Revolution Imager with ETX-105PE Telescope

I set up the Revolution Imager for use with my Meade ETX-105PE telescope:

As the photo above shows, I used a camera tripod to hold the monitor. The separation between the telescope and monitor are almost at the maximum due to the short power cord. To be safe while the telescope was slewing, I moved the monitor closer to the telescope:

I also needed to watch the cables during slewing to ensure they did not get trapped on the fork arms.

I used Spica to focus the camera image. I don't have a focusing mask for the ETX-105PE so I just watched the monitor (with a short exposure) as I focused. This photograph of the monitor shows Spica out-of-focus:

It was pretty easy to get a good focus.

I then slewed the ETX to M104 (Sombrero Galaxy) and began adjusting the camera exposure settings, with this result:

Tip: turn off DNR (stacking) and use as fast a shutter speed as possible while slewing the telescope and centering an object to get more realtime updates on the display. Also, accurate telescope star alignment is critical if using a GOTO telescope since the camera field-of-view is small. And be aware that tracking in Alt/Az telescope mounting mode may cause some irregularity in the stacking as the telescope "stairsteps" in Altitude and Azimuth.

Just as I was about to view M57 (Ring Nebula) with the ETX the RI battery ran out of charge. That surprised me as I had only used the battery about 2.5 hours after fully charging it overnight. And so ended my first session with the ETX + RI.

I charged the battery again, this time for 24 hours, but the green LED still did not appear on the battery. I then used the RI for 2h 13m on my LX600 telescope. The next night I used the RI for 2 hours on my ETX telescope, for a total of over four hours on this charge. It would probably go longer. So, just be certain to charge the battery before each use and you will definitely be able to go all night with the Revolution Imager.

I used the focal reducer to increase the object brightness is this small aperture telescope.

I documented object settings for the ETX-105PE to have a guide to get each object into the best view as quickly as possible. Revolution Imager users can download my file Revolution_Imager_settings.xlsx (Microsoft Excel file). I will update the file as I observe more objects using the Revolution Imager.

Here are two more example screen shots taken of objects in the ETX-105PE using the 0.5X focal reducer showing M57 (Ring Nebula) and M13 (the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules):

I will be using the Revolution Imager a lot more with the ETX-105PE. In fact, this will be my primary star party telescope with the Imager.

Go to USB Video Capture Adapter and Summary.

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