During last nights frigid imaging session I used my two Bahtinov Mask’s for focusing the imagers. This is a very fast process and makes life much easier. If you image, I highly recommend that you look at making your own mask from online sources or buy one for your telescope, they are a cheap but valuable tool for your imaging equipment.
Out of Focus Bright star through Bahtinov Mask
The middle beam of light is almost centered we are approaching focus
Bright star near perfect focus using Bahtinov Mask
80mm and 8 inch Bahtinov Mask Notice hangers on 80mm and center cutout on the 8 inch Mask
If you look at the above image you will notice that the 80mm mask has little tabs or plastic screws these make it quick to hang over the end of your OTA. The 8 inch mask has its center cutout so that it likewise quickly goes onto the Edge 800HD OTA, this could aslo be hung. Total time to hang one and to achieve critcal focus using 10 second exposures or live view should be less than a minute once you get the hang of using a mask. This is the fastest and most accurate focusing method I have seen yet without having electronic marked focuser etc on a permanent setup.
