Astronomy Log

In the past I have attached the Skywatcher Auto Focusers to my Skywatcher ED120 and ED80 DS-Pro models, so as soon as I purchased a new Skywatcher Equinox 66 I immediately went out and purchased another Skywatcher Auto Focuser and set to work attaching it to my Equinox 66.

These simple jobs rarely are simple as I was about to find out. The main problem I previously had with the DS-Pro models was that you had to completely remove the focuser in order to attach the DC motor part to the pin part of the focuser. This time with the Equinox 66 this problem also occurred – but so did the issue that the bracket supplied with the Skywatcher Auto Focuser does not fit/line up with the screw holes found on the underneath of the Equinox 66.

But don’t worry with a couple of extra drill holes in the bracket and some bashing of the bracket with a hammer the attachment of the Skywatcher Auto Focuser to a Skywatcher Equinox 66mm telescope is possible.

Step 1:

Remove the focuser knob from the single speed side of the telescope focuser by inserting an allen key into the hole of the focuser and loosening it.

Step 2:

Drill the extra 2 holes required in the bracket so that they match the screw positions on the bottom of the Equinox 66.

Step 3:

Now completely or as best you can loosen all the screws that attach the focuser to the telescope, you should then be able to move the focuser at an angle, or remove it completely. Slide on the DC motor onto the pin and tighten it with the supplied allen key. Make sure you tighten it in the right position by either laying the bracket in position or by actually fitting the bracket first to see if the screw holes line up between both parts.

Step 4:

With the motor in place now attach the bracket by using the 4 new screws supplied with the Auto Focuser. Be careful not to dislodge and lose the small rubber washers inside the telescope focuser when tightening everything up.

Step 5:

Now bring together the bracket and the DC motor and try screwing both parts together with the thumbscrews and metal washers provided with the Auto Focuser. If they do not align up very well, then you will need to remove the bracket and change the angle of the bracket to bend it to the correct position. I used a hammer for this.

The End: You should now have it completed. Just try it out.

One of the main problems I found with Maxim DL when setting up the Autosequences was that if I set it up to do LRGB imaging and repeated each filter by say 20 times, instead of Maxim doing 20 frames in Red, then moving onto the Green filter to do 20 frames, it would do 1 frame in Red and then move onto 1 frame in Green and then onto Blue etc etc.

This seems a bit crazy and it also means your filter wheel is constantly on the move and it may wear down your filter wheel faster than you think.

Another downside to this is that you really want to take all your frames through one filter then take your flats for that filter, as the filter wheel may not move the filter back into exactly the same position again once you have moved filters.

To stop Maxim DL doing this choose the option “Group by Slot”.

It can be found by clicking on the ‘Autosave’ button on the ‘Expose’ tab then when in the Autosave Setup screen choose ‘Options’ and select ‘Group by Slot’.

For ages my Meade Handset on my LX200 GPS telescope has been very unresponsive to key presses. I always find myself having to hammer the keys in order to get the handset to register the key press.

But I did not want to buy a new Meade handset as they are so expensive, so I was glad to find some details on the internet on how to clean the handset.

All you need to do this is some cotton wool buds and some alcohol.

Begin by unscrewing the 4 screws on the back of the handset, then remove the rear plastic case cover which contains the red light plastic cover.

You will how find that the front of the handset and the main motherboard are joined by a ribbon type cable, so be careful not to stress this cable as the cable is not that long.

I then began by dipping my cotton bud into the alcohol and gently rubbing each of the contacts in turn and then using another cotton wool bud in order to dry and further clean the contact.

There are quite a few contacts to clean, so you may find yourself using quite a few cotton buds, but you should visibly see the dirt on the cotton wool buds.

After doing all the contacts on the main board, I then cleaned the black rubbery dots on the back of the keys using the same method.

After finishing I then put everything back together and made sure that the ribbon cable does not get put in front of the main lcd screen, as otherwise you will see the ribbon cable in the window and some of your wording on the handset will look strange. I did this first and then noticed it when I attached the handset to the telescope and turned it on. I then took the handset apart and repositioned the ribbon cable.

