ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on some practical examples that illustrate alternative techniques. These are deliberately chosen to use a selection of different capture and processing programs and to cover a range of imaging problems and solutions. The autoguider system employs a Starlight Xpress Lodestar fitted to an off-axis guider, parfocal with the main imaging camera. The entire imaging chain is screw-coupled for rigidity; 2- or 1.25-inch eyepiece couplings are banished. The belt-drive systems in the high end mounts crucially have less DEC backlash too, ideal for autoguiding. Each system uses remote control; in the early days over a USB extender over Cat 5 module and later, using a miniature host PC, controlled over WiFi with Microsoft's Remote Desktop application. Most astronomical equipment is nominally rated at 12 volts but often accepts a range of 11.5–15 volts. Lead acid cells vary from about 13.8–11.0 volts over a full discharge, depending on load current and temperature.
