My Second Favorite Toy

The ST-4 Autoguider

photo by Jim Pennington

Anyone who has any experience with an off-axis guider and manually guiding astrophotos for an hour or more knows that this is not a task for the weak at heart. Most guidestars are what I would call the "tough variety". They are usually so dim that the reticle in the guiding eyepiece has to be dimmed to near invisibility in order for the guidestar to be seen. Add to this, the sometimes impossible positions the eyepiece winds up in after a radial search is made and you end up with a task that will make you bleary eyed, muscle sore and downright nasty in disposition.

A few years back, some innovative individual thought that there must be some better way. CCD technology was still in its youth but the possibilities of using this technology to make life easier for the astrophotographer were there for consideration.

Today, we have CCD cameras that offer the capability of guiding out tracking and scintillation errors that all scope drives must cope with. The Santa Barbera Instrument Group's model ST-4 autoguider in my opinion is possibly the best value for the money on the market today if autoguiding for emulsion photography is your need. Other more expensive models offered can both guide and IMAGE using CCD technology.

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