Tasco 1603EF focus motor on SkyWatcher SK1309EQ2 telescope | Tasco 160EF manual focus clutch button |
Novice astronomer and photographer near Dundee, Scotland, starting out with his first telescope. Also dissects webcams & puts them in bird boxes, and tinkers with Raspberry Pi projects.
Saturday 22 December 2012
Tasco 1603EF focus motor on SkyWatcher SK1309EQ2 telescope
Since I was having trouble with astrophotography focussing my telescope via the webcam, I decided to try out a motorised focus control - sometimes misleading called an automatic focuser. I found the Tasco 1603EF for about £20 all in on eBay, which seemed worth a try with my SkyWatcher Explorer 130M, also known as the SK1309EQ2. I was expecting a little tinkering might be needed but fitting it was extremely straightforward. SkyWatcher do sell their own focus motor at about £50, but it was unclear if this would fit my telescope.
Saturday 1 December 2012
Webcam telescope image of Jupiter & Moons
It is winter again, and the upside to it getting dark before 5pm is many more chances for astronomy. This week I had my SkyWatcher telescope out again, and captured a few images of Jupiter and its moons using the XBox Live Vision webcam.
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