Bobby1970

2 minutes ago, serbiadarksky said:

I use the phone app for the star adventurer mini, its work perfect

Yes, guiding can correct a BIT but you need good polar alignmet becouse its guide only in RA axis, so if I missdone the alignment even wirh guiding I still get trails sometime

Polar alignment is the key for me, I find it very easy to do but some imagers think about hell when you mentione the PA foe them

I have used the polar align feature in sharp cap a few times, it seems pretty good, the thing is, i wonder about knocking the PA out just by loosening and retightening the RA clutch to be honest. Once i get the alignment in sharp cap so it is reading just in arc seconds i call it a day and go with that. Not done any guiding yet, but it is coming soon. How much do you need to reduce ISO levels by so that you don't end up with a totally washed out image after say 5-10 mins ????

This thread is great by the way, keep the contributions coming guys and girls :-)

3 minutes ago, serbiadarksky said:

Its not a bad image

Maybe the focus is out a bit, and try to edit it to pull off the sand and dust betwen the stars

Re the focus, i tend to just use the "focus peaking" feature on my DLSR on the live view screen. Perhaps the focus has shifted a little as i locked the focuser. I think i need to start doing some flats as well, and probably buy some decent processing software such as star tools maybe. 

Just now, serbiadarksky said:

I use the built in polar scope, thats all

That makes your images even more impressive in my mind. Or is it a case of the guiding correcting for any inaccuracies with polar alignment????? Don't fully understand how it all works TBH lol

18 hours ago, serbiadarksky said:

I put blood and time in thoose images

This 7 images represent more than 150-160 hours of imaging,sitting in -10°C to check all the photons on the images, stacking them, editing,but firstly-no GoTo system so the hardest part is to find the target (okay maybe not for orion or Rho)but Spaghetti and Ghost nebula 

What do you do in terms of polar alignment? I assume you don't just use the built in polar scope? 

At the weekend i stuck my Altair Lightwave 72ED-R on my SA just to see what i could do. I think its 400mm ish focal length.

This was 60x60sec after using the polar alignment tool in sharp cap with the scope and altair gp cam first. It is also cropped a little too.

Can I just ask. You guys talking about 8 and 10 minute subs, that is guided right??

Another stunning effort Steve. Well done. 

Thats incredible Russ

May i enquire as to sub length and other settings??

I love my Star Adventurer. It is definitely the best single piece of astronomy gear I have bought. 

A couple of my recent efforts. Sony A57 with a Minolta 70-300mm @ 300mm

Another vote for the regular SA, not the mini. 

17 minutes ago, Chris Lock said:

Hi Shane, I've just sold an ED100 due to recent car expenses, the Bresser 90/1200 I reviewed hear was basically it's budget replacement...I bit too budget unfortunately as it turns out. However, I am curious about this new line by Bresser, I just think I picked the wrong one to try by the looks of it  

I've had a few ED's -  ED80's, ED100's and once when I was really flush I had the Equinox 120. I totally agree these Synta ED's are basically spectacular for the money, but I also really rate the long focus crown and flint achromats which I've also had a few of over the years.

Lets just say I'm in budget mode at the moment, well apart from the naughty 6mm Vixen SLV, and the Dual axis drives for my EQ3 that are on their way to me, I'm a bad man, I've not told SWMBO yet     

its easier to get forgiveness than getting permission. :-)

Quite fancied a Vixen 80mf myself. Sounds like you got a real bargain. 

Clear skies. 

1 hour ago, Ant-33 said:

For guiding, I use an ST80 and QHY5l-IIc. The fov is a little over half a degree, so it's not wide enough for the Sharpcap polar alignment routine. I wondered, though, whether using a 0.5x focal reducer would work. It would bring the fov to over a degree, which is within the spec for the polar alignment routine. Does anyone have experience with this setup?

Robin - Sharpcap is a fantastic program, and I'd like to echo the appreciation others have shown here. Awesome  

I had a go with my ST80, GP Cam + 0.5 focal reducer. On my Star Adventurer it seemed to work ok. 

I haven't actually tried capturing any images yet. But I could only get to within "minutes" of alignment rather than "seconds" with the heavier mount. 

I used the SA to familiarise myself with the sharpcap polar alignment prior to getting the bigger mount set up to use it on. 

