THE AWR SEEKER

This little device plugs into the autoguider socket of all the most popular telescope drives and moves them out from the start point in an increasing rectangular spiral, in segments of a size programmable for your specific needs. The main use is FINDING OBJECTS (especially planets) when working at high magnification and very small field of view, when even the best GOTO setups frequently fail. You do not miss any part of the sky.

For creating PANORAMAS the SEEKER works in exactly the same way as for its 'seek' purpose, except that you will not generally be working at the highest magnification, which means that the effect of any drive errors are minimised, allowing accurate and efficient coverage of the panorama area. Mosaic results. Again you do not miss any part of the sky.

TELESCOPE DRIVE PERFORMANCE. Drive errors manifest themselves as irregularities in the 'corners' of the rectangles. You can photograph a star with the SEEKER working the drives to give an image that you can analyse later, giving qualitative, and, with care, quantitative measures of backlash and hysteresis. The SEEKER will also detect other faults such as stalling and slipping gears. When you have attended to these, either by mechanical adjustments to correct faults, or by reprogramming the drives to compensate, you can use the SEEKER to check how well you have done the job. Examination of a photograph such as the one below will let you analyse backlash, periodic error, shaft wind-up, out-of-balance and other related problems to help you tweak your drives mechanically or electronically, and know when you've got them perfect!
ANALYSYS

Star Trail with SS2K and Vixen SP mount

The SEEKER is a small unit with a 1 metre lead that plugs into your autoguider socket. It also has a 6 pin RJ socket to allow your CCD autoguider lead to plug into it. The SEEKER is totally transparent to the autoguider. There are three buttons and two LED's to indicate whether PROG or DRIVE mode is in operation. After programming the length of the move (2/3 of size of field recommended) every push of the DRIVE button operates the next segment. It remotely presses your handset buttons for a precise programmed time.

It works with ANY TELESCOPE fitted with AUTOGUIDER INPUT socket. If you do not have a socket we can fit one for £85 including the SEEKER.

Download the MANUAL
Method of taking MOSAICS & PICTURE
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