Good review Mike . DSC's are on the top of my wish list.
Takes a lot of frustration out of searching for faint fuzzies. I dont have an observing log ,I have an unobserved log. Alot of it is for objects in the northern sector and low to the horizon . So it's not good seeing and search and destroy can be an arduous task. With dsc's I could eliminate all these.
I totally agree with your summary , I did it the hard way with starcharts,writing starhops for a nights viewing .Takes a lot of prep time to do it this way. No glory in that.
I'll just have to wish a bit harder.
If i'm in the same area of sky as where I aligned, it's quite good. If I have to swing over to an area of sky opposite where I aligned, it can be off by 1/2 to 1 degree sometimes, but if I realign on the object it's usually ok after that.
I need to use it some more and test it some more to find out which situations cause the best and worst pointing error, but I haven't had a chance since the SPSP because of rain and clouds.
I'm also keen to install some altitude bearing shims like John B has done to see if that helps improve the accuracy.
I did a similar thing to john using aluminium strip but just to reduce the gap rather than to become a bearing surface.
Left as standard, the gso altitude hubs can move side to side something of the order of 10mm, placing stress on the altitude encoder mount.
That pointing error seems a bit high, I typically get 0.2-0.6 error on either axis depending where I am pointing, but then I dont have the option of aligning to anything other than the stars in the alignment database on palmDSC.
Yeh mine can move around 10mm at the moment, so i'll have to reduce the gap.
I haven't accurately measured the pointing error because of lack of time out under the stars with it. I'll take more notice next time when I measure the TFOV of my eyepieces
My star alignment catalog is similar to yours it sounds, pretty limited. The Argo Navis we used on my scope at the SPSP was most excellent, you could choose to 2-object align on ANY object, stars, planets, DSOs. And the features and user-interface was far superior to the SC, but at $600 for just the AN computer it's a luxury for the future.
How well would making some setting circles work for those of us with no approval to buy a DSC? I found this website which has a program that apparently helps make them. Worth a try?
Think
I've marked the base on my Parks dob in 10 degree increments (only temporary ..masking tape +texta..that was 5 yrs ago) and a protractor on the alt.
These help greatly for refining the area in my search and destroy missions.Very rarely do I not view from the same spot in the backyard so the alt doesnt change .For the az I align a star and move the base to suit the star.
Then you only need a list of objects az/alt coordinates for your location and time and of you go.
I'll check the links on that page and I might get off my butt and remove the tape and fit a more refined fixture .
I can't find it now, it might have been called "dob_pc", but it was a program that told you the alt/az coordinates of any objects so that you could use your MSC's to find them. I think it was a crappy dos based program though.
There should be something better, in fact RTGUI reports the alt/az coordinates if I remember correctly, Starkler might be able to tell you for sure.
For altitude, you can just get an "angle finder" that has a magnet to stick itself to your tube. I bought one for $10 from mitre 10.
I noticed that on your scope Ice .Handy for metal tubes like gs,no good for the Parks though thats fibreglass.I'll have to grab one for gs when it's ready.
SkyCommander DSC's project page
