Last updated on February 27th, 2022 at 09:06 pm
Starting Equipment from my First Generation Rig:
- RedCat 51
- ZWO ASI290mm Guide Camera
- Raspberry Pi4 w/ Astroberry
- Onesky 130mm telescope
Hardware Requirements
- In total we want the hardware connected to the mount to be less than 22lbs. The mount will handle about 30lbs and you don’t want to go over 50-75% capacity for Astrophotography on your mount.
- We want all the hardware to be powered from Lithium Ion battery so we are not lugging AC power cords around in the dark
- We want to be able to hit the sack early enough we can still get some sleep and be ready for those kiddos bright and early in the morning. So we need about 4 hours of juice on any given night.
- We want as simple setup as possible. A typical night will start at 7pm and I want to be in bed by midnight. This hobby will allow you to get as complicated as all possible but I want as simple a setup as I achieve with good cable management so it doesn’t look like a rats nest. Goal was to have 5 cables.
- We want the setup to be portable so that we can take the kids on a camping trip to a dark sky site.
- We need to support Bortle Class 6/7 skies so we will need to support narrowband imaging. This mean mono camera plus filters.
- The mount will need to include a polar scope. I intend to plate solve for a fine adjustment but I want to be able to get close the old fashion way by looking through a scope.
- The mount will be fully automated which means we need an autofocuser as well as a filter wheel for all the new filters we are going to use.
- The Imaging camera will be cooled to minimize noise in the final image. Goal: Try to remove dark frame captures from workflow.
- The first generation rig was successful for images up to about 1 min. We are going to shoot for 10 min subs with this rig
Software Requirements
- We need the software to support Polar Alignment via plate solving
- We need the software to support aperture and shutter control of the selected Main Camera
- We need the software to support a secondary Guide Camera to perform a closed loop tracking of star field to allow long exposures of the Main Camera
- The software needs to support the mount via ASCOM INDI interface.
- We need the software to support WiFi HotSpotting so we can use this at a remote dark sky site one day
- We need the software to support connecting to our home network for backyard imaging
- We need the software to support automated operation so that we can image from the comfort of the house
Summary
- I was going to target twice the budget of my First Generation Rig but since we need to support narrowband imaging I bumped that up to $5,000.
- I will be reusing several pieces of equipment so my actual expenses will be less but the budget represents starting from nothing.
- I use Astromart to get as much stuff used as possible.
- I used FirstLightOptics and Amazon to fill the rest
| Atik 383L+ Mono CCD Cooled | $475 | 1lb 14oz |
| Atik 383L+ Color CCD Cooled (Bonus w/ mono camera) | $475 | NA |
| ZWO ASI290mm CMOS GuideScope | $299 | 2oz |
| RedCat | $728 | 3lbs 14oz |
| Orion Dedicated Guide Scope 30mm | $75 | |
| Helical Focuser | $59 | 3oz |
| Raspberry Pi4 | $62 | 6oz |
| Raspberry Pi4 Sdcard | $12 | NA |
| Raspberry Pi4 Al Case | $13 | NA |
| SkyWatcher HEQ5 w/ Rowan mod | $1141 | NA |
| 200 Wh Battery (6.5 hour imaging capacity) | $170 | NA |
| Cables | $25 | NA |
| Magnetic Adapter for breakaway protection | $25 | NA |
| Electronic Focuser | $200 | 10oz |
| Focuser Mounts and Belts | $125 | |
| Electronic Filter Wheel | $304 | |
| LRGB+SHO Narrow Band Filters | $633 | NA |
| Total Cost | $4,821 | (7lbs 1oz) |