfort of my house. Rather than stand outside for long periods of time, or even having to jump in and out of the house all night checking on progress – I much prefer being able to guide, slew, focus … Continue reading The Remotely Controlled Imaging Setup
The ASCOM Platform is the Swiss-Army Knife of software control for your various pieces of astrophotography kit – from mounts, to focusers, to dew heaters and even powered observatory roofs. For us more modest amateurs though, the most important element that ASCOM needs to control, and usually the only required element, is the mount. This … Continue reading Setting up a SkyWatcher Mount with ASCOM Platform and EQMOD
Now that we have a fully polar aligned EQ mount, we can now add our telescopes and imaging equipment. Now, we can’t just place our telescopes on our mounts in any old fashion – not unless you hate your mount and don’t fancy any more than a quick slew around the sky. For your astrophotography … Continue reading The basics: Setting up and balancing the scopes
2019 (Current) 2018 – August 2019 Mount SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro with EQ6 8in extension pier and Altair TMS Dual Losmandy Side-By-Side mounting plate. QHYCCD Polemaster Pegasus Pocket Power Box (for dew heater power and control, power 183C TEC cooling and Pegasus Motor Control) Telescopes Ostara HR152 Achromat Refractor with Pegasus Motor Focus Controller and Kendrick … Continue reading My equipment
For long exposures (of which I’ll take to mean over 1 minute in length for any length telescope), setting up your mount correctly – before you even place a telescope on it – is vital. Heck, even battling against a Go-To is made easier if you setup your mount correctly in the first place. And … Continue reading The basics: How to set up your equatorial mount and polar align with a Polemaster
The Amateur Astrophotographer's Cookbook 