RigTonightHow to build your astrophotography rig in RigTonight, step by step
The Rig tab is a drawing of a complete imaging train: telescope, corrector, filter wheel, camera, mount, guider, guide camera, controller and power. You build your rig by clicking the parts of the drawing. This tutorial goes through each slot in the order that gives you useful answers soonest.
1. Start with the telescope
Click the telescope in the drawing (or its row in the parts list below it). A panel opens with every telescope in the catalog. Type in Search parts to narrow it down, then click one.
The telescope sets your focal length and aperture, which almost every other number depends on. If it needs a field flattener or a coma corrector, a check appears straight away telling you which correctors fit it.
2. Add the corrector if your scope needs one
Click the slot between the telescope and the camera. RigTonight only offers correctors made for the telescope you picked (the panel says Showing correctors made for your telescope). A reducer changes the focal length and f-ratio, so the field of view and image scale update as soon as you choose one.
Scopes with a built-in flattener, such as the Askar FRA400C and SQA55, don't need anything here. Leave the slot empty.
3. Pick your camera
The camera decides your field of view and image scale. Parts marked Verified had their specs read from the manufacturer's page. Everything else is approximate, and the panel has a Wrong or missing part? Tell us link if you spot a mistake.
Once you have a telescope and a camera, the Your rig card fills in:
- Focal length and f-ratio, after any reducer
- Field of view in degrees or arcminutes
- Image scale in arcseconds per pixel, with a sampling verdict
4. Set your seeing
At the top of the Your rig card, the Seeing buttons (1.5″ to 4″) set how steady the air usually is where you image. Pick your typical night, not your best. Most backyards are around 2–3″. The sampling verdict (well sampled, slightly undersampled, undersampled or oversampled) changes with it. Image scale and sampling explains what the numbers mean.
5. Add a filter wheel and filters
Click the filter wheel slot to choose a wheel or drawer, then open Filters to tick the filters you own. The picker groups them For colour cameras and For mono cameras, and filter size follows your wheel or drawer.
Filters change three things: the back focus (filter glass pushes focus back slightly), the vignetting check, and how Tonight ranks targets. With a dual-band filter fitted, emission nebulae rise up the list.
6. Choose the mount
The mount slot compares everything you've added against the mount's rating. The Payload bar on the Your rig card shows how full it is, with a realistic imaging limit marked. How much can your mount really carry? explains the limits.
7. Add guiding
Pick a guide scope or an off-axis guider, then a guide camera. The Guiding ratio tells you how much coarser the guide camera's view is than the imaging camera's. Up to about 4× is comfortable. See Guide scope or off-axis guider?.
8. Finish with the controller and power
The controller (a Raspberry Pi, mini PC or laptop) runs capture and guiding, and its weight counts towards the payload if it rides on the mount.
Pick a power source and the Power panel lists what each part draws, the total at 12 V, and how many hours a full charge lasts. Untick Dew heaters if you don't use them. Powering a rig in the field has the details.
To change or remove a part
Click the slot again. Pick a different option to swap it, or choose Remove (or Leave this slot empty) to clear it. The checks and numbers update every time.
Not sure which parts to choose in the first place? How to build an astrophotography rig explains the order to pick them in, and the best beginner setup has four starting points.
Next: what every item in the Compatibility list means, and how to fix it.