Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Focuser Slip

Before I sent the PL16070 camera back to FLI, I wanted to image Markarian's Chain. But somehow I could not get focus. When I ran SGP's autofocus routine, it go all the way to focus position 2, but not build a V-shape anymore. As I needed to send the camera backanyway, I didn't want to spend too much time analyzing what happened. But when I put my SX H694 camera back on, I had the same effect. When I then checked the scope, I could see that despite position 2, the focuser was not completely in! Apprarently, the weight of the ProLine camera (5.6 lbs compared to 2.8 lbs for the MicroLine cameras) pulled too much on the robofocuser making it slip.
Seems like I'm pushing my luck a little bit with my current setup. Maybe I should think about a better focuser after all. Or replace my OAG with a guide scope.

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