We created an Equatorial to Horizon Astronomy Calculator.
Month: July 2017
ZWO ASI034MC Initial Setup
The initial setup was very easy. The camera was a basically one piece. I screwed in the eyepiece adapter and put on the cover. I was going to use it as a guider so was only interested in the USB cable.
There was a small CD with drivers and a manual. I read the manual and it said to install the driver and then test via some included software. That all seemed to work fine.
Next, I looked for updated drivers. The driver was to download the existing one and it removed the included software also. But, I figured the new drivers were probably better. I also found an updated manual.
The manual suggested downloading SharpCap and FireCapture. I downloaded and installed both. They both seemed to connect to the camera and something was displayed though without being in a telescope and preview image was just a solid color.
But everything seemed to be working and ready to try in a telescope.
Hour Angle to Right Ascension
We created a Hour Angle to Right Ascension Astronomy Calculator.
Night Sky Photos–July 22, 2017
At the Table Mountain Star Party, I took some pictures of the Milky Way and the Big Dipper. The pictures are uploaded to our wiki at:
Why ZWO camera
It has been on my plan to get an USB camera for the next step in astrophotography after trying afocal. However, in planning for the solar eclipse, I thought it would be better if I had a live image on the laptop screen then to have the family take turns looking through the eyepiece of the Lunt telescope.
I had seen a lot of postings about ZWO cameras so did some research into the models. I was thinking about maybe getting something in the $300 range but then decide to get the entry-level model for around $100 figured it would be fine for solar viewing and wouldn’t have to worry if I picked the wrong model.
I selected the ASI034MC.
Right Ascension to Hour Angle
We created a Right Ascension to Hour Angle Astronomy Calculator.