My Nexstar 11GPS, Images and Information

 

 

MY EQUIPMENT/SOFTWARE

 

*   Celestron Nexstar 11GPS f/10 SCT, a fork mounted GOTO telescope

*   SBIG ST-8XE NABG CCD camera

*   SBIG CFW8A color filter wheel with Astrodon LRGB filter set and Astronomik 13nm Ha filter

*   Celestron f/6.3 focal reducer for wider fields of view

*   Takahashi FS-78 f/8.1 refractor telescope for wide field images and viewing

*   Home built 2.0Ghz Intel based observatory computer for imaging and telescope control

*   UltraVNC Server and Viewer for remote operation of scope and camera

*   SBIG CCDOps software for camera control and image reduction

*   Software Bisque CCDSoft for camera control and image reduction

*   CCDWare’s CCDAutopilot software for automated image acquisition

*   Astroart 4.0 for camera control, reduction, and processing

*   Software Bisque The Sky Ver. 5 and 6 Level IV for telescope control and planetarium use

      *   Photoshop  CS3 for image processing

*   NexRemote Virtual Hand Controller and Logitech Wingman Wireless Gamepad for remote wireless telescope operation

*   APT Heavy duty wedge (see review below)

      *   The Dogpatch II Roll off Roof Observatory (see links below)

      *   Orion 127mm Mak-Cass telescope

      *   Celestron Advanced Series GoTo (AS-GT) GEM mount

      *   DMK21AU04 CCD Camera for solar and planetary imaging

      *   NexImage CCD web-camera for lunar and planetary imaging

      *   Lunt  60mm Ha scope with 12mm Blocking Filter

 

 

*   The New Dogpatch II Observatory

 

*   The Dogpatch II picture update page

 

*   CCD Images taken with the Nexstar and an ST-8XE

 

*   My flexible Dew Shield modification

 

*  The Celestron Heavy Duty Wedge Modification (anti-racking)

 

*  A review of the APT Wedge and link to comparison pictures of it

 

For the beginner or curious, some of the best web sites I've found for doing these functions:

 

*   Balancing an SCT… http://www.starizona.com/basics/balfork.cfm

     

*   Collimating an SCT… http://home.att.net/~starastronomy/Astrophotos/Articles/SCT-Collimation/sct-collimation.html

     

*   Drift aligning an SCT… http://www.darkskyimages.com/gpolar.html

 

     *  How to disassemble the azimuth axis to down to the clutch assembly

 

 

 

Some Links:

 

Nexstar Info or Commercial Links
Nexstar Users/Imagers

*   Celestron Nexstar section

*   Matthias Bopp

*   Mike Swanson’s Info pages

*   Vernon Riley

*   Cloudy Nights Telescope Reviews

*   Mike Ziedler

*   Yahoo NexstarGPS Egroup

*   Jose Suro

*   Rod Mollise’s Astro Land

 

*   Starizona

 

*   Hands on Optics

 

*   Texas Nautical Repair (Takahashi)

 

*   Science and Hobbies (Great prices)

 

*   APT Astro

 

*   Robofocus and Focusmax

 

 

 

 

Some of my other links on this site:

 

*   The Original Dogpatch Observatory (1997-1998)

 

*   My Work for NASA and Swales Aerospace (1963-2002)

     

*   My Boating and Fishing Page

 

*   Links (Astronomy, Electronics, etc.)