![]() The exposure captured using the primary imaging camera is not negatively affected whatsoever, thanks to the design of the pick-out prism. This ingenious design allows you to use the same starfield that is being imaged as the one being used for guiding adjustments. Inside of the guider body lies a prism, this prism lets light pass through it to the primary camera sensor, as well as send starlight up to the guide camera. In this scenario, I need to use the supplied spacer that comes with the Lumicon Easy Guider for the correct spacing. When autoguiding with the iOptron SkyGuider Pro and the ASIair, you need to select On-Camera-ST4 in the telescope settings.īecause I am using a one-shot-color dedicated astronomy camera, I am not using a filter wheel like I would with a monochrome camera. I was unable to connect to the ASIair using the SkyGuider Pro at the time of writing, but the ZWO support team has provided assistance to get me sorted out for next time! This monochrome guide camera not only fits perfectly into the Lumicon Easy Guider but can be controlled using the ZWO ASIair app along with my primary imaging camera. My guide camera is another ZWO ASI camera, the ASI290mm Mini. The Easy Guider has an internal pick-out prism, which directs some of the light passing through the telescope to the guide camera I have fitted to the Easy Guider. The Lumicon Easy Guider sits between my ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera and the 2″ adapter of my telescope. There are more benefits to off-axis guiding over a small auxiliary telescope setup, but first I’ll discuss the exact OAG I am using with my William Optics RedCat 51 refractor telescope. In this post, I’ll use a Lumicon Easy Guider to guide my equatorial telescope mount for astrophotography. Even small adjustments to the camera position can make the difference between sharp stars that are perfect for guiding, and ones that are completely out of focus. The only challenging part was finding the right focus position for the guide camera. This system utilizes a Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 guide camera, and it has worked exceptionally well from day one. The Lumicon Easy Guider, a Starlight Xpress filter wheel, and an off-axis guider to autoguide my Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro telescope mount (shown below). What is an Off-Axis Guider (OAG)?Īn off-axis guider (OAG) sends starlight to your guide camera using an internal pick-off prism that collects light running off of the telescope axis.Īn OAG allows you to utilize your primary imaging camera and telescope for autoguiding, without the need for an additional guide scope.Īt the time of writing, I have used two of-axis guiders for astrophotography. ![]() Off-axis guiding with the iOptron SkyGuider Pro. Simply put, autoguiding allows you to take longer tracked exposures that are free of trailing. This can include the periodic error of the equatorial telescope mount, wind, and even polar alignment. An autoguiding configuration can dramatically improve the tracking accuracy of your existing equatorial telescope mount.Īutoguiding can correct problems that come up when you’re trying to track the night sky as accurately as possible. When it comes to long exposure deep-sky astrophotography, autoguiding is often a necessary step towards collecting sharp images on a consistent basis. ![]()
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