Once I tried the handset with the LX200 I was then amazed at how responsive the keys then were. This is definitely a quick and simple little job to undertake if your Meade handset keys are also not working so well.

I also recorded a video on what I did to clean the Meade handset, and it can be found below:

Since the weather has been very cold lately I thought about putting in a warm type of partition in the observatory to keep me warm whilst imaging, but I knew there was a way to remotely control your PC, as a lot of people do it, now I know how and it did not cost me a penny.

There are services on the web who will charge you a fee so you can access your PC from anywhere – such as GoToMyPC etc. But there are other ways as well.

The first thing I looked at was using the program “LogMeIn Free” which is a free program you install on both machines, there is also the free VNC servers, such as TightVNC or UltraVNC.

But I found that Microsoft Windows has ‘Remote Desktop Connection’ and it’s really easy to set up.

The only downside is that ‘Remote Desktop Connection’ on the host computer (the one you are trying to connect to) must be a XP Professional, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate edition.

You can use any Windows version on the client machine (the remote one that you are using). I even connect to my observatory PC via my Samsung Netbook which runs Windows 7 Starter edition!

If you have the correct version of Windows on both the remote PC and the local control PC or laptop. All you need to do is (this is what I did on XP Pro):

1. Create a user account on the remote PC and give it a password
2. On the remote PC right click on My Computer on the desktop and go to ‘Properties’ and then choose the ‘Remote’ tab. Then make sure the ‘Allow users to remotely connect to this PC’ is checked.
3. Now go to your other PC and go to ‘Programs -> Accessories -> Remote Desktop Connection’, now enter your IP address in the computer field and enter the username you set up on your remote PC.
4. If you now click ‘Connect’ and everything is setup properly the remote PC desktop will appear on your screen.

I know there is nothing like being next to the telescope to sort things out, but in the future if it’s doing a long imaging run, I may leave the observatory and just check up on the imaging run via my laptop in the more comfortable and warmer house.

After buying my A4 sheet of Baader solar filter paper I have been making all sorts of filters.

The last of which has been a solar filter for my Canon 450D digital SLR camera, but my method of construction will work for any SLR camera, as its really simple.

I started with a flower shaped lens hood. I bought the lens hood a while back cheaply from someone in China on eBay, I think it only cost a few pounds.

I then cut out two circular pieces of cardboard to put either side of the circular solar filter paper. I cut them to fit just inside the lens hood. I then cut out the circular solar paper.

Cutting the solar paper can be a pain, it is best to cut the filter paper between two other sheets of paper and then remember that there is a really thin piece of transparent film on the solar paper which needs to be removed once the shape has been cut out.

I previously used scissors to cut out the solar paper, but for this attempt I used a very sharp scalpel.

I then placed squares of double sided sellotape around the cardboard circles, in order to hold the cardboard onto the solar paper, be careful not to get fingerprints on the solar paper.

Then place the filter into the lens hood and I just used standard sellotape to tape the cardboard part of the filter to the plastic sides of the lens hood.

I then screwed on my new solar filter and took an image, usually I would take video of the sun with a CCD camera and then stack the results to get a final image. This time I took the sun image below with my DSLR at a setting of 1/4000th second at ISO100 with my 300mm lens.

I then played about a little with the brightness and contrast and colour levels with a photo editor program.

You can just make out two sunspots (1080) on the top right handside.

I have seen these pleasing images where the stars have spikes coming out of them, most notably on the pleiades (seven sisters) images.

I want to be able to get these in my images as well, and now I have found out how to get them by using a diffraction mask on my LX200.

Today I decided to make some by using some plywood left over from my observatory build.

Here is a list of the raw materials I used:

1. Plywood
2. 8x Screws
3. Spare length of wood (24″)
4. 2ft Washing Line
5. Black Wood Paint (optional)

I began by taking the LX200 telescope metal cover and drawing a circle around that thinking that would be just right, although after then cutting it out with a jigsaw I found out that it was far too big.

