Slynxx

Wasn't a great night as seeing was poor. Managed to get this image of M31 with the same setup as the Orion Nebula image.

Guess Star Adventurers (unguided) are out of the question?

On 11/15/2016 at 12:25, brantuk said:

Fabulous image - one of the few where you can see the whole extent of M42 - right the way round it's perimeter. Nice one Slynxx.

Thanks. This is probably the best image i've taken so far (started properly june 2016). Before I owned an Alt Az mount & couldn't do what I intended to do as in AP. Wish I'd known that when I bought the setup. I'll keep plugging away & see what result i can get. Clear Skies  

On 11/15/2016 at 11:18, David_L said:

What an excellent result - well done!

I have a TS 65 that I was thinking about using with the Star Adventurer and my ASI1600MM - Cool

I'm a bit concerned about the weight on the camera tripod I have - its very sturdy but it isnt' a NEQ-6 LOL

I could potentially get some interesting results with this combo if I risk it tipping over 

Well done blazing this trail with the Star Adventurer :-)

David

 

Thanks David. I had to discard half the images do to a rise & fall to the images being taken. The stars would basically move up & down in certain images, leaving me with only 30 x 60sec exposures. I'm speaking with a friend who Hyper Tunes & need to send him a few subs to show him the pattern. Hopefully limiting the bad frames somewhat. Fingers X

25 minutes ago, GuLinux said:

That's a quite stunning image!

Much appreciated. Hope to get a good few hours on it one night. Nonetheless, quite happy with that.

bit of an update as to the potential of the Star Adventurer. I took this image with my William Optics Zenithstar 71 mounted on the SA with my Canon 700d + x0.8 Reducer/Flattener.
30x60sec exposures used, darks & bias. No flats. This was only Polar Aligned with no guiding.
Considering the weight on the mount, it really can do some amazing work.

8 hours ago, Nova2000 said:

@Slynxx thanks for the image. Indeed the tracking seems to be great. What object is that? Milky way? 

Yes it's a an image of the Milkyway. Believe it to be below the summer triangle. Only been at this malarky since june (2016) when I got the SW SA . All were trials to learn the skills needed & also the processing techniques used.

On 10/13/2016 at 14:06, Nova2000 said:

I will be placing the order for this mount and my first deep sky mount to use with my 55_250lens. Can you'll post a few images taken from this mount please. how long is the exposure with I connect the camera to the mount? Can I check the unguided tracking without an autoguider and just with PhD? 

Image taken with SWSA, Canon 700D, 75-300mm EF III lens. If I remember right each sub was a good few minutes long (unguided). I have reached easily 5 minute subs with using this setup mentioned. Good luck with yours & clear skies!

Believe my tripod can hold 6KG, also don't open it up fully on the bottom set of struts. I find that helps with rigidity. The WO is heavy but i've been able to do some moderate imaging with it in this way. I'm going to experiment with the ball head & see what differences I can get. I'll post back when the weather decides to buck its ideas up!

Just now, Errol said:

What - a bodge on my brand new SSA! Shudder the thought ;-)

Seriously though, how does the blue tack hold up in cold weather - I would have thought it would have lost it's effectiveness. I was intending to leave it on more or less permanently throughout the night to check on alignment.

Shudder the thought indeed  I was using it last night and the weather has started to turn cold here on the coast (I'm now wearing trousers for my sessions). So far it hasn't budged, that's with loosening the battery to turn it on & off.
It has been stuck on the L Bracket for weeks now & doesn't drop off, even with knocking it a few times due to my tardiness..!
Also answered my own question from earlier, the two screws for left & right fine alignment tuning were loose, so the mount was moving. Still might try it with the ball head to see if it has any better effect of maneuvering without dealigning the whole setup. 

8 minutes ago, Errol said:

Hi all.

I have a SSA on order, so reading the comments here with interest. I have a heavy Manfrotto studio tripod (028B Triman) which I am hoping will do the job, though in high winds it does tend to vibrate a little - I have used it for long exposure photography in the past.

Just though I would draw everyone's attention to this little gizmo for sale on ebay uk - it allows the polar illuminator to be used with the dovetail.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adaptateur-illuminateur-de-viseur-polaire-monture-SKYWATCHER-Star-Adventurer-/131950549764?hash=item1eb8dd9b04:g:gV0AAOSwNuxXaY-N

Two pieces of blue tack do a grand job without the £6 postage  not a bad find though.

Been having a few issues with alignment lately due to mounting a WO Zenithstar 71 on my SW SA. The issue I'm having is.. once I've aligned using the Polar Scope using the SAM Console & then moving the scope to its target, the Adventurer goes off track (left or right) and I can't seem to get the tracking back, even though it's within the ring in the polar scope. I never had any issues while mounting my Canon 700D + 75-300mm EF Mk III lens using the ball head.
I don't use the ball head when the WO is mounted, that is screwed directly to the L Bracket. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcomed.

I have achieved ok tracking although very frustrating using this method but as of late I must be missing something! Here is an image of M45 shot over two nights using this set up.
 

Was bit cloudy the other night & after packing up twice, the clouds cleared enough for another quick setup & shoot.
No darks taken, just the light frames. Tried to stack using DSS but I have yet to this day got any decent results out of it, even when processing in Photoshop.
So here is 8 x 60sec frames of the Milky Way's core and trailing arms.

6 minutes ago, Ash79 said:

Hi Dave I have a sky-watcher 130 telescope I can use the tripod from that really stable one

 Its just setting it up like Slynxx said plus theres no clear nights here at the minute.

Hi Ash79

Found this video quite helpful in setting mine up. As Davey-T explained, the most important part is the alignment. Lookup SAM Console App for your phone. It certainly helped me out with alignment.

1 minute ago, Ash79 said:

Hi I have just got A Star Adventurer has anyone got any good Advise for me ??

Wish I could help Ash79. Bit of a new starter with mine (used it twice since june!)
The dial on the back baffles me, even after reading the manual a good few times hahahaa
All I managed to do is, make sure Polaris is aligned through the Polar Finder using the Skywatcher App (SAM Console),
set up my intervalometer for 60 sec exposures & left it to do the hard work!
Another owner might be able to give you better knowledge in using this product.
Maybe give an insight in what you need to know?  

One of my first DIY attempts at DSO.
Skywatcher 130P
Skywatcher Synscan Alt-Az Goto
Canon 700D
DSS & Photoshop.
Can't remember how many frames. No Darks, Flats or Bias.