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- 50mm guide scope is designed for use with telescopes up to 1500mm focal length for astrophotography autoguiding applications
- Includes a built-in helical focuser for smooth, precise focusing of guide stars without field rotation
- Designed for use with small-chip CCD autoguider cameras having a 1.25” nosepiece
- Bright, wide-field optics provide many potential guide stars in view
- Dovetail guide scope bracket installs on virtually any telescope with a dovetail shoe
- Lightweight yet extremely capable
Product Details
Agena's compact 50mm StarGuider II Mini Guide Scope with Helical Focuser package will be just the ticket for your long exposure astrophotography autoguiding needs. It is an excellent accessory for telescopes with a focal length of up to 1500mm, and is perfectly suited for use with small-chip CCD autoguiders. Its light weight adds very little to your autoguiding setup thus putting less strain on your mount's tracking mechanism, allowing for smoother guiding. A guidescope is a must for accurate astrophotography exposures even with high precision mounts. And the price of this accessory will add little strain to your astrophotography budget.
The StarGuider II features a 50mm fully-multicoated achromatic doublet objective. Its 162mm (f/3.2) short focal length design provides a bright, wide field which aids in the location of suitable guide stars. All internal surfaces of the tube are painted a flat black to improve contrast.
The helical focuser on the StarGuider II retains a fixed orientation so that your CCD autoguider will not rotate during focus adjustments. The focuser moves the autoguider in or out while maintaining its orientation relative to the light path. This ensures that the guide star field stays fixed while focus adjustments are made.
The helical focuser has a 12.5mm travel range and is designed to produce zero backlash. This eliminates flexure while focusing. The helical focuser ring is ribbed to improve grip and a thumbscrew locks the focuser in place once best focus is achieved.
Focusing is achieved by turning the helical focuser ring at the rear of the scope. The CCD will not rotate during focus adjustments. Using the included parfocal ring on the autoguider or CCD camera nosepiece provides some more focusing flexibility, and it also allows you to repeat the autoguiding setup between different imaging sessions.
Specifications:
- Objective Diameter = 50mm
- Focal Length = 162mm
- Focal Ratio = f/3.2
- Fully multicoated, air-spaced achromatic doublet objective lens with smooth helical focus
- OTA Material = Aluminum
- OTA weight (with finder bracket and end caps) = 1 lb - 8.3 oz
- OTA length = 180mm (7.09")
- Main OTA diameter = 53.4mm (2.10")