Snooze

Hi guys, I have been looking forward to capturing the great red spot for so long and there it is, Jupiter and the mighty GRS . The warm evenings made it easier to start imaging straight away without having to let the 90mm Mak cool down 😁. Turbulance was at a minimum too which helped with focus but it is still hard to reach perfect focus at such a high magnification with my little Mak. Skymax 90 + ASI120MC + 1.25x barlow Cheers

I have no problem with my Polar Illuminator. It's bright enough for me to see the reticle clearly. The only thing I have with mine is that is does not stay in place even with the adaptor I received(too loose).

Had a nice opportunity to image Comet 46P on Sunday when the clouds decided to clear off just before midnight on Sunday 13 x 45s subs at 70mm f/5 Canon 1200D + Sigma 70-300 + Star adventurer mini

Little session from last Friday. My first real image of this target 15 x 1min subs ISO800 @300mm f5.6 Canon 1200D modded + Sigma 70-300mm + Star adventurer mini mount Found out my lens has quite a bit of coma at 300mm f5.6

Orion @135mm. Only 10 x 1min subs under light light polluted skies. There was also a very thin layer of clouds. Will try to add more data next weekend if the sky is clear. Star adventurer mini + modded 1200D + Hoya uv/ir cut filter + sigma 70-300

I don't think the issue is focal length because the periodic error(if it really is PE) would still be the same. Plus there are a few people managing long focal lengths quite well with the Mini version. I will have to run more tests.

I would say my polar aligment was good(was doing 50s subs) and some subs had nice round stars

Hello everyone, I was imaging M45 a couple of nights ago with my Star Adventurer Mini and the stars would move up and down(oscillate) as the session progressed. I thought it was normal and that is was due to periodic error. So I decided to try and measure this error. I found that the stars moved 24 pixels(highest position upwards to lowest position downwards) and using a 135mm lens with my 1200D I had a pixel size of about 7" per pixel(according to http://www.blackwaterskies.co.uk/imaging-toolbox/) . That would give me an error of about 168" which is huge, compared to the 50" error that was measured in Phil Hart's test. Now maybe I did something wrong with the calculations. What do you guys think?

Total integration time was 1h02min

Had another go at the double cluster and Heart & Soul. Went for 2min exposures this time @70mm.

Went out friday night to have my first DSO imaging session for this year. This was also the opportunity to test my new Skytech CLS filter. The target for the night was the double cluster, widefield and close up. @70mm => 15 x 90s subs Was a little bit disappointed because I did not catch any Ha from the Heart and Soul. @200mm => 15 x 60s subs

Yes everything is locked and tightened. I mean it does not flex like crazy and it is pretty steady when imaging but it still feels like a weak point comapred to the other parts of the mount

Anyone else feel like the equatorial wedge of the star adventurer is a weak point? I find that it flexes and moves quite a bit when I move my DSLR/Mak102 which can be annoying ?

Is saving time the only benefit of the pro version or is the tracking smoother and better too? I have my eyes set on the eqm-35 but there are not many(if any) reviews of it at the moment. But to be honest I'd rather save +200€ and get the eq3 pro(or non pro) and use a small APO to image if I can . There are images in this thread that are way better than those taken on more expensive mounts.

Very nice images! I just learned that you can auto-guide with the dual axis motors. So for those of you who use the dual axis motors, how well do they perform? Is the EQ3 Pro goto worth the +130€?

Here are my attempts with the Mini version of the SA. M42 - 43x 60s subs ISO800 @300mm f/8 M31 - 43 x 60 subs ISO800 @190mm f/5.6 Both images taken in light polluted skies (Bortle 7) with a canon 1200D + Sigma 70-300mm non APO