BlueStinger

Seems there's a Minitrack LX4 on the way very soon. Only info I can find about it is on Omegon's shop. Upped the capacity to 4kg and made some changes to how the spring tension is set from what I can see. I look forward to a review of sorts. https://www.astroshop.eu/mountings-accessories/mountings/camera-mounts/15_55_10_50/m,Omegon

Bought a Red Dot finder from Omegon for my dslr to help me find targets easier. The hotshoe adaptor I had already didn't fit but made it work easy enough by removing the foot and then attaching.

My interest in the nightsky has always been there but only this year has it taken off like a rocket! So there are some things I do remember and some things I have only recently discovered because of my new hightened interest so I'm going to list a few of them too, as they did 'strike' me so to speak

I saw Hale Bopp with my own eyes. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing if I remember, like, noway! A real comet, kind of reaction. I was living in Southampton at the time and if I'm not mistaken it wasn't fully dark either. Amazing. Then there's the Solar Eclipse of '99, and the thing that struck me the most with that was how otherworldy the daylight became. Not just how it looked but the sound, or lack of as everyone stopped what they were doing. Even the animals went quiet.

Now to the stuff I never witnessed but read about, whether recently of knew of beforehand. So there's The Carrington event which was a real interesting read including the 2012 (I think) near miss! Crazy stuff. Then there's the Tunguska event, which I remember reading about in a book when I was a kid. It was a bit more mysterious back then though.

The big one for me though is Black Holes. Incredible things! They scared me as a kid after an episode of Space 1999 where they got all stretched as they got pulled into it getting too close in one of those cool ships. Then again I remember that show always managing to scare me back then 🤣

I bought my first dslr earlier in the year, a 700D, and recently had a little look at some newer models. Then I quickly realised, as Matt above alludes to, that it won't help me much if at all seeing as I still have much to learn, especially when it comes to editing, and even basic stuff like framing. So my 7 year old camera certainly isn't limiting me at the moment.

These older cameras are perfectly capable to keep a novice busy for a good while before needing to upgrade or spend big. So I think there will always be a market for them for a good while yet as more people get into astrophotography for the first time. If I had to spend more at the moment, it would be on a new lens.

23 hours ago, LeeHore7 said:

This little peach arrived today by the nice people in Germany, can't wait to test it out with my canon 450d, looking clear(ish) tonight so hopefully get some joy, was impressed by the good reviews of it and some other members owning this device. Couldn't afford a star adventurer and this is nice and portable to walk to pure dark spots around my village, clear skies everyone 📷🌌🔭

Awesome mate. I'm glad you got it. I'm sure it will serve you well. I look forward to seeing some new and improved images when you get to give a it a good run

I've been taking quite a few pics using the minitrack but my editing skills are so bad they always come out rubbish. So, I've spent the last few days on Lightroom and Photoshop actually learning stuff slowly and created this monstrosity from the same stack of images as above. I like it though and it's a start.

That PC in the OP is vastly overpriced. If on a budget get a Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB DDR4 3000/3200, and any of the MSI B450 MAX motherboards.  This is a good base to work from, and cheap.

13 hours ago, tomato said:

Here is the spec on the desktop PC I decided on for image processing:

Case: PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Motherboard: ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready
RAM: 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 16GB)
GPU: 4GB AMD RADEONTM RX 550 - HDMI, DVI - DX® 12
Primary storage: 512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
Secondary storage: 2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
power supply: CORSAIR 450W CV SERIESTM CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
PCS FrostFlow 100 V2 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD) STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
 

I went with an AMD CPU rather than Intel on reading a post by Ivo Jager,  the author of StarTools, saying they offer better value for money on calculation heavy applications such as Astro image processing.
 

From what I have read the key elements are Processor spec (the more cores the better) at least 16 GB RAM and a decent sized SSD. The GPU is less important although some processing packages are starting to utilise them.

I’ll let you know how it compares to my i5 quad core 16 GB laptop when it arrives.

Ryzen 7 3700x is a great cpu but needs fast ram to get the most from it and 2400mhz is as slow as ddr4 gets. It will prevent you getting the most from it. Still a big improvement over a laptop i5 (which is much slower then a desktop one) but could be better.

Thanks for the words of wisdom and support and the plugin tip. I didn't really know what stretching was and had to look it up. Before I've often wondered how pulling the image like elastic would help anything haha🤣 I've spent hours in photoshop today and watching videos and understanding more bit by bit. I have quite a few sets of images of various targets waiting for some decent attention. I'm determined to get better at it over this coming winter season.

As for the Minitrack yes it's a nice bit of kit and does indeed just fit on a tripod. I used it originally on a cheap pan head tripod but tightening everything down after alignment would always throw it off a fair bit so I bought a new tripod with a ball head. Locking everything down with that was better but was so fiddly I always felt I needed a third arm so I just bought a cheap mini wedge and this made things so much easier.

Hi, I woke up at 0425 this morning for some reason and instead of going back to sleep I decided to look outside and noticed it was clear, so crazily thought it would be a good idea to image Orion for the first time. I knew time was against me before our own star would start to brighten the sky so got dressed and threw everything in the car and 10 mins later was out of town and under bortle 4 skies. I quickly set up, did a rough polar alignment and managed to get 30 minutes or so of exposure before packing up and heading home. A quick Sequator and Photoscape X later and I got this image. It's heavily cropped as the framing was poor (I'm so bad at framing), slightly our of focus and too green to name some of the faults but tomorrow I will have a proper go at it with Photoshop and Lightroom when I'm less tired and have more time. I'm very happy to see a very feint Barnard's Loop in there!

