Complete
Astrophotography Package for sale; ONLY £2,500!
(yes that is for everything!)
Due to lack of time and space (pardon the pun ;-) ), I am selling up my entire astro-photography setup. As a single lot this makes one fantastic package, I cannot think of anything else you could possibly want (if I could I would have bought it already). Ideally I would like to see it go to someone complete, but am willing to break it down into sensible smaller packages, consisting of :
Meade 10inch LX200
EMC (classic) + electronic focuser + more, package to include:
- Meade 10" LX200 SCT (classic edition) with EMC lens coating, inc all dudt caps and original storage / shipping box.
- Robo Focus computer controlled focusing system (you dont have to use a computer with it), also included is the Robofocus software, although many other imaging applications, such as CCDSoft (as included below with the camera) can take direct control of the focusing system and focus automatically by electronically monitoring the image from the camera (this focus system was £350 alone)
- High power 18v mains adapter (The LX200 will happily run on 12v, but this power supply makes it just that bit quicker when on mains power)
- Meade super Plossl LP 26mm eyepiece
- Meade series 4000 super Plossl 9.7mm eyepiece
- 2x 1.25" barlow lens
- Handheld 'goto' computer controller with built in object database
- Telrad reflex illuminated finder
- Finderscope
- Electronic adjustable temperature dew heater
- Original printed manual
-
Meade 1.25" diagonal
- Meade 2" diagonal
- Meade Field tripod (in original storage / shipping box)
- Meade Superwedge (was £299 by itself!)
£1695ono.
SBIG ST237A CCD
astrophotograpghy camera.
The camera has 7.4
micron square pixels in an array of 657 x 495 pixels. The very small pixels
generate outstanding high resolution images when used with fast focal ratio
telescopes, or SBIG's Camera Lens Adapter plus standard camera lenses with
focal lengths from 50 to 400 mm. The optical head is only 3.25" in diameter
and will accept an optional fully integrated color filter wheel (optional,
but included in this package) mounted inside the CCD head to support
tricolor imaging.
The readout electronics utilize a 16 bit A/D converter and double correlated sampling. The imaging camera system consists of a thermoelectrically cooled CCD head with a cable that connects to a small separate processor designed to fit nicely underneath a laptop computer in the field. The processor has cables which connect directly to power and the PC. A separate cable connects to the telescope to interface the Autoguider and Track & Accumulate functions.
The ST-237A is ideally suited to the beginner. Its small head, fast focusing update rate and reasonably large field of view make this camera very easy to set up and use on practically any telescope. The ST- 237A also has an internal mechanical shutter in addition to the CCD's electronic shutter. This feature is seldom found on cameras in the price range of the ST-237A. A mechanical shutter allows the camera to automatically take dark frames at any time without having to remove the camera from the telescope to cover its detector or manually cover the telescope's aperture.
The package being sold here includes all the optional extras:
- Sbig ST237A cameral head, with built in computer controlled cooling and computer controlled filter selection as detailed above (cost me nearly £1000 alone!)
- Shutter wheel
- Optional colour filter wheel (this filter wheel alone cost me £400!)
- SBig Focal Reducer / eFinder (another £100 option)
SBig's eFinder is a highly recommended accessory. It consists of a focal reducer that doubles as a wide angle objectivelens when used with the eFinder tube. The focal reducer lens will screw into the nosepiece of the STV to increase the field of view and decrease the effective f/ratio of your optical system. It is designed to be used on systems with focal ratios of F/15 to F/6.3. For example, when used with and without the extension tube the focal reducer will yield the following focal ratios:
Focal Ratio of Parent System F/14 F/10 F/6.3 Resulting focal ratio w/o spacer tube F/8 F/5.95 F/3.75 Resulting focal ratio w/ spacer tube F/5.25 F/3.75 n/a
The same lens when used with the eFINDER ASSEMBLY extension tube turns the FR-237 lens into an ultra compact f/4 telescope of 100mm focal length for wide field views or autoguiding without an additional optical tube.
- CCDSoft v5 by Software Bisque - This is fully licensed, you are welcome to check the product serial number with the manufacturer.
This great camera can either be used for B+W, or full tricolour imaging (with included additional filter wheel), or as an off axis guider, either fixed to the scope, or in conjunction with Lumicon Giant Easy guider as below.
£600
Lumicon Giant Easy Guider including:
- The much respected Lumicon Giant Easy Guider for off axis imaging. Allowing use of a camera for imaging, with a seperate optical take off to a guide camera or eyepiece.
- Fitting to allow a Canon EOS camera body to be attached as the main imaging camera. Note other adaptors are easily available should you wish use a different camera.
- Original documnetion as shown in picture
£185
- IBM 600x laptop, with mains power supply, and 12v power supply, CD drive etc.
- Lots of astronomy software installed, including CCDSoft, Starry Night Pro, Skymap, etc etc
£150
Complete Package
As you can see from the photos, this
extensive range of top brand equipment has all been put together as a complete
package including
the custom
manufacture and setup of all cables and
interfaces, and fitted into aluminium 'flight box' style cases. Whilst
there is no problem in purchasing these packages separately, you could
purchase it as a complete package that is ready to go, just open the
boxes, plug in the cable as labelled, and switch on the pre configured
laptop!
All the bits and pieces...
Whatever you wish to purchase form here, be
confident that it will be supplied with extensive documentation, not
only the original, but also a large collection of notes relating to
using this equipment that I have collated. There is also a box of
spares, everything from a spare drive belt for the focuser, storage
cases for the eyepieces, fuses, etc etc. I have some of the manuals and
catalogues in electronic format that I can email you should you require
any further info
For further details / questions / to come see it, please
feel free to email me:
antsbradley@gmail.com