Hi Christian and all, I installed the upgrade kit and I was very impressed by the new guiding port. The image clarity and the 0.8x field enlargment give a big advantage with my scope. For example, the comet image in guide camera on 18 feb was a bit brighter than the one obtained with old guiding port on 12 jan. And yet the comet was more than 1.5 mag fainter. Indeed I used the same guiding exposure time for both sessions (0.5 sec). A screenshot during observations:
Another test on a faint target, the quasar APM 08279+5255. I had a previous attempt in december but I could not guide with Lhires III port because there are not suitable stars in the guide camera field, so I used a small optic in parallel (with the known problems due to differential mechanical flexures).
With the upgrade I could use a field star for guiding (about V 13.5). In the next screnshot, on the left a 12s exposure frame used for select the area containing both the target and the guide star, on the right the guiding window (2 sec exp time).
The resulting spectrum (filtered profile):
Concerning the very useful features remotely controllable, I report also here the solution I have adopted that involve a small relay module:
http://quasar.teoth.it/html/USB_relay/USB_relays.htm
The ability to control the spectroscope and telescope by means of the computer is a great advantage also for me (I have the equipment very close). Now I'm able to handle most operations from inside the house. Even just to avoid the cold weather is great!
I appreciated a lot the new upgrade!
Paolo
