Ad Astra Observatory

I finally knuckled under and bought a Moonlite CF focuser for Pumpkin. With the motor and the extra flanges (more on this in a sec), it’s a $425 focuser for a $300 telescope, but *man* I like the feel of Moonlite’s gear! It’s just solid, and it has all the bits and parts that I need (rotateable, finder mount, 1/4-20 mount).

I had to jump through a few hoops to get the focuser to work. When I bought it, it came without a flange, so I ordered that. Then, when the flange turned up, the focuser was too low-profile to work, so I needed to order a thicker flange. Now it’s got an extra piece in there that most won’t have, but it works great. Everything from 2” diagonals to the D70 come to focus. The scope weighs an extra half pound or more, but it’s totally worth it. Autofocus will really turn Pumpkin into a worthy imaging scope.

Here’s Pumpkin all set up for bird photography, with the Nikon and a photo tripod:

Normally, it would be mounted in the guidescope rings, but I had mounted up on a tripod so I could confirm that the D70, a 2” diagonal, and a 1.25” diagonal would all come to focus (they do).

What a handsome new addition to the rig.