Are you talking about making a guide scope that is not intended on being “adjustable” point at the same spot as the main scope, where I might have to shim or file or generally fiddle with the mounting of the guidescope to collimate it?? Yep, I may have to do that, though it is more likely that if my setup now exhibits flexure, then I will either A) go to an OAG w/ new filter wheel and filters, or B) give up on the idea of guiding at all..

As soon as “imaging” becomes “difficult”, I wont be doing it anymore, as I never wanted to image because I don’t want to “do the work”.. I started planetary imaging because it requires no guiding.. That has worked perfectly for me (and my perfect optics help a great deal with that!) as the processing I do is very simple – taking just a few mouse clicks and doing it identical for all the different planets I have imaged.. Therefore it doesn’t take any work.. I can uncover the scope, take multiple videos of multiple planets, stack and process the results, and be in bed at a reasonable hour for work the next day..

MY NEW GOAL is simply to do “More”, but the targets require longer exposures and guiding.. If the Weather would cooperate, I would be out imaging Venus (as soon as the Sun set), then Neptune, and Uranus.. My next thought, like it has been for many months now, is “NOW WHAT??” Small DSO’s, such as small planetaries, seem like what I should be able to do.. Double Stars.. Stuff the scope is already setup for..

Additionally, this makes / leaves my setup modular.. I can just pull out a camera and drop in an ocular and I wont have to reengineer the entire setup (for instance), but it does remain to be seen if it works at all.. I acquired the three ring guidexcope setup because SOMEONE in this group – who shall remain nameless - said how great it worked.. Now that I have it, everyone is telling me “No!”, and the person I was emulating uses a different method now too.. :-// It *is* all assembled, aligned, and ready to test out if and when the weather falls in line.. If it doesn’t work as I want it to, switching boats in the middle of the rapids will be exciting..

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Derek

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