Ad Astra Observatory

This is Rig when it lived in my backyard in Brentwood. The skies were darker there, but Rig is in much cushier accommodations now…

Centered around a Celestron CG-5GT mount and SBIG ST-4 autoguider, shown here is the ED80 main scope, ST80 guide scope, and piggyback mount.

The setup can include 2 imaging cameras; an SLR mounted piggyback and/or an SLR at prime focus of the ED80.

This is a detail of the tube rings, showing the main scope mounted to a dovetail, with guidescope rings atop those. Note that the piggyback rig was mounted to the guidescope, a feat of engineering with the short tube of the ST80.

This is a detail of my piggyback mount. I am using a Bogen 3262QR ball-head mount. I like this mount a lot. It holds well, and it’s very easy to position.

This is a detail of the ST-4 and the prime focus imaging camera. Note that I’m using the shaft of a 3x Barlow as an ad hoc extension tube to allow me to run the ST-4 straight-through. This helps a lot with getting the rig balanced, and also keeps things from flopping around, as they might if I ran with a diagonal. I wrap the ST-4’s cord around the base of my finder, as a safety measure.