Semi-permanent dual scope setup

[SkyHiker]

The hassle of setting up from scratch each time with that massive G11 was enough to figure out some sort of semi-permanent setup. My solution is an eye hook potted in between tightly packed pavers to which the tripod is attached with a cable and padlock. It won't keep it safe from thieves with gear but at least they can't just pick it up and walk away with it. Hopefully the average thief does not realize the value of a "tripod".

The 21 lbs. counterweight was always too heavy but hey why not a dual scope setup? I had got an ADM tandem adapter a while ago and today is the first time I am going to try it. First thing, align the scopes so they point at the same target, and fixing the cone error if there is one. This is done by aligning the optical axes with the mount's RA axis, by moving DEC and adjusting the hex nuts of the ADM adapter until RA rotations are around the center of the FOV. Then tighten the ADM nuts and it should be good forever. I leave the scopes (6" Mak-Newt and ES ED127CF) on the bar when I take them off the mount. Should save me a bunch of time.

Here's a close-up of the beautiful Losmandy hardware. The tripod is truly rock solid. The further up I move the more vibrations there are. Maybe I should have got the heavier (Losmandy) version of the ADM adapter, but that adds weight too so let's see how this works! This should hopefully get me back into AP more than lately.

[bladekeeper]

Looking good, Henk!

I am looking forward to the results.

[JayTee]

Nice, I hope it works well for you.

Cheers,
JT

[SkyHiker]

I'm not having much luck yet. The polar alignment went fine although I managed to align the DEC setting circles the wrong way - you have to position the collar such that the degrees go up for DEC going North, the first time I positioned it such that the degrees went down in that direction, needless to say that the manual go-to did not work. That was the least problem.

Then, DEC did not respond to the hand controller. Loosening the pressure on the worm seemed to fix it though it happened again later on. When the cover plate is off I can put quite a bit of pressure on it while everything is moving fine, but then later it may still happen again. I'm trying to get a feeling for it, it is easy enough to fix because the G11 provides easy access.

When I started the autoguider calibration it did RA back and forth fine. Then as it should start moving in DEC it just kept going in the same RA direction; at 75% it finally started moving in DEC in one direction only. Needless to say that autoguiding did not work. This was the first time I tried autoguiding with the G11; my model is the G11S that has a somewhat outdated Celestron controller. Not sure if the controller is the problem or just a bad serial cable between the autoguider and the controller. I'll test the cable tomorrow. I crimped it myself and the cable is not very flexible so it's entirely possible that it has a defect. I may use the AVX to double-check.

Not that it matters much, the clouds are rolling in from the West. I'm quickly taking some unguided Pleiades shots so I have something...

[Peter802]

Nice looking set up Henk.
Hope you sort the alignment quirks out.

[SkyHiker]

I did some testing with PHD2 on the laptop and got it working eventually albeit with a high gain setting in the controller. Then back to lin_guider on the Pi and I had the same problems as the night before. So then I started PHD2 on the Pi and got it working too, with even a higher controller gain needed. I suspect I can tune something in PHD2 to avoid the high controller gains but at least it works.

Conclusion, lin_guider somehow does not work well with the Celestron controller. It never had such problems with the AVX. I used lin_guider because I could run at 1 sample per second whereas I had to go to 1 sample per 2 seconds with PHD2. But it works so I'll be running PHD2 on the Pi from here on, maybe update the version.

And of course I forgot to get a second Fuji remote so I can only run one camera on one scope until I receive another remote. The PA was still perfectly fine from the night before so it's all good, easy to set up and break down so it's a success.

[SkyHiker]

Here's what I got from that, not much and I had to crank up the blue to reduce the red/green glow in the center:

So everything's working OK. Now to get a second timer so I can use both scopes. This was from the Mak-Newt.

Of course now the smoke is all over us, luckily my house did not burn down. At some point I saw the glow through the trees across the street. Never had a wildfire that close.

Here's one that is less processed, looks much better (the bottom one - I see 2 images but don't know how to get rid of the first).