A few mods to
Scooter recently.
I needed it to try for Comet Wirtanen last week onwards.
This part of the low northern sky is impossible for the main
scope in the observatory to reach.
First job was to replace the R.A. stepper to a smaller unit and drive
it with its own standalone driver controller.
I used an Arduino with a stepper motor module. Previously it had its own
Bartel stepper drive but this has proven difficult to setup and doesn't lend
itself to true portability which was the purpose of Scooter all along.
I also added a 128x128 Colour TFT display for some feedback along with
two switches. One for turning off the 12v battery and 12v to 5v regulator.
The 2nd for switching tracking on and off.
Tracking rates are set via the program to keep it simple.
To get Wirtanen I needed to fight clouds for nearly a week.
Success on the 17th Dec but the moon was a factor with contrast.
Also, the city skyglow is the worst looking north so exposures had to be
30sec only with the QHY8 and a 50mm Nikon SLR lens.
I also added a
magnetic coupler to the mount to couple the gearbox to the worm.
This works well and with a minimal air gap is very strong.
.....and a coat of paint
sky pics:
1: wide shot, crop of full frame showing Pleiades and Aldebaran...and a jet contrail!
2. crop of 37frame stack, stacked on the comet. Missed frames due to cloud quite obvious
3. A tracking rate test on Orion, same night. (crop)