EQ6 GOTO Bar/Rings and Guiding Equip. questions

[leinad (Dan)]

Purchased an EQ6 today, and tomorrow I plan on purchasing some rings and dovetail plate.

Three questions here..

It was mentioned over the phone with Bintel that the larger the dovetail plate the better, so I was wondering what size is recommended given that I'll probably be piggybacking the new camera for a while, and sometime piggybacking a refractor also.
I think he mentioned a 17" bar would be best for mounting my SW 8" Dob tube on the mount. I'll check tomorrow anyway.

Is there a dovetail bar with camera mounting so I can either mount the camera on the mount or my PST.

Also what additional is needed to autoguide using laptop software such as Stellarium or Starry Night?

Thanks

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by leinad

Also what additional is needed to autoguide using laptop software such as Stellarium or Starry Night?
Thanks

Starry Night is a planetarium program, not an auto guiding program.

Using SN you can connect your telescope to your mount and once aligned and synchronised, command the mount to GoTo various targets. This is really useful when finding faint objects and is almost mandatory IMHO when CCD imaging.

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman (Mike)]

Guiding is for long-exposure astrophotography. You'll want a guide scope, guide camera (DSI, DMK, Orion Starshoot etc), guide software (PHD Guiding), and the adapter that connects your laptop to your mount - GPUSB from Shoestring Astronomy.