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Ville Puoskari

A multi-purpose travel rig

Because everything runs very smoothly at my observatory I've had time to start building a portable setup that I can take easily with me anywhere. For this purpose I purchased SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i WiFi with all the bells and whistles. I use the mount with a Helios 100mm f/5 achromatic refractor that serves as solar scope with Antlia 3nm CaK Herschel wedge. I record the images with ASI120MM and LattePanda single board PC. A 3D printed a housing keeps the board nice and cool as the board is mounted directly behind of a 7" IPS touch screen. It runs a Windows 10 OS which is working great for my needs. So far the first impressions of this kit have been fantastic! The mount is very light yet sturdy enough to handle the scope when its balanced carefully. I can also utilize the WiFi features of the mount to take milky way photos on-the-go with my Sony A5000 and Sigma 16mm f/1.4 wide angle lens. A dual purpose is always a nice bonus! Everything on the mount is powered from 12v 7.5Ah battery, I've made a DIY power distribution box for dew heater and mount USB power cord to keep cables at minimum. To power my PC I use a 10 400 mAh powerbank which is plenty for 2-3 hours of solar imaging work. Everything fits nicely in LowePro 500AW camera bag apart from the tripod itself. In the future I might purchase few eyepieces too to get back into visual astronomy with this kit. Only thing that is missing from this rig for now is a flat panel and Bahtinov mask, but this is a start of something refreshing for sure!



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