I have used the SA previously with the ST80 and DSLR though. Thought using sharpcap may help achieve some longer exposure times.  

1 hour ago, alcol620 said:

Hi Robin

Do you have any suggestions of how this software might be used to polar align a Skywatcher Star Adventurer? Presumably you would need a light weight guide camera and guide scope? Or is there another way?

Thanks for your help

Alec

I have done this with my ST80 and Altair Gp cam. Couldn't get it as close as with a eq5 type mount. But probably still useable. 

I used it again last night. Seemed to work well. Had the 70mm travelscope on top of the st120. Got to within 30 seconds and left it at that. Seems like an excellent solution in my limited experience

My new Opticstar EQ goto mount with Skywatcher ST120. 

Robin, thanks for the info I was struggling on a previous attempt to get my celestron 70mm travel scope to work. I think it was possibly due to thin and patchy cloud cover not allowing a decent view of the polar area. 

I tried again last night using the same scope and it worked fine. 

Until the front element dewed up. Lol. 

Many thanks for the info again. Much appreciated. 

Can anyone suggest what sort of c mount lens would be good to use with Altair Gp cam for polar alignment within sharpcap? I only have the small meteor lens at the moment. I assume this will be no use?

Posted on error

38 minutes ago, alcol620 said:

Just had a go with the SSA and found, as Dave did,  that there was no need to use the illuminator. Simply shine a small torch over the end of the polarscope to see the circle and marking to align Polaris.

This is what I have started doing. The illuminator is not very good imho. And useless when the dovetail is fitted. First time I used a small frac with my SA the other night and I adopted the shining the torch down polar scope approach. 

26 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

We'll have to disagree amicably on that. You think the alt az mount is the right mount for AP and I don't. This doesn't mean we have to duel to the death with loaded pistols. (I hope. I don't have one!)

Olly

i am not claiming either mount as "THE" right or wrong mount. Both can be used, fact. Albeit with different results. Some people are happy with the ease of set up of their alt/az mounts and are also happy with the results they get.

Its like saying a corded vacuum cleaner is the right way to vacuum your carpet when there are alternatives.

Anyway, keep the non- EQ images coming chaps :-)

3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

You are quite right and that is why I didn't say that. The thread demonstrates very well that it can be done with an Alt Az mount.

Olly

My mistake. You did say that Alt/Az was the wrong mount for astrophotography, just to clear things up. ;-)

Which, the existance of this thread proves to be an incorrect statement.  :-P

14 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I like this thread, as I've already said, and I like your images. However, I'm not able to accept the phrase, 'The so-called wrong equipment.' It IS the wrong equipment. The right equipment for DS imaging is the equatorial mount. I think it's important to bear in mind that beginners will be drawn to this thread. For me this is an excellent thread about what can be done with what is, no bones about it, the wrong equipment.

Olly

IMHO what you are saying is like saying a "disposable camera is the wrong type of equipment for talking landscape photos" tbh.

When the fact it, it isn't.

To take the best (DSO) astro photos, yes you need EQ mount etc. But stating that astrophotography cannot be done without an EQ mount etc is, IMHO simply an incorrect blanket statement.

I agree with you that beginners could be drawn to a thread like this, and once again, in my opinion, its worth highlighting to those people that you do not "need" to spend a fortune to carry out some sort of astrophotography.  If this then helps more people get into the hobby that can only be a good thing, rather than seeing them put off by the cost of getting into some sort of imaging.

What a great thread this is. Thanks to all for their efforts, love seeing what can be done with the so called "wrong" equipment. 

A few of mine. All with Skywatcher Alt/Az GOTO. Most with ST102, one M42 was with 127 Mak

Thanks for looking :-)

My other "new" frac. Lol 

7 minutes ago, DevonSkies said:

Thanks, that's good info. I have this padded bag for my ST102:

http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/geoptik-padded-case-for-100mm-refractors-f750.html

and it's actually oversized for the scope - in fact I'm sure an ST120 would fit. I'm wondering if I'm taking that bag on holiday anyway, I might as well fill it up and put an ST120 in it!

I have seen a couple of 120's for sale recently, think there is one on astroboot and one on here. They are around the £150 mark i think. I got mine foe £120 so am extremely happy.:-)

Also just sold/part exed the ST102 for a ST80. :-)