My latest hardware configuration has replaced the excellent Orion Optics UK AG12" Newtonian with a Planewave CDK14 (Corrected Dall-Kirkham) 14 inch telescope. The ZWO ASI178MM was replaced with a ZWO ASI6200MM.

So now I have the following two scopes mounted on a Paramount MEII with absolute encoders.

-------Main scope (runs the primary copy of NINA which controls the mount)-------

Planewave CDK14: f/7.2 and 2563mm focal length. No coma, no off-axis astigmatism, and no field curvature. Pinpoint stars across a 70mm image circle

ZWO ASI6200MM: Full frame, 16 bit, Noise 1.5, almost zero dark current (no darks needed), no amp glow

FOV: 32 x 48 arcmin

Resolution: 0.3 arcsec/pixel

------Piggybacked scope (runs secondary copy of NINA to just take images)-------

Televue NP127is Refractor

ZWO ASI6200MM: Full frame, 16 bit, Noise 1.5, almost zero dark current (no darks needed), no amp glow

FOV: 125 x 187 arcmin

Resolution: 1.17 arcsec/pixel

There are some targets where both a wide FOV and a narrow FOV produce a view worth the time to process. In those cases I usually bring up both copies of NINA and take images on both scopes at the same time. In the past I almost always worked this way. More images is great, right? Not anymore. I am so far behind processing images that I now mostly take images on just one scope. I either set up a sequence for all wide FOV and just control the mount with the one copy of NINA running the NP127is, or just all narrow FOV and run the CDK14. If I am running both scopes, I never dither so I don't have any conflict between the two scopes.

All this runs inside a Home Dome 10 foot dome which for the past 2 years has been running really well for me. It took the two prior years to fully iron out the various issues with the dome. The dome is located in Taos, NM and I run it most of the time from my home in Colorado Springs, or from Mt. Pleasant, SC during the winter months, where I am now.

There are 6 video cameras mounted inside and outside the dome which let me keep tabs on what is happening. The image of the scopes shows one mounted on top of the NP127is pointing along the scope. It lets me see exactly where my mount/scopes are pointed relative to the dome.

My latest improvement to the dome was the installation of a filter system which 24 hours a day pushes air into the dome through the best home furnace filter I could find. This keeps the dust accumulation down dramatically. It was a very simple thing to build, took me a few hours. It is just a small box which covers the air conditioner and has the filter on one side. Three pc fans push the air through. I got tired of cleaning my AG12 mirror of the layer of dust that would form.

I built a light box and a dark box which are positioned in the dome where both scopes can point directly at them when positioned with the scope at about -10 degrees. This lets me take lights anytime I want. I don't use it that much because I only take lights when I have made an image train change, which does not happen for months at a time.

For darks I need to do those at night. The dark box worked really well but is not perfect. These cameras are so sensitive. However, I don't use darks anymore since both my cameras are ASI6200MM with practically zero dark current. Best not to use darks with that camera because it will probably produce more noise in the image than any improvement.

Oh, and I forgot to mention my very sophisticated, high tech, and expensive counterweight assembly on the bottom front rim of the CDK14. It was very camera heavy, and the position on the MEII versa plate could not be changed, so I needed 10 pounds of counterweights up front. Notice the end of a 5 pound bar bell in the black blob, which also contains 5 1 pound work out weights, all wrapped in Gorilla tape. (a pipe clamp under the tape, the tape was just for looks, pretty, eh?)