magnilux - Astronomy Technology Today

ASTRO-TECH 8-INCH IMAGING NEWTONIAN
Image 3 - Corner and center sections of image captured with a DSLR.
One problem with the focuser arose when I
decided that it needed to be powered. While the
square base of the focuser is square to the tube, the
round part that holds all of the moving bits (and
cameras or eyepieces) isn’t; at least on mine. This has
absolutely no effect on function and I didn't even
notice the slight tilt to the focus tube until I added
belts and pulleys. But that too was taken into
account. For those who are interested, details of
the project by which I motorized the stock
focuser are featured in the July-August 2010 issue
of ATT.
The supplied finder is a standard 50-mm
straight-through unit of approximately 8X. The
cylindrical finder mount makes use of a rubber O-
ring at one end and two thumbscrews and a spring
at the other. This is very nice setup that greatly simplifies
adjustment – there is no fighting to change
orientation with respect to the Newtonian’s optical
train. The finder’s mounting bracket fits a standard
dovetail and, although the straight-through format
isn’t my favorite, my only real problem with the
arrangement is that the dovetail is positioned so that
when you are looking through the finder you are
likely to breathe across the eyepiece. Fortunately, it’s
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52 Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY