Focusing
Getting the stars sharp, by hand and then by motor. Oldest first, so it reads from the first try to the latest.
A motor focuser for £30
A small stepper motor, an Arduino Nano and a printed bracket now turn the focuser from the laptop. Getting the shafts in line was the hard part.
The focuser focuses itself, and the Triangulum Galaxy through a gap in the cloud
First night with the motor focuser doing the work, polar alignment from 8 degrees out to 0.3, a start on the North America Nebula, then haze, and the Triangulum Galaxy after midnight.
Mapping the garden, and finding home
The telescope measured my garden's skyline by itself before dark, the true home position turned out to be ten degrees from where I had been setting it, Tabby's star got its first night, and then the camera started misbehaving and a neighbour's bonfire finished the night.
Focusing
Astrophotography