by Gary Honis
Autoguiding of Starmaster Telescopes equipped with the Sky Tracker GOTO system is now possible thanks to the joint efforts of Steve Barkes of "barkoSoftware" and Victor McKeighan of "Sky Engineering".
Starmaster Sky Tracker GOTO: In September 2003, Rick Singmaster of Starmaster Telescopes and Victor McKeighan began providing upgrades of the Starmaster's GOTO Skytracker system to allow for responsive guide corrections for astro imaging. This involved an upgraded Skytracker chip programmed for a new guide rate of 7 arcseconds/second. The new guide rate is also very useful for keeping planetary images well centered while imaging with CCD imagers, digital cameras and web cams.
CLICK HERE for a virtual tour of the Sky Tracker GOTO system on the Starmaster web site.
For images taken with a Canon 10D using the new Sky Tracker guide rate see my Canon 10D Image Gallery.
GuideDog - Webcam Autoguiding Software: In June 2004, Steve Barkes began customizing his GuideDog autoguiding software to support the Sky Tracker GOTO drive system. He worked with Victor McKeighan in the expansion of Sky Tracker Protocol code that would allow GuideDog to autoguide the Starmaster. In September 2004, I tested a beta version of GuideDog using a Philips TouCam webcam. The test was successful using GuideDog's default settings. GuideDog locked on the guide star and autoguided the Starmaster without loss of the guide star.
GuideDog Screen Shot:
Steve Barkes has added a selection for SERIAL guiding in the Starmaster beta of GuideDog (screen shot above). Com 1 through Com 4 can be selected for sending guide correction commands to the Sky Tracker (AUX #2 port). My notebook does not have a serial port, but a USB to serial port adapter is working well for me. The other standard guide functions of GuideDog are available in the beta.
M76 -Little Dumbbell Nebula - First Image using GuideDog to autoguide Starmaster scope with setup as described below:
CLICK HERE for some notes on first use of GuideDog for this image of M76.
My Autoguiding Setup:
A typical imaging session with the Canon 10D or 300D digital SLR involves the following steps:
1. Mount Canon DSLR in Feathertouch Focuser using 2 inch Denkmeier OCS.
2 inch Denkmeier OCS attached to 10D with camera T-ring.
2. Release altitude clutch and balance scope in altitude using velcro strap soft weights hung from the upper cage. If imaging object in the Eastern sky, balance scope so that it is a little front heavy; for an object in the Western sky, balance scope so that it is a little back heavy.
3. Focus Canon DSLR on bright star near object to be imaged using a right angle magnifier (I use an Olympus Varimagnifier).
4. Frame image in Canon DSLR viewfinder using Sky Tracker hand controller.
5. Roughly center guide star, near object to be imaged, in the 102mm guide scope using slow motion controls on the Bogen/Manfrotto 410 Geared Head.
6. Center guide star on notebook display using direction buttons in GuideDog.
7. Use Canon's Remote Capture Software to control and capture exposures directly to notebook using USB cable connection.
8. Use DSLR FOCUS software to trigger bulb exposures via computer parallel port using a parallel cable when using the TouCam; or serial cable when using the SC Modified Vesta webcam.
TO MY MAIN ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY PAGE