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Thoughts about Heritage 150P for EAA during AP

Sky-Watcher Explorer 150PDS EAA
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Tommy Blomqvist avatar
Tommy Blomqvist avatar
Normally I am using my budget AP rig with a SW 150pds on a HEQ5 but as my youngest kid always said that this is cheating and not real astronomy ( "you should look into the telescope" ) we did buy a Heritage 150p for visual only.

This is also a great scope when friends want to take a sneak peak at the sky when they see me doing AP. 

But now even the youngest kid started to realize how cool it is to use electronic sensor to boost the view. So we are planning on using a AZ Gti mount and ASI 120 mc-s on the Heritage to make it to an EAA-rig.
Possibly there will be a raspberry solution.

Has anyone any good "do" and "donts"?
What EAA software/solution are recommended?
Should we go for equatorial setup (just using the right software on the mount) or is AltAz enough?
Does anyone know about any anticloud spells?
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David Nozadze avatar
David Nozadze avatar
Hi Tom, 

I can't really advise anything, as I do not have necessary experience myself. I just wanted to express my respect to your child smile The kid must have a very bright and sharp mind to think like that!

Sometimes even I think that using a specialized camera and other equipment is indeed cheating. But with the same logic, using a telescope is cheating in the first place smile

Astronomy is the oldest science in history and, except the last 500 years or so, it was done with Mk I eyeballs and some sticks and stones, scattered around the backyard. Now we use silicon chips instead of silicate rocks (like Stonehendge). 

Clear skies!

D
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Bruce Donzanti avatar
Bruce Donzanti avatar
Hi Tom

To address your questions:


What EAA software/solution are recommended?  SharpCap is extremely popular for EAA.  I've used it myself for several years.  There are a few others but I think this is the best for EAA.

Should we go for equatorial setup (just using the right software on the mount) or is AltAz enough?  Either works fine and I have had both.  Equatorial can be more of a challenge to learn and setup vs. the AltAz mount but the AltAz does limit parts of the sky due to field rotation.  

Does anyone know about any anticloud spells?  Still working on this one.


Good luck and enjoy!
Concise