Right Declination Astrophotography: Equipment

GM2000 Mount -10Micron

This is the latest addition to my Equipment, Its the 10Micron GM2000 that is replacing my old AP1100Goto. It has a payload capacity of 55Kilos a bit better then the AP and with encodes on both axis RA & DEC.

Dome - New Setup

New Pier

First Setup -10Micron 1000

FLI Profile 16803

QSI 632wsg-CCD Camera. Starlight Xpress M25C, H964 Mono, Takahashi 106ED (Q), APM 130/1200, Celestron 9.25" EDGE HD and other smaller scope. Astr-Physics 1100GTO,
EQ6 pro German Equatorial Mount

The QSI 632wsg camera mounted on a Celestron 9.25" Delex CDC telescope and EQ6 Pro German Equatorial mount. The cabling consist of AC power cord and a dual HDMI cable is the only connections between the monitor table and the telescope. The unit is mounted on the Tripod at the top. This reduced significantly the amount of cables between the table and the telescope. The mount power supply and 12 V power supply is in plastic boxes on the bottom of the telescope.

The setup with a Windows 7 laptop computer took a lot of time to cable up the telescope to the table with the Windows 7 laptop computer and power supplies.

Camera

The QSI 632wsg-CCD camera is a cooled camera used for astrophotography imaging.
- Filter wheel
  - Position 1-4 Astrodon 5nm LRGB
  - Position 5 Astrodon 5nm Ha
  - Position 6 Astrodon 5nm OIII
  - Position 7 Astrodon 5nm SII
  - Position
QSI 632wsg-CCD Camera Specifications
The QSI 632wsgCCD Camera uses a Kodak KAF-3200ME CCD sensor that is optimize for scientific measurements with its linear response.
The camera has very high quantum efficiency (PDF) using Kodak Enhanced Spectral Response and Microlens technology.
- Kodak KAF-3200ME (PDF data sheet) Full Frame CCD sensor
- CCD sensor size 14.85mm x 10.26mm
- 6.8µm × 6.8µm pixel size
- 2184 x 1472 active pixel array (3,214,848 total pixels)
- 16-bit A/D conversion
- Thermoelectric cooling
- USB 2 interface to computer
- QSI Manual and documentation web page

Telescope

Takahashi 106 ed (Q)

The astrophotographers see in the FSQ-106ED one of the best astrographes available for the amateur astronomers. With its focal length of 530mm, an image circle of 88mm and a photographic field of 9,5°, it acts as teleobjective for most powerful CCD and DSR/DSLR cameras of the market.
Based on a Petzval quadruplet optical design with apochromatic ED glasses, the FSQ-106ED is optimized for wide-field imaging of the deep sky. It offers a flat field, and comes equiped with a built-in camera angle adjuster and an oversized rack-and-pinion focuser. To minimize the size of the optical tube, it includes a retractable dewshield and an important backfocus.

Takahashi 106ed

Takahashi 250
F/5
Reducer

Celestron HD 925
f/10 configuration
- 235 mm (9.25") aperture
- 2350mm focal length
- f/10 focal ratio
f/6.2 configuration
- Optec, Inc Lepus 0.62X telecompressor with 19392-67 T-thread mounting adapter

1457mm focal length
f/6.2 focal ratio
The Field of view 35.04 x 23.62 arcmin
Image scale 0.96 arcsec/pix.
The aluminum tray on the front of the HD 925 is for holding the flat field panel (Spike-aTM Flat Fielder).

Kendrick Astro Instruments Dew remover system
50 mm visual finder with 1X finder mounted on its side
- Nixon 60A camera
- T-ring to Nikon lens adapter
- 20 mm T-ring tube
- 2 mm T-ring spacer
- 20 mm T-ring holder
- Low profile T-ring to DSI Pro III adapter
- Adjustable camera mount

Guiding

Guide camera is Starlight Xpress Lodstar x2
Guiding software is Maxim DL 6
Guiding telescope is Takahashi 60mm
- 60mm f/5.8 ED,
- 350 mm focal length

Telescope Mount

Astro-Physics 1100GTO German Equatorial Mount (1100GTO)
- Astro-Physics DOVELM2 8.5" Dovetail for Losmandy D Series Plate
- Astro-Physics 1200RPA Precision-Adjust Rotating Pier Adapter with Azimuth Bearing
- Astro-Physics 10X48P Pier for 1200 Mount
- Astro-Physics PS15V10AC 15 VOLT - 10 AMP Load Regulated Power Supply
- Astro-Physics 18SCWT 18 lb. and 5SCWT 5 lb. counterweights
Astro-Physics GTOCP3 Control Box