Spending hours hunched over a reticle eyepiece in the cold did not appeal to me. It supports not only altaz mounts for visual observing, but also equatorial mounts for astrophotography. Of the above 2,3,and 6 single side corrections should be ok as long as the fluctuations are very small. Phd2 is telescope guiding software that simplifies the process of tracking a guide star, letting you concentrate on other aspects of deepsky imaging or spectroscopy. May 24, 2019 made possible by a zfiled arduino controller. Installs a driver that connects to software bisques thesky x65 astronomy software and makes it look like a standard ascom telescope. Get some living room furniture ideas with our modern living room furniture. Telescope goto and autoguiding through st4 with an arduino. Phd2 is a telescope autoguiding software that automates the process of. Our wide selection of autoguiding equipment is sure to impress as well as enhance your own imaging experiences. Skywatcher dualaxis motor drive set for eq32 mount with autoguider interface.
However, you may have compatibility issues with the asi 120mm mini camera, due to the usb 2. Skywatcher enhanced dualaxis handset for eq32 mount. Modifying the premid2004 skyview pro equatorial mount for autoguiding by dave rosenthal. The main objective of your autoguiding system is to focus and lock onto a star in the guide telescopes field of view. I strongly recomment this synguider, and ill start posting photos showing the difference between life before synguider and after. The curves show the measured positions and the bars show the autoguiding corrections of the orion starshoot. Eqmod controlling the heq5, neq6 and other mounts directly. By astronomers for astronomers, altair sells leading astronomy telescopes cameras mounts and accessories. We asked steve richards to write an overview of eqmod with details on some of its many features and how to use them. This dual axis motor drive for eq32 with skywatchers new enhanced hand controller is essential in longexposure astrophotography as well as a useful accessory for visual astronomy. Phd2 represents the reference in the arena of autoguiding solutions for the amateur astronomer.
This is supplied by software bisque and is available from the downloads section of the software bisque site, the file is called ascom 2x mount adaptor setup. I am going to do this by tapping into the existing handset and adding the ability to press the buttons remotely. This pushes autoguiding of a midrange mount into a realm of performance that normally requires adaptiveoptics. Sophisticated guiding and analysis tools for experienced users extensive support for commonlyused equipment. Skywatcher enhanced dualaxis motor drive for eq32 mount with multispeed handset and st4 autoguider interface. I have owned an orion skyview pro mount with dual axis drives for about 6 months now and wanted to share my experiences with the mount and what i have done to optimize its performance as an astrophotography platform. Ive received a lot of requests from people that have asked if i could show what my settings are in the phd2 auto guiding software. Astropibox also integrates several other software products and utilities. There are many computer programmes that will now interface with a variety of cameras including wwbcams that can produce autoguiding information. Motorization of an eq3 mount autoguiding tests with phd2 guiding 16 these tests give some of the best results obtained with the phd2 guiding autoguiding software for a period of approximately 2 minutes. Its compatible with virtually any mount equipped with an autoguider port and comes with all the software and cables needed to work right out of the box. This is the eq32 handset and inside the large chip is a gms97l51, an 8051based microcontroller that has 4kb eprom and 128 bytes of ram.
I want to thank 2 of my students mahn and phil, who let me know about this wonderful idea. This software has been modified by clearskylab in order to best fit the raspberry pi platform and the 7 touchscreen. Skywatcher enhanced dualaxis motor drive for eq32 mount. Now that i have my mount in tiptop shape id like to maybe tinker with it a little more. Stepper motors with multispeed handset perfect for astrophotography bigger this dual axis motor drive with skywatchers new enhanced hand controller is essential in longexposure astrophotography as well as a useful accessory for visual astronomy. But why make things so complicated when there is the perfect solution for users with skywatchers gotomounts. If you do not have an account here, head over to the registration form. The line is becoming blurred between dslr and mirrorless digital cameras such as those by sony, nikon and canon, and cmos sensors used in dedicated astronomical cameras such as those by zwo and qhy. Now with multispeed handset and st4 autoguider interfacethis dual axis motor drive with skywatchers new enhanced hand controller is essential in. Hi there, ive recently upgraded my mount motors, so i will soon be the owner of a goto eq 3 2. This section has the objective to provide information about the equipment tested with the astropibox. Personally, i bought the zwo asi 120mm mini autoguider with the zwo 30mm f4 guide scope. These instructions document a procedure that was used to modify an eq3.
It precisely controls the telescopes tracking speed to compensate for the earths rotation during long exposure of celestial objects. The key is an accurate and low latency centroid that can be chased aggressively to overcome gearbox and bearing noise. However, for eq3 to provide its products and services to you, there are certain purposes for which your personal information is required. Skywatcher the worlds largest telescope manufacturer. But once i moved in to primefocus photography, i quickly realized that i needed an autoguiding setup. Phd guiding, free software for autoguide astronomy academy. Skywatcher enhanced dualaxis handset upgrade for eq32 first. The purpose of this project is to connect a telescope to a computer through the mount guide port st4 port using an arduino in order to cheaply add goto and autoguiding capabilities. Hello all, i have a skywatcher eq32 goto mount connected to phd2 via eqmod and is giving me a wired declination backlash error on the.
