Anyway the instructions found here are pretty straight forward and I spent about $10 at Lowe’s for the PVC spacer, set screws, and tap kit. I ended up using 8-32 set screws and thumbscrew since Lowe’s did not have any 6-32s – this worked out just fine.

Here are some pics of the finished product.

Inexpensive 10x50mm Finderscope

The PVC Spacer secured in the finderscope tube.

With the Starshooter Autoguide camera attached.

I powered up the laptop, connected the camera, and I was able to get good focus on a tree off in the distance. So I am pretty confident that I am going to be able to obtain quick focus when I use it as a guide scope. I am able to loosen the thumbscrew and move the camera in and out to help if I am not able to get focus by adjusting the front lens.

So for just over $60 (not counting the quick release bracket) I have a nice (and light) guide scope.

The reason this I titled this post Part 1 is that I have not yet mounted the scope to my C8 or AT66, this is because I am not able to get the dovetail and mount to match up right with either scope. I have ordered a Celestron quick release finder scope bracket and should have it any day. Once I get it mounted and get a chance to try it out I will post a follow up.

Again check out Constructing a guide scope from a finder scope for instructions on putting one together yourself.

The laptop is several years old and it was used for work, but I have not even powered it on in the last three months so the first thing I decided to do was reload Windows XP Professional and start with a clean slate. Why Windows XP and not Windows 7? Well a lot of the drivers and programs are not ready for Windows 7 yet, and I own a copy of Windows XP Pro. What I have seen of Windows 7 looks great, but XP is a pretty solid OS and I should not have any problems with drivers or getting programs to run on it. So I installed XP, loaded all the Dell drivers (sound, video, chipset, etc), and ran Windows update to install SP3 and all the latest and greatest updates.

After the clean OS install and updates I set up the wireless networking with my home network, I installed Avast Home Antivirus and Firefox. Installed the Xmarks plugin for Firefox so I can sync all my astronomy bookmarks with my desktop. I installed the TwitKit plugin in case I want to tweet while observing. I also installed the Adobe Reader since most of the manuals for my equipment, cameras, and software are available in pdf format.

Then I installed the drivers for my Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager and the Orion StarShoot AutoGuider. Both of them installed without issue. I installed AMCAP for capturing images with the NexImage and PHD Guiding to use with the AutoGuider. Tested the connections to the camera and autoguider, everything seems to be working well.

I installed the Hand Control Firmware and Motor Control Firmware update utilities for my scope from Celestron. Since the laptop does not have any external serial ports I also installed the drivers for my USB serial port. I tested the connection to my Celestron GOTO hand controller, no problems there.

Even though I will probably do my image processing on my desktop (more CPU and RAM – much much faster) I installed Deep Sky Stacker and RegiStax just in case it may be needed.

Stellarium planetarium software is installed for observation session planning and star charts for observation sessions. It is configured with my default observing location (my backyard) and my settings for displaying objects.

I installed the Astronomical Observation Log database program I found here. One of my New Year’s resolutions is going to be to better document my observation sessions. This looks like a pretty good little program that should help me do that. I have a notebook and a log book for logging, but I usually get caught up in observing, figure I will log it later, and just never do. I usually post something to SuffolkSky about my observations, but it is not really the same as (and should not substitute) a log entry in my log book. I am also going to try to come up with a good post template for my observing and imaging logs.

So that’s about it. I think I have everything on installed that I am going to need – at least for now. Pretty basic setup and it should work great for the purpose. Will probably pick up an inexpensive USB HUB that I can attach to the tripod to help reduce the number of the cables and a small folding table to keep things off the ground and organized.

Looking forward to a clear sky and I hope to observe and capture some images of Mars in January and maybe Saturn. Also, can’t wait to try out the autoguider and image some more deep sky objects.

It was a nice night early on, cold and fairly clear to the East and directly over head. By about 9:00 PM there were some clouds moving in from the Southwest. A thin layer of clouds covered the sky by 10:00 PM so I called it a night a little earlier than I wanted.

Orion Nebula | 01/03/09 19:10 EST - 6x30secs - Prime Focus

Moon 01/03/2009 - 1/200 exposure - Prime Focus

I need to practice focusing some as most of the shots I took were just a hair out of focus. I also took a few shots of the Andromeda Galaxy but they were just too out of focus.

When I set the scope up early in the afternoon, Venus was visible in full light. I wanted to try out the T-Connector and camera in the daylight to minimize the fumbling at night. I took a quick shot of Venus and here it is:

Venus - Early Afternoon - 01032009 - 1/200 exposure - Prime Focus

Kind of cool being able to see this planet well before dark. Looks like a miniature half Moon.

Celestron Piggyback Mount for 8", 9.25", 11" and 14" SCT

I have been doing a lot of reading around the ‘net on piggyback astrophotography and I am looking forward to practicing. I have taken some shorter exposures from just the tripod that have turned out OK, but I am guessing with a little practice and a properly aligned scope they will be spectacular.

The nights this week have been cold and clear but the clouds are suppose to roll in today and hang with us for most of the weekend.

Lastnight the weather was good and the sky was clear. I set the C8 scope up in the early afternoon and decided that the focus of this session would be getting myself familiar with the Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager.

I spent a couple of hours in the early evening viewing Venus and Jupiter. I also spent a lot of time practicing focusing on the planets while the camera was attached and trying different configuration options in AMCap, which is the capture software that comes with the Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager, to figure out what works best. I did not get any images lastnight and I was not really trying to, but I did learn alot about the camera and the settings.

I also found a great quick set up guide with some basic instructions on configuring AMCap to use with the NexImage and I have stored it locally here Quick Guide to Capturing Images with the Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager. The originial document can be found at http://www.nexstarsite.com/download/ImagingWithNexImage.pdf

If the weather is nice next weekend I hope to get out an actually get a few images of Jupiter.  Then I will be able to have a go at processing them.