latitude 34deg 51'South, longitude 148deg 58 East
Miscellaneous
LSO naturally has lots of bits and pieces associated with dedicated amateur astronomy- after all, doesn't whoever dies with the most toys win?
I use an Ioptron Cube with GPS as my travel mount. It carries my 90mm Mak and shares a special aluminium carry-case I had made. This is a great combination and I use it for public outreach nights. It makes a nice talking point over the big Dobs most others bring.
A Velleman interface board. This USB I/O controller is available as a low cost kit K8055N or as mounted module VM 110N from Velleman (a Belgian company www.velleman.eu ) or many resellers around the world. I got the module version to control my dome rotation.
Go to http://www.dppobservatory.net/index.php for the full story on this great approach to dome automation.
ZWO motorised filter wheel is ASCOM compliant and makes the job SOOO much easier!
The Synguider system is basically a dedicated low-light webcam with hand control and on-chip guiding software. I've never really gotten much use out of it, if I'm honest.
Electronic Automated Focusing:
Celestron temperature compensating autofocuser for the C9.25"
ZWO EAF for the 80mm refractor
An Arduino based ASCOM focuser has been built for the 12" Newt. Details of how to make one can be found by searching myFocuserPro.
This remote-controlled colour changing flexible strip runs around the base of the dome ring. 5m long, it lights up the cold room either white, or red if I'm wanting to keep my night vision (or disco if my grandson gets his hands on the controller...)