To connect this software to telescope drive systems any with the rj12 standard input connector requires an interface box parallel port to rj12 or serial port to rj12 or usb to rj12. May 04, 2019 metaguide allows me to obtain sub 2 fwhm stars with a celestron cge and 11 sct at 2800mm f. In this tutorial we will explain how to set up this software using an atik titan camera but the same steps can also be made using other autoguiding cameras. The mount should be equipped with a buildin wifi module or an external synscan wifi adapter. Autoguiding a telescope for deep sky astrophotography. I still need to learn how to align, and i have an illuminated reticle on the way. By using autoguiding software such as phd2 guiding, our computer can communicate with the telescope mount. Accessories skywatcher enhanced dualaxis dc motor drives for eq32.
Eq32 guiding discussions software stargazers lounge. There is no standardized autoguider port that is common to all manufacturers, but the socalled st4 port is a very common format used on most scopes. Today, in adition to polar align feature, eqalign is a full featured astronomical software. This ascom driver works with synscan app running on a smartphone, a tablet or a windows pc. Hardest part is the code arduino sketch 120 lines and ascom. The eq3 pro is an interesting alternative to the relatively expensive tracking systems also for astrophotographers. Using phd2, orion 50mm guide scope, and a philips spc900nc webcam. The neq3 pro goto mount this mount is a further development of the eq 3 pro in a white design.
In our download area you can find current information about our products and our company, e. This handset is powered by 6v and it is a direct replacement of the multispeed hand controller that comes with the dualaxis motor drive. Its a new st4 compatible hand control unit with autoguider port for skywatcher eq5 series mountstelescopes. Jun 15, 20 eqmod is a popular set of software tools used by many astronomers to control the skywatcher heq5, neq6 and other mounts directly from a pc. Phd 2 guiding has an advanced feature that calculates the best possible star in your. Some users even induce drift to boost the performance of the autoguiding setup. Astropibox integrates phd2, a wellknown open source autoguiding software. Since i had a longexposure modified webcam, i started searching the web for some suitable guiding software. Here i explain what you need to do this and how to go about it, so if you want to have cheap guiding system for your eq5 mount read on.
Phd guiding is designed to be push here dummy simple, yet provide powerful, intelligent auto guiding of your telescope for both pcs and macs. Phd guiding is a free software among the most used for autoguiding since its very easy to use. New version ii updated pcb, firmware and imaging sensor. Lacerta eqhc handset hand control for eq5 st4 compatible. It involves using 4 pins of a computers parallel port, through a transistor array, to control the 4 buttons on the handset controller. The only problem is that the skywatcher eq3 2 45 mounts do not have a connection to allow the mount to be controlled by a computer. I have owned an orion skyview pro mount with dual axis drives. The latest version of the user manual in pdf format can be downloaded here. Although it doesnt matter for this mod, it may be worth investigating at a later date. There is a simple modification to allow it to do so however. These instructions document a procedure that was used to modify an eq3 dualaxis handcontroller to add an st4style autoguider port.
After this you can use a software like the open source stellarium to play with your telescope or phd for. Has anyone added autoguiding to an eq3 2 mount such as the kit offered by shoestring astronomy. Avalon mzero, eq32eq5 goto, eq32eq5 motors with st4 port. Downloads in our download area you can find current information about our products and our company, e.
Skywatcher synguider autoguider ii first light optics. The st4 port is easy to add to low cost motorized mounts like the eq4 or eq5, and the operation requires minimal modification to your shiny mount. No, the choice to provide personal information is yours. Hi guys,i have read a bit about moding the eq3 2 mount for autoguiding shoestring astronomyim very interested in this given my 50p budget to get hubble quality pictures from a mount that currently gives me a 1015% success rate with regards to star trailing. The skywatcher synguider is a simple and elegant standalone autoguider that can guide a german equatorial mount equipped with an st4 autoguider port without the use of a pclaptop. With current solutions on autoguiding you need a special camera, software and a laptop. It provides a solid platform for most mediumsized telescopes and. Eqalign born as a software that assists to align a german equatorial mount gem exactly to the earth polar axis. The orion starshoot autoguider provides a userfriendly, dedicated autoguiding camera for longexposure astrophotography. You can conveniently enter your search into the lower field.
Modification of a eqstyle dual axis controller to add an autoguider. Skywatcher enhanced dualaxis dc motor drives for eq32 first. If you have forgotten your password, we can send you a new one. Skywatcher enhanced dualaxis handset for eq32 mount with multispeed handset and st4 autoguider interface. We have seating, accent tables and storage made perfect for small spaces. Now my dealer suggested i invest 300 dollars more 400 swiss in a superduper autoguiding camera that is intelligent enough to send the appropriate corrections directly to the mount without the need of a computer. This is the android version of the synscan pro app and it is recommended for experienced users. Eq32 mount mods picpec part 1 autoguiding before i can even think about adding pec to the mount, i need some way of telling the motors to move. Besides the autoguiding interface, the eq3 synscan also offers automatic positioning and correction in both axes, that allows longer exposure times than with any skytracker. Once properly connected to your computer using the appropriate cable in my case, a usb 2. If like me you own a sky watcher eq5 mount and want to have a cheap guiding system so you can do longer exposures for astrophotography then you are in luck. Phd2 guiding is the successor to phd guiding, which.
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