While waiting for the weather to improve I was browsing youtube for more info on how to improve my polar alignment and came across a few videos from Astronomy shed.
His site is here and is worth a look when you have time:
http://www.youtube.com/user/astronomyshed?feature=watch
I have since subscribed!
One of his projects is to modify a webcam for the polar scope and I can tell you it was a breath of fresh air to know I am not the only one to suffer from wet knees trying to get my astrotrac properly aligned. In fact, I hope the webcam can be ported to my CGEM mount as well but I’ll try that later.
This is the video I watched beforehand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L6IvfievRE&feature=BFa&list=UUFK1huCp-0Y3COTfkoV6cVQ&lf=plcp
Here’s a summary of what I did.
As I am over the inlaws for Christmas I was fortunate to convince my father in-law that he didn’t need the logitech webcam lying in a draw since the new PC has an in built webcam. So, here’s how I managed to disassemble and fit a cap the snuggly fits over the end of the polar scope.
I’m happy with the focus and have the option to focus the scope when I’m in the field next.
On this polar scope I have illumination but the contrast was not ideal to show it. I’ll add to this post with I have a chance to point it to the night sky. I’m a little concerned with how sensitive this webcam is to low light as it wasn’t the preferred Phillips SPC900 but we will see.