Installing Upgrades

The following were upgrades to the original OTA that have been critical for ccd work

The original rack and pinion 1.25" focuser was removed and replaced with a 2" crayford and ultimately a variable speed crayford from Moonlite Telescope Accessories

The motofocus option which now comes with software control was added later. Analysis of the original optical system showed that the actual prime focal plane was several inches away from the OTA. The 1.25" aperture of the original focus tube was not letting all of the light cone into the tube! Increasing the size to 2" alleviated that problem. Additionally the combination of narrow tube plus long optical train was not going to accomodate any additional weight in terms of cameras, etc very effectively, if at all! The folks from Moonlite were able to help me customize a system that would work. Shown here is the perfect solution. A wide rock-solid base with segments that can be added or removed easily! As it turned out serendipitously, the focal plane position which was originally felt to be too far away, was just right as it allows for adequate infocus to position a ccd camera and backfocus to allow for barlow magnification.

A dovetail plate system was installed for addition of smaller secondary scopes. Currently an Orion ED80 is being used. Luckily the Celestron 14 dovetail system from Losmandy Astronomical Products was a perfect fit! The left image shows one of the 2 'radius blocks' fastened onto one of the rings. The plate is easily fixed to the top of the blocks.

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