Welcome

ZWO AM5 - Strain wave Gear mount and carbon fibre tripod. I changed from a Celstron CGX mount because it was to heavy! This new ZWO AM5 mount is great! It's light, tracks really well, connects to the imaging computer (ASI Air Pro) via wifi and holds a 9.25" SCT with ease! (albeit with a counter weight attached). 

Celestron 925 Edge HD SCT OTA. 

A great 'all-rounder'. Long focal length (2350mm) at F10. Can remove the secondary mirror (the one in the lens on the front) and fit a 'faststar' imaging system and camera to get to F2. The 'Edge HD' refers to optics that give a 'flat field' all the way to the edge of the image. Without this, the edges of images can appear elongated or blurry.

Celestron 0.7x Focal Reducer

Reduces the native F10 of the 925 SCT OTA to F7 for quicker light gathering, enabling shorter imaging sessions to gather the same amount of light. Also reduces the overall focal length.

2" Optolong filter drawer. 

Enables filters to be placed into the imaging train without having to unscrew everything.

ZWO ASI2600 MC Pro

Dedicated 'one shot colour' (OSC) astrophotography camera with built in sensor cooling and anti-dew system. Quicker than using a mono camera that requires red, green and blue filters to be used to get a colour image.

ZWO EAF

Automatic focuser. Helps get good focus and automatically refocusses throughout the night  as the focal point changes due to changes in temperature.

ZWO ASIAir Pro dedicated astro imaging computer. Runs the complete imaging process

  - Polar align the mount

- Run and Auto Focuser

- Centre the imaging object

- Auto guiding to precisely track the object

- Runs the camera imaging sequence

All runs over WiFi with the ASI Air app. 

ZWO ASI 120MC-S USB 3.0 Colour Camera

Used for auto-guiding and also very good from fast-frame-rate video of planetary imaging.

Astro Essentials 32mm f/4 Mini Guide Scope

Paired with the ZWO ASI 120MC-S camera to provide auto-guiding. This enables the mount to precisely track the object being imaged.

ZWO ASI Air imaging computer control app

Enables control over all aspects of the imaging sequence and equipment, including all cameras, the focuser and the mount. WiFi link to an iPad.

Various 2" Filters 

Main filters used are:

- IDAS LPS-D3 light pollution filter

- Optolong L-Enhance Ha, Hb, OIII

Heated dew shields to help stop dew forming on the optics of the OTA and the guiding scope.

ZWO ASI 120 Mini

Mono guide camera for use with the Off-Aixs-Guider. Mono camera gives better resolution making it easier to find a good guide-star using an Off-Aixs-Guider (OAG).

ZWO Off-Aixs-Guider (OAG)

An Off-Axis-Guider takes a light feed from the main telescope and feeds it to a guide camera. This has the advantage of keeping your guide-focal length the same as your main telescope, which should improve your guiding. They are, however, a little more tricky to set up than using a standard guide scope. You have to make sure the prism isn't blocking the light path to the camera sensor, or you get a dark shadow in your image!

ZWO Helical Focuser

A focuser for the off-axis guiding camera. Very useful! 

Wide field of view and short focal length for capturing larger objects (like the big nebula). Specifically designed for astrophotography: built in field flattener (gives a flat field of view right to the edge of the image), built in correction for chromatic aberration (ensures all waves lengths of light - colours - focus to the same point on the camera sensor), camera rotator - let's you frame up the image in the shot. Fast at F5.6. Built in dew shield, although I've still needed a dew heater strap. Easy to use, quick to set up and simple to get good results quickly. Highly recommended!

No need to worry about back-focus and works very well with the the EAF. A dew heater is needed (not shown) as even with the extended dew shield, I still get condensation on the lens.

Great scope with pin sharp pictures. No need to worry about back-focus! Really pleased with it!

I made a dedicated LiPo battery power pack to deliver power to the mount, cameras, EAF, imaging computer and dew shields. It lasts up to 8 hours from one charge.

It can get quite cold when setting up and adjusting everything throughout the night!