Who is autoguiding with their Astrotrac?

[OutThereSomewhere]

Having recently bought the Astrotrac autoguiding version & been impressed with it, I thought I'd try to use the autoguiding feature - but can't figure out how!

What autoguider & scope do you use and how do you lash it all together with the camera & lens?...

...and how good / easy is it to use?

Thanks for any advice!

Jonathan

[Davey-T]

No one it seems, according to the Astrotrac site it uses standard guiding like any mount so guess you'd need a converted finder scope , been thinking of getting an Astrotrac and the wedge they make for it looks really cool.

At least this has moved the post back up the page so perhaps someone will spot it and have something help full to add.

Dave

[Digz]

I haven't tried it yet to be honest as it does so well on its own. Plus I'm using a DSLR so 5+ min subs are pushing it.

Having said that it guides in RA, so to keep the weight down a finder guider, as Dave suggests, would be my advice.

[OutThereSomewhere]

I've contacted Astrotrac to see what they suggest. No reply yet.

I thought about a side-by-side rig, using DSLR & lens on one side and ST80 & autoguider on the other. This seems to be well within the load capacity, but I can't figure out how to balance that load.

Surely someone has done autoguiding with the TT320X-AG! 

[Davey-T]

Think an ST80 is a bit overkill just need a converted 8X60 finder I'd have thought.

Dave

[Dangerous-Dave]

Got one of these too but never worked it out, bit odd the company did not include instructions. I am not sure how you are supposed to make Dec corrections when there is no motor on that axis.

[Digz]

You don't make dec corrections it only guides in RA. Im not sure how useful that is though, but guess it (as anything AP wise) still relies on as accurate polar alignment as you can possibly get.

[OutThereSomewhere]

Dave, I don't mind overkill   and I'm happy to throw a bit more money at it if it helps RA accuracy.

Lee, You're right about accurate polar alignment. Nonetheless, if the Astrotrac comes with bells & whistles, I've just got to try dinging & tooting  !

[StuartJPP]

I have played around with guiding by dual mounting my Canon 500mm lens alongside a Canon 70-200mm lens on an aluminium plate. The 70-200mm was connected to a QHY5 camera via a custom EOS to 1.25" adapter I made and using PHD for guiding. The AstroTrac does track fairly accurately with no guiding but it can be helped along by guiding in RA. With no guiding the AstroTrac tracks by adjusting its speed depending on the arm position and slows down ever so slightly as the arm position extends, however this slow down is "stepped" so is not 100% perfect.

Things get a bit heavy though. I haven't had much of a play with it since the weather has been absolutely crud for ages and I need almost zero wind on top of clear skies and no moon...an impossible combination it seems.

Guiding an AstroTrac kind of defeats the purpose of it (small, lightweight, quick set-up etc.), but why not if it produces better results than usual and you can afford the time, weight etc?

I have also had a play around with dual AstroTracs in a special configuration which has allowed me to get 10 minute subs at 500mm by guiding in both RA and DEC (I am only interested in ~5 minute subs in reality, 10 minutes was just a test)...that is a top secret project I am working on

[OutThereSomewhere]

Wah-Hey!

Thanks for the info Stuart. I'm surprised that we haven't seen more info on autoguiding Astrotracs - here or elsewhere. I've still not had a reply to my email from Astrotrac.

Now, about that top secret project : You can't leave us all in suspense! C'mon, post a photo. your secret is safe with us  !

[StuartJPP]

Wah-Hey!

Thanks for the info Stuart. I'm surprised that we haven't seen more info on autoguiding Astrotracs - here or elsewhere. I've still not had a reply to my email from Astrotrac.

Now, about that top secret project : You can't leave us all in suspense! C'mon, post a photo. your secret is safe with us  !

Most people don't guide the AT because it only guides in RA and without guiding it tracks fairly well if polar alignment is accurate. Guiding adds weight and the need for a laptop and lots of cables etc. You could use a standalone guider I suppose, but it needs to support single axis (RA) guiding only. The beauty of the AstroTrac is to eliminate the weight, bulk, cables etc. but that doesn't mean we can't push the limits of the kit we have got when we don't need that portability which I am a firm believer of.

Regarding the top secret project...have a look in my gallery for a sneak preview. It isn't connected/wired up in the images but gives you an idea of what is happening. I have only done one image using this setup (Iris) and the moon was at more than 50%. I have had a couple of other test runs, but no other imaging. Setup is a bit fiddly but once running it has been quite good in the limited time I have tried it. Certainly not recommended unless you are mental.

Now if only we had some clear skies this decade I could actually try to iron out any issues and get some proper imaging in...

[tachyon]

Hi there,

I'm from Chile and I've been using the astrotrac system for about a year. The system is doing pretty well with camera and lenses, and the most difficult part on this hemisphere is the polar alignment. I used to spend 40 minutes doing the drift alignment method and the results are good enough for a 200 sec exposure. My main problem with the drift alignment is the amount of battery used by the live view mode of the camera, using about 70% of the battery power.

I'm thinking to attach the Orion mini 50mm guide scope in the hot shoe of the camera and attach the Lacerta M-GEN to the guide scope. My main purpose will be using the Lacerta for doing the drift alignment instead of the camera live view mode and maybe connecting it the astrotrac for RA guiding. Has anyone tried this setup? Do you think it will work?

I attach a picture of the Orion nebula I took using the astrotrac from Las Campanas Obervatory.

Cheers,

Roberto