Almost a month after it arrived, the AP-900 has seen first light. That is, perhaps, an overstatement, since I am not sure a mount can see first light. But I had it up and running last night in Lake Riverside, with the NP-101 (itself seeing light for the first time in almost 18 months).

Rather than build a model of pointing, as the CGE does, the AP-900 GTO relies on accurate polar alignment and the correct time. Using the NP-101 (about 500mm focal length) two cycles of polar and other star alignment led to adequate goto capabilities. Everything I pointed at was in the field of view of a 9mm Nagler or 13mm Ethos.

Unlike the CGE, when it slews to an object, it just arrives. The CGE gets close, then moves up and right to the final point. The AP gets to the position and stops. Confidence in mechanical operation no doubt.

I took two sets of shots with the USB camera. I forgot the TCF to NP-101 adapter so that I wasn’t able to do any CCD imaging. I am not ready for multi-location imaging. I find it stressful enough to get all the equipment in one place. I hope that place will be in Lake Riverside, but that will take time.

Here is a shot I took of the Moon. It is a mosaic of three sets of AVIs, stacked in Registax, merged in Photoshop, and processed in PixInsight.