Category Archives: Astro Equipment

FireWire/IIDC over USB camera support in oaCapture

Posted on August 14, 2014 by james

I’ve had a cheap little Point Grey monochrome USB Firefly MV camera sitting about for some time. I don’t know if they’re still around, but they used to sell on ebay for not very much. Point Grey are one of … Continue reading →

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AZ3 mount saddle and counterweight mod

Posted on August 14, 2014 by james

There are a couple of things about my AZ3 that I’ve never been happy with. The first is that it has fittings for scope rings rather than a saddle for a dovetail which is a pain if you want to … Continue reading →

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ASI120MM-S first impressions

Posted on August 14, 2014 by james

The ASI120MM-S (and ASI120MC-S) are new versions of the ASI120MM (and ASI120MC) cameras from ZWO with a new USB3 interface rather than the USB2 interface in the original models. Mine arrived a few weeks ago though I’ve had no chance … Continue reading →

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Support for Imaging Source cameras on OSX in oaCapture

Posted on August 14, 2014 by james

I’ve done a fair bit of hacking on Ken Tossell’s userspace UVC camera library of late, adding support for bulk mode transfers, extending support for some other features and fixing a few bugs.  That doesn’t necessarily help me on Linux, … Continue reading →

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Planetary imaging on a MacBook/OSX

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

Well, ok, so I’ve not actually done it, but it should at least now be possible using oaCapture. Using a bundle of bits from the macports repository I now have oaCapture building on 64-bit OSX and it appears to work … Continue reading →

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Revelation/Skywatcher SCT dual speed R&P focuser motor drive conversion

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

Part of the reason for modding the Skywatcher motor drive kit to fit my Revelation dual speed crayford that I’d previously modded to fit my PST was as a trial run for doing a similar mod to the Revelation dual … Continue reading →

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Revelation/Skywatcher SCT dual speed focuser motor drive conversion

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

Last year I modded my PST, replacing the “black box” with a slightly modded Revelation dual-speed Crayford that was originally intended for SCTs. I’ve been meaning to do a motor drive conversion for some time and had bought a second-hand … Continue reading →

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oaCapture QHY5L-II support

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

Note quite there, but very nearly (for the mono camera, at least).  The splitting of the frame clearly means there’s an issue somewhere, but it can’t be too hard to get sorted.

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DIY dew controller

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

I can’t take credit for this idea.  I had to bite the bullet and sort out some dew control stuff because my C9.25 dews up even if there’s a forecast for a clear sky.  A few people have mentioned making … Continue reading →

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Time for a new white light solar filter

Posted on August 13, 2014 by james

I’ve had a white light solar filter made from Baader ND5.0 film (two, in fact) for several years and one of them was starting to look rather tatty so I decided it was time to make another.  Baader’s instructions suggest … Continue reading →

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