AutoClub
05-May-2007, 01:25 AM
I have a Meade Lunar Planetary Imager which I have used numerous times and have received "fair" results with it when attached to a 5" refractor. I want to be able to autoguide my Losmandy G11 mount. It is the newest type G11 with the Gemini built-in from the factory with Level 3 software, and has the round DIN cables for the Dec and R.A. motor controllers, not the flat wires which the older style Gemini units have.
I have spoken with Scott Losmandy, the manufacturer of the G11, and he did not know directly if the LPI would work. I was concerned that I would need a relay box, or some type of isolation between a laptop computer and the G11 itself. He assured me it would not need this, and that I would not damage the G11's autoguider port/hardware, but didn't know if the LPI would work as an autoguider.
Scott also indicated that apparently the majority of astrophotographers that he is aware of use SBIG cameras as autoguiders. That makes sense, but I don't want to spend $1000's to buy a dedicated CCD camera if the LPI will work for my humble photography imaging. I currently use a Canon 20D attached to a second scope on a Losmandy duplex plate, and don't really want to spend time staring into a high power eyepiece trying to manually keep a star centered between reticle lines.
My question is: Has anyone on this forum tried to or been successful autoguiding a newer type Losmandy G11 Gemini with an LPI? And, was it worth trying to use the LPI, or should I just scrap the entire idea and sit there hunched over an eyepiece? I'm not talking about extremely long images. I imagine the longest I would want to go would probably be 8-12 minutes (assuming I can take all my stuff to a dark site where that long an exposure would not be overexposed), and I know the mount's PEC is not accurate enough to give me pinpoint star images for that long of an exposure if the unit is not guided in some manner.
Any help anyone could give would be greatly appreciated. :) Thanks!
Clear skies!
Paul
I have spoken with Scott Losmandy, the manufacturer of the G11, and he did not know directly if the LPI would work. I was concerned that I would need a relay box, or some type of isolation between a laptop computer and the G11 itself. He assured me it would not need this, and that I would not damage the G11's autoguider port/hardware, but didn't know if the LPI would work as an autoguider.
Scott also indicated that apparently the majority of astrophotographers that he is aware of use SBIG cameras as autoguiders. That makes sense, but I don't want to spend $1000's to buy a dedicated CCD camera if the LPI will work for my humble photography imaging. I currently use a Canon 20D attached to a second scope on a Losmandy duplex plate, and don't really want to spend time staring into a high power eyepiece trying to manually keep a star centered between reticle lines.
My question is: Has anyone on this forum tried to or been successful autoguiding a newer type Losmandy G11 Gemini with an LPI? And, was it worth trying to use the LPI, or should I just scrap the entire idea and sit there hunched over an eyepiece? I'm not talking about extremely long images. I imagine the longest I would want to go would probably be 8-12 minutes (assuming I can take all my stuff to a dark site where that long an exposure would not be overexposed), and I know the mount's PEC is not accurate enough to give me pinpoint star images for that long of an exposure if the unit is not guided in some manner.
Any help anyone could give would be greatly appreciated. :) Thanks!
Clear skies!
Paul