Unmodified 700D, 50mm F1.8 STM lens (@F2.8 and cropped) and a Minitrack LX3. 25x80secs and ISO200. Just lights because complete noob 😄

Sorry wrong forum.

Nice one. I'll be spending lots of time on Orion as the year draws to a close. Can't wait!

That looks stunning. Makes me wonder if there's a system within Andromeda where the aliens there are doing the exact same thing with our own Galaxy and showing it off.

Winning picture looks totally fake to me, and like any computer generated image will not last the test of time. There are countless far superior images posted in these forums everyday.

Much tidier

Great set up. Looks crazy complicated to me with all the wires everywhere but that's the name of the game I suppose. WIshing you many enjoyable nights within it's confines!

Well the wedge arrived this morning so I just set it all up for a looksy. I think I'm all set now for some clear nights. Some pics of the setup and a bonus image of Andromeda I did a few weeks back before I got the wedge and replaced the tripod. I've now got Lightroom too so had a little play with it a few days ago so sorry for the overblown stars etc.  Im looking forward to improving not only the images I take but also the editing.

My mini wedge arrived today from Omegon direct. I always thought it was just an iOptron model rebranded and now the box confirms it lol. Anyway, I'm looking forward to using it with my Minitrack LX3.

M.2 is just a physical form factor so make sure the drive you are looking at uses the NVMe interface otherwise it's just SATA will be no faster than a standard SSD. Easy way to tell is to look at the connector. M.2 NVMe drives have one notch and M.2 SATA drives have two.

Great image, looks to almost have a 3d effect to it.

10 minutes ago, Mr niall said:

That’s not quite right but it’s probably not worth getting into the details - the point is that Polaris moves through the sky all night in a circle around celestial north (NOT True North) so for the graduations to work you need to calibrate it against your exact time and adjusted date you use it - and the Lx3 lacks the date rings to make that possible. 

generally using 0 as longitude is effective enough.

a much easier way is to download a free app called “polar align” which shows you exactly where to point everything bush bash bosh.

Ive had 60 secs at 300mm with a ball head easily enough - the trick is to align AFTER you’ve mounted your camera on it to compensate for sag.

I normally shine my phone torch across the front at an oblique angle - works fine imho

Ah yes I see. The circle inside the scope is the travel of Polaris depending on the current time. Good to know for the future then if I get another tracker that has the date rings. I will focus more on the spring tensions as Nigella suggested. I got an app called taptempo so will practice in the mean time with positions and load. Oh and a good tip about the phone torch, didn't even think of that

Thanks for all the help everyone, I'm excited to get the most from this tracker in the coming months! 

4 minutes ago, petevasey said:

I must have missed some of this thread - pity 'cos I might have been able to help 'Blue Stinger'.  But he's ordered a wedge now.  Just that I recommended this pan head early in this thread.  I have a used one where the body was slightly cracked and one of the serrated discs (which lock the position of the control handle) was worn.  But I made a replacement disc and thoroughly araldited the weakened part of the head.  It is eminently useable and has smooth movement.  Just lying in a cupboard now!  So if anyone wants it, it's yours for a fiver (to cover my fuel to a Hermes pickup point) plus the P&P.

Cheers,

Peter

Hi, sorry I missed that post it seems. Does look a decent head and I actually like the handle on those. My old one was actually easier than the ballhead of my new tripod untill I had to lock it down, that threw everything off lol. This one looks much better quality. But yes I have ordered a wedge now and after watching a bunch of Peter Zelinka videos I have my heart set on it hehe. Though I really wanted the William Optics one but that price....

Your pan head will be an absolute bargain for someone.

Stunning pics. Yes the spring settings are still something I'm getting used to too. Weather has been not good this month. Maybe i'm looking too deep into it of you can get those pics without all the extra work. I will look more into the spring settings, I have been listening for the change in speed of the ticking so far. Thanks

My entire kit only contains a camera, lenses, a tracker and a tripod so not much in the way of exciting gear to mention, except my magnifying glass that has made focusing with live view a doddle. My grandad gave it to me when I was a young lad about 35-40 years ago so it's quite old. It's made by Tasco but does say Japan on the sticker so not sure really. It's always in my camera bag and probably always will be now.

Hi, I would like to get the very best polar alignment possible with what I have so have a few questions. Please excuse my noobishness. 🤪

I have the LX3, polar scope, a decent tripod and I have ordered a mini wedge which looks exactly like the iOptron one in the pics Nigella kindly posted above. Hopefully it will bring clear skies with it! https://www.omegon.eu/equatorial-wedges/omegon-polar-wedge-with-55mm-dovetail-bar/p,64973

Now when I got the tracker I didn't care about alignment because I knew I could get away with a 'rough' alignment. The LX2 comes with a plastic tube so I know that just getting Polaris in the sight would produce good enough results. Plus I know where Polaris is and from home it's always perfectly visible so I didn't think anything of it. Now that has changed, and I know that a rough alignment and a proper alignment are quite different when using longer lenses and I want to be able to use my 55-250 stm lens and not just the kit lens and the nifty fifty. With the incoming mini wedge allowing me to be more precise than either the ballhead of my new tripod or the 3way pan head of my old one brings me to the polar scope itself and here is where I need a little help. There is a polar clock around the scope and an overlay within and I've worked out that my home location coordinates means if i put Polaris at 2pm then the centre of the clock will be true north and thus properly aligned? Here is the view through the scope.

Finally, I can't see the overlay at night, is there an illuminator available like the one that comes with some other trackers? Would be very helpful.

Cheers!

The weather app within Windows 10 has a very nice 24h cloud cover map that I have find to be pretty decent.