So I went back and just measured the diameter of the telescope and then found an old style school compass to draw the circle on the wood.

I then cut out the circle using my electric jigsaw.

I then cut down the piece of plywood into one manageable piece, with about 1.5 inches to spare around the sides of the hole.

Next I cut four lengths of some rough timber I had spare which was used on a previous gardening job. You don’t have to add this part, but I did because I wanted the mask to sit back from the front of the telescope, plus these pieces of wood at every side allowed me to make the mask fit snugly around the scope.

I then screwed the pieces of wood with 2 screws on each of the 4 pieces of wood, although I only used 1 screw on 2 pieces of wood so that I could still move the pieces of wood once the mask was on the telescope to fit them even more snugly against the scope.

Now go back to the telescope and place the mask on the front and mark on the blocks of wood you have just attached to the mask where the screws are on the LX200. You should have a screw in each of the four corners of the cover that holds the main front glass in place on the front of the telescope.

Doing this will mean that your washing line crosshairs will be exactly in the centre on the mask.

I then cut 2 feet of washing line from our main home washing line, although you could go out and buy this. I then cut the 2 foot piece into 2 x 1ft pieces.  I tied a knot at one end of each pieces of the washing line.

Now drill holes with an electric drill all the way through the blocks of woods at the location you previously placed your telescope screw marks.

Thread the washing line through one of the holes. To hold the other end of the washing line in place I could have used wing nuts or bolts, but I did not have any, so I used a piece of dowelling, and hammered this into the holes to hold the washing line in place.

I then tried the mask on the LX200 to make sure the washing line crosshairs were exactly centered.

On my first attempt they were not so I had to re-drill some more holes and re-thread the washing line, then they were perfect.

Here is the unpainted mask on my 10″ LX200 telescope.

I then painted the mask by using some black wood paint from Wilkinsons.

Hopefully I will now get the chance to try the diffraction spike mask out and see what images I get.

I am starting to get quite excited about having Comet Lulin to image, so if your like me and want to know how to plan your observing or astrophotography then you’ll need to know how to find Comet Lullin in the sky.

I began using an old version of Starry Night Pro, but that would not show me the comet. So I decided to install Stellarium again on my laptop. By default Comet Lulin is also not in Steallarium, but I did find a way to map it into Stellarium.

Install Stellarium, if you have not already

Located the ssystem.ini file in the data folder where you installed Stellarium

Edit the file and place the following text at the end of the file:

[Lulin]
name = Lulin
parent = Sun
radius = 1000
oblateness = 0.0
halo = true
color = 1.0,1.0,1.0
tex_halo = star16x16.png
tex_map = nomap.png
coord_func = comet_orbit
orbit_TimeAtPericenter = 2454842.1414
orbit_PericenterDistance = 1.212289
orbit_Eccentricity = 0.999987
orbit_ArgOfPericenter = 136.8614
orbit_AscendingNode = 338.5353
orbit_Inclination = 178.3730
lighting = false
albedo = 1
sidereal_period =

Then save the file and re-start Stellarium

Use the search facility in Stellarium to locate the Comet Lulin

Lulin is also in the Meade Autostar database as C/2007 N3 Lulin, so if you are outside already it should GoTo it, otherwise just connect your telescope to a computer and do an update within the Autostar program.

After buying my Panasonic SD9 HD camcorder I was thinking if it could be used for astronomy. I wondered if I would have to take a trip to my local astronomy store to see if they had anything in stock to allow me to connect my camcorder to my LX200 telescope.

In the same way you use a Ring on an SLR camera with a T mount I thought there may be the same thing for my camcorder, I definitely did not want one of the metal contraptions that are used to attach compact digital cameras to telescopes (more commonly known as an Ultra Afocal Digital Camera Support).

