Equipment Used at SVO
The current telescope I use is a 0.20m SCT, Meade LX-200. I'm hoping to upgrade to the newer LX-200 GPS 0.30m or 0.35m Meade. The greater light gathering power of the larger optics will help me go deeper on my CCD images which seem to be limited to 17 magnitude with the 0.20m scope. Another benifit of the newer GPS mounts is the Park command and SMT fireware update.
Here is a view of the current telescope with SBIG ST-9E camera attached. The ST-9E is 512x512 pixels 20 microns on a side. At f/10 this gives me 2.09"/pixel resolution. The CCD also has a built in autoguilder chip, a patented trademark of the SBIG company. They made many different CCD's and their products and service arre the best from what I've read and experienced. I do wish they would come out with a micro-lens upgrade for the ST-9E to make it more sensitive.
In this picture you can see the Roo-focus stepper motor focuser installed on the JMI NGF-S focuser. I just installed this new Robo-focus on 25 April 2004, it replaced the JMI Smart Focus with servo motor. This stepper motor setup is more acurate. I currently have it calibrated for 2 microsteps with a 3 microsep pause which gives me a total of 1684 steps for full movement of the focuser. In CCDSoft I have it set to a large step size of 20 and small 2. Using @Focus within CCDSoft I get a very reliable focus everytime now.
I have been messing around with FocusMaz but that program gives me problems with CCDSoft, maybe it would would better with MaxiumDL/CDD? Currently I get better focus from @Focus than I do with FocusMaz.
