A list of what you'll need to attempt guided imaging
Motor driven computer controlled mount (on a tripod or pier)
Imaging telescope
Imaging camera
Guide telescope
Guide camera
Mounting system to attach two telescopes together
PC or Mac
Associated cables
or
Motor driven computer controlled mount (on a tripod or pier)
Imaging telescope
Imaging camera
Off-axis guider
Guide camera
PC or Mac
Associated cables
A motor driven computer controlled mount. The mount will need to be able to accept an input from an external computer (PC or Mac) and operate from the software instructions passed via the PC. The mount must be capable of being polar aligned (see my Telescope mounts section) either by having an equatorial mount or an alt/az mount on an equatorial wedge.
Two telescopes method (pictured above, the very small blue scope is the finder scope). You have a number of options here. You can buy a scope that you intend to do all your imaging with and buy a cheap guidescope that you will only use for guiding. Or, get one scope that's well suited to planetary work with a higher focal ratio and one scope that has a wider field of view due to a lower focal ratio. I have a Meade 8"LX200R with a focal ratio of f/10 that I use for imaging the planets (and smaller deepsky objects) and a William Optics Zenith Star 66mm that has a focal ratio of f/5.9 that I use for larger deep sky objects. If you're interested in imaging both planets and large deep sky objects then this kind of setup should suit you. Depending on what I want to image I can guide or image with either scope, I just swap the cameras over. Maybe visit a store and see what's right for you.
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If you choose to image with one scope and guide with another then you will need some kind of mounting system to attach the two scopes together. I Use an ADM ring system that allows the Zenith Star 66 to piggyback on the LX200. Once the two scopes are fixed to one another you will have to use the adjusters on the ring system to align both scopes. Simply centre a star in the eyepiece of your main scope and then adjust the guidescope mount until it has the same star centred.
With this system you will need two cameras, one to attach to your guidescope and another to attach to your imaging scope. I originally bought a Meade DSI II camera in 2007 only to find out all my images had star trails and I would need to attempt some form of guiding if things were going to improve (not to mention putting my fork mounted alt/az mount on a wedge for polar alignment). I've now bought an Atik 314L that I use as my imaging camera and use the DSI for guiding. Not all cameras are suited to all scopes when imaging due to technical things I don't understand. If you're in the UK I'd suggest you call Ian King Imaging as he's very technically minded and will let you know what combinations work well and why.
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If you don't want to have the expense of an extra scope and mounting system then you might choose to use an off-axis guider instead (shown in the two pictures above). Basically an off-axis guider fits in between the scope's tube assembly and the imaging camera, only it has a prism inside that directs a small portion of light off at a right-angle to the guide camera. This can be a slightly cheaper alternative and you won't have the issues of fixing and aligning two scopes together. As always there's a downside as although I've never used one I've heard that as only a small portion of the light gets directed to the guide camera, people sometimes have difficulty in finding a suitable star to guide on. I'd suggest you search out more information on the internet or speak with with a retailer before making your decision on whether to guide with two scopes or an off-axis guider. I do not have any experience of using an off-axis guider so I can't really comment on them although I find the two scope approach very capable and am glad I went down that route.
You will need a PC or Mac with imaging and guiding software that you can link to your telescope's motor driven computer controlled mount. There's a free downloadable program for guiding called PHDGuiding that you can find on my Free software links section. This is a fantastic program that's so easy to use.
If you buy a camera for imaging the chances are that it will come with its own software. I use Artemis Capture for imaging that came with the Atik 314L which is very simple to use, and I like simple. If you wanted to buy a cheap software program for imaging and processing then I'd suggest Nebulosity2. This can be bought and downloaded from Stark Labs or if you want it on CD then Ian King Imaging sells copies for around £50. I use Nebulosity2 for processing and could also use it for imaging although I got used to Artemis Capture and have stuck with it.
As for cables;-
For me, I have three USB cables from the two cameras and filter wheel all plugged into a powered four port USB block that then has a single output USB lead plugged into a laptop PC.
For the LX200R to accept controls from a PC to guide on a star I needed two additional cables. The first is an RS232 to serial cable, pictured below. The RS232 plug on the cable fits into left hand RS232 socket on the LX200R's control facia.
My PC doesn't have a serial connector so I then needed to get a serial to USB connector pictured below. You can get makes other than Meade but
you'll need the Meade software that can be found at;-
www.meade.com/USB_Serial/USB_SER.html
If you've got any questions feel free to ask using the contact form.