The Panasonic SD9 camcorder has a 37mm thread. Luckily I took a chance and ordered an adaptor, and I am so happy to say it worked. It is a 37mm adaptor to a T-mount. Which means that you can connect it to the Meade T-adaptor or any other connections such as a focal reducer and then onto the telescope.

The SD9 camcorder allows you to screw in the 37mm adaptor directly to the front of the camcorder, as shown in this accompanying image, although there is only space for the adaptor to be threaded on for about two turns.

Although there is another way to connect the adaptor to the camcorder.

If you unscrew the silver lens cover there is a deeper 37mm thread depth available underneath it, and the adaptor can be attached to this, as shown in the image. 

The only downside to doing this is that you must be careful to not damage the camcorder lens as there is no protection for it. 

With there being a chance of scratching the lens whilst out in the dark fumbling about, I have ordered an UV 37mm screw-in lens for the camcorder in order to protect the camcorders lens.

Now I just need to try and do some videoing with the camcorder attached to the telescope to see what I get.

I recently purchased a Hursch f6.6 focal reducer which just came in a cardboard case type box with a cleaning cloth. I also have a Meade f3.3 focal reducer but this came in a plastic bolt case.

I put a wanted ad for a plastic focal reducer bolt case on astrobuysell and I also called into ScopesnSkies to see if they had one, but they did not. 

But last week I saw some cake decoration boxes in the kitchen, and thought they may be perfect!

They are the half size cake decoration boxes that contain sugar stars, silver balls etc. from companies such as Supercook and Dr Oetker. So I removed the outer packaging and cleaned the inside out.

I then cut out some thin foam and glued it into the case and then placed my focal reducer in and it fitted perfectly. The focal reducer does only fit one way up though, but is now airtight.

I was quite amazed to find out that Meade still only allow you one way to connect your telescope to your PC, which is via an RS232 cable / 9 pin cable, the other end plugs into the RS232 slot on the LX200 base.

I would have thought by now that Meade may have added Firewire or USB to the LX200 range, but I must admit that RS232 is such a well known standard that it could be used for a while yet.

The only problem with serial connections on a PC is that some newer PC Desktops don’t have serial connections on their motherboards anymore, as I found out when I built my own new Core Duo PC earlier this year. Although most people probably don’t use a desktop PC with their Meade Telescopes unless they have PCs in their observatories, they would probably instead have a laptop. Another problem is that most newer laptops also don’t have serial connections, it seems now that the newer the laptop the less ports it actually has.

So what can you do? Well you’ll probably need a USB to Serial cable or adaptor. I went for the cable and purchased it on eBay. Once I had received the cable from Hong Kong which cost me about £4 including delivery I had to install the drivers. I found that the accompanying mini CD would not actually be read by my laptop cd drive, so I hunted around the internet for drivers, and I tried absoultely loads, but none of them worked, in the end I put the mini CD in my desktop PC and it read the disc ok.

But because some people may not have more than one PC I shall place the driver I used on this page in case I or anyone else needs it in the future.

The CD that came with the adaptor contained many different adaptors, but luckily the code of the driver folder required is actually the name on the adaptor cable at the serial end on the plastic sleeve.

USB to RS232 Serial Adaptor Driver

HS-232-340.exe – USB to RS232 Cable Adaptor Driver for Windows

Setting up your PC and Meade Software

Then just connect the cable you purchased to the supplied Meade LX200 cable and adaptor.

The Serial connection defaulted to COM Port 5, although the Meade software only really gives you the choices of COM1 – COM4, so I changed the COM port of the cable on the PC in properties of the cable to COM1 for ease of use.

Make sure that your PC COM port is set to the same as the Meade software Com port in order to get the telescope to talk to the PC.

The first thing I did once I got the PC drivers installed was to update the Autostar software to 4.2g and to upload the latest autostar tours, comets, asteroids and satellites. All of which were easy to install via the Meade control panel on the PC.

I finished off by updating my Autostar Update (AUS) Client Application Software to Version 4.6 on my PC, but you don’t need a usb to serial cable to do this.