I have just entered the world of guided astrophotography after many years of resisting the extra complications presented by it. The main problem i have always seen is that the opening in my observatory roof is too small* to allow me to mount a guide scope on my c9.25" and still have both scopes observing the sky at all times or not at all. At present I have successfully autoguided an ed80 with an Orion short tube 80mm as guidescope using PhD. Having mastered this I am now looking at using an off axis guider with the c9.25" to take advantage of the bigger aperture. However researching off axis guiding I'm wondering how hard it will be to find guide stars using this method . I would be grateful of any comments or guidance on using an off axis guider. My budget will only go as far as an Orion deluxe off axis guider.
Regards philip
* my roof was a freebie , and not ideal. The opening from bottom to overhead is keyhole shaped( see my avatar picture top left) , so at the very top the opening narrows then opens up again. The roof rotates and needs to be turned occasionally.
Grab a lodestar or asi120 camera and you won't really have trouble getting a guide star. I use the SX OAG and a lodestar on my 9.25HD and have never had a problem getting a lock.
When I had a qhy5 Finding a guide star was a real pain, but the current setup has yet to fail me.
This is one area where going cheap will be a total waste of money. Pony up for at least the ASI (from zwo) if you want Off axis guiding to work without headaches.
Guiding with an OAG is the same as using any other scope except the stars often look elongated. The only real drama is getting the OAG focused. Taking your time to get good focus will give you great rewards. Using a Star shoot autoguider by orion has worked reall well for me and will workin PHD and MaximDL. Best of luck and let us know how you go with your selection and feel free to ask any questions once you get all the gear you need.
When I used an Orion SSAG it was ok in a separate finder scope
or guide scope but was next to useless in an OAG.
In an OAG:
only the brightest guide stars were useable & it was even difficult to see any guide stars at all.
I ended up having to buy a Lodestar which now works perfectly
& I've always found suitable guide stars.
