Modify the Pre-2004 SkyView Pro to Autoguide!

David Rosenthal is Vice President of Systems Engineering at Instrumentation Engineering in Oakland, NJ. He's got what it takes to dig into just about anything that a telescope manufacturer could throw his way.

In this article, Rosenthal walks you through an upgrade of his pre-2004 Orion Sky View Pro mount following instructions provided by Doug Anderson and Shoestring Astronomy.

Introduction by Andy Raiford

The SkyView Pro equatorial mount has been around for a number of years. Recent advances in technology has enabled Orion to sell upgrade kits which turn the SVP into a GoTo mount capable of autoguiding. However, the commerical upgrade kit does not work for those with pre-mid-2004 mounts.

A do-it-yourself modification for these mounts has been available for some time now (for those brave enough to tackle it).

I'd like to introduce you to one brave soul who took on the challenge and made it work! David Rosenthal takes you through the steps he followed during his own modifications. You'll see the result of his effort -- which may inspire you to jump right in yourself! Please note: this modification will allow you to autoguide but unfortunately will not have GoTo features.

Before you read the article, I'd like to acknowledge Shoestring Astronomy and Doug Anderson who were kind enough to allow us to reprint their original modification instructions. Amateur astronomers all over the globe owe Doug Anderson a debt of gratitude for creating devices that allow us to link our mass-produced equatorial mounts to our laptops and enjoy the same autoguiding capabilities that the very expensive rigs have enjoyed. When I get a great photo with nice tight stars the words that come out of my mouth are often: "Praise Shoestring!" I couldn't do it without them.

Click here to read the article