March 11, 2018 - Setting up the William Optics GT81 tonight with...
March 11, 2018 - Setting up the William Optics GT81 tonight with my new ZWO ASI071MC camera. I’m also trying out–again–the 30mm apt/135mm fl guide scope with the ZWO ASI120MM-S, this time with the camera threaded directly to the scope, reducing the backfocus a few more millimeters. This will be my first time out with the new main camera, and I’ve been anxious to see what it can do for almost a week. The ASI071MC is a color CMOS camera with an impressive dynamic range, TEC cooling, 16MP APS-C sized Sony sensor with 4.8μ pixels. The idea is to have the new color camera compliment the Atik 414EX monochrome CCD I normally use. The Atik with the Nikon 180mm f/2.8 lens has almost the same field of view as the ASI071MC with the William Optics GT81. (The Atik + Pentax Takumar 200mm f/4 is even better). You can’t tell with the way I’ve configured the top dovetail rail and guidescope, but the plan is to be able to run both cameras simultaneously with similar FOV, one color, the other with narrowband filters, in some ways doubling my productivity. http://SaltwaterWitch.com/astronomy
