GDN

I log on, work out how to attach an image, and sneaks out before anyone notices. But on a serious note, here is my first proper effort where I drove to somewhere dark away from the city, I polar aligned using Sharpcap, and used a wired remote to trigger the camera. This is a single image, pretty well straight out of camera, no stacking. I have no idea on how to process this sort of image. Something else I need to work on. The details are a Canon RP, Sigma 40mm at f2.2, ISO 1600, 90 second single exposure, on a Skywatcher Star Adventurer. The plan was to guide as well, but it was -12 degrees, and I had frost on my laptop, so I gave that idea a miss this time around. Gary

Thanks for the information and the link Michael. This is something that I will look into. Gary

Looking for four dim stars in a dark part of the sky is just frustrating. Even at a dark site, I have managed to fluke finding these four stars only once. I am pretty new to this, and I have really struggled to polar align using the polar scope with my Star Adventurer. But I have found a way that seems to work for me. I have Sharpcap pro and PHD2 installed on my laptop, and I have not long brought a ZWO guide camera and scope. During the day, I aim the polar scope crosshairs at a distant target such as a tree on a hill. I attach my guide scope and camera to my mount, and using PDH2 with the bullseye overlay, I aim the guide camera to the same spot that the polar scope crosshairs are aimed at. Once I have the two aligned, I then tighten down the screws so these two remain aligned. I then remove the mount from the wedge. I set my tripod up, and using a compass and taking into account magnetic declination, I then aim one leg of the tripod and wedge towards true south. For me that is 180 degrees plus 24 degrees east magnetic declination, gives me magnetic 204 degrees. I level the wedge, and then dial in my latitude on the wedge. Once it starts to get dark, I eyeball the direction of the mount, and using the southern cross and the pointers as a guide, I make sure that I have the gear pointing in the correct direction. I then mount the tracker and ZWO camera and scope back on the wedge. I open Sharpcap Pro and do my accurate polar alignment. I do not look through the polar scope, I just get up and running. I have given up trying to use the polar scope to accurately polar align. It looks as if you have the gear to do this. Once I fire up Sharpcap, it takes me all of 5 to 10 minutes to polar align, and it is really, really easy. I have done this routine a good few times now, and I have the same result each time. Apart from the one time I bumped the guide scope as I walked it to my mount. I hope it helps. Gary

I brought my one about 5 years ago when I lived in Darwin, Australia. Darwin is something along the lines of 14° south. When I looked through the polar scope to find Octans, I found all that I could see was trees. Hence one of the reasons I put it to one side. But when I was using it then, the mounting bracket would rotate freely without any tight spots. Fast forward onto now, we have moved cities. I have dug out the tracker, and I found that when the clutch was loosened off, there was one area where when you rotated the mounting bracket, you would need a little more pressure to move the bracket past this point. Once past it, it was smooth again until you rotated it to the same place. I am not talking about needing both hands to rotate it, I just needed a little more effort. I did think that it was not like this when I was in Darwin. Plus the thought of would this impact the trackers accuracy. My thinking then went to stripping the mount down and replacing the grease in it. But when I started to research on how to do this, I came across someone who had the sticking mount problem, and he just loosened the hex nut. That is the route I took. My mount now turns freely. I think you want a 3mm hex key. If think it is worth giving it a try first if you are having this problem. I never done any testing to see if it has had any impact on my results, as it was the first thing that I looked at once I got my tracker out again and got it going. I would be interested to see if it has any impact on your tracking accuracy if you slacken off this screw. I would happily put up with the moon and go out and experiment a little more, for no clouds. Gary

Just to add my little bit of experience with my Star Adventurer. I have had mine for a while, and I really didn't get on with it when I first brought it. So it got put away, for a few years. I have dug it out again, as I have a little more spare time now, and I found that when I rotated the mounting bracket with the clutch loosened off, there was a tight spot. I loosened off the small hex nut under the clutch, and it seems to be ok. I brought myself a guide scope and camera, along with a years license with Sharpcap Pro, and off I went. Again. With excellent polar alignment with Sharpcap, I am getting 2.5" to 3" in RA. This is using a 2.5 sec shutter. I am playing around out on the back garden before I go out into the wild away from the city to have a serious try at imaging. but what I have found by trying different things is that the error in RA can be lowered. The tripod that I am using has spikes on the end of the feet. If I push them into the ground carefully with my heal it feels very solid. The tripod is a hand me down heavy video type. Today, I aligned the polar scope and the guide camera on a mobile phone tower that is I guess 500 meters away during the day. Tonight, I tried again. I also found for me that 0.5 sec works best. I was able to get my error in RA down to 0.98". I tried this numerous times, and I kept on getting a similar result. Then the clouds rolled in, and that was the end of that. I want to try a few more different things with the gear that I have, and see if I can lower the RA error even more. I'll let you know how I get on. Gary

A warm hello to all you lovely people that know a lot more than I do about this pastime. I have been lurking here for a while, and I thought I would do the right thing and jump in. I am in that dangerous place of almost knowing something, but I know that I have a long way to go before I will call myself reasonable at this. I am leaning towards imaging. I picked up a Starwatcher Star Adventure a few years ago. I never really got on with it for various reasons. But I have moved, and I have dug the thing out again, and I am playing around with it. I have a Canon camera, and a couple of lenses to play with as well. So expect some silly questions and some bad images. I know that I am in the toddlers pool here with my experience, but I feel as if I am in the deep end. One other thing to add, I am in the southern hemisphere (NZ), so if I do manage a presentable image, you are going to have turn your monitors upside down. Gary