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Skywatcher Star Adventurer


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I got one of these recently. I will probably only use it with a DSLR - hoping it will work well with a telescope is probably wishful thinking. First impressions are good. Yes, it does need a good tripod and the polarfinder light attachment is a bit iffy. You can't use it when the optional dovetail L bracket is in place and as pointed out, putting the DSLR on is going to alter any polar setup already done. I got round this by shining a torch down the finderscope and will probably get a red LED on a wire mounted.

My only test was over 15 minutes before cloud was too heavy but it showed very little drift. The lens was short - 14mm and it would probably take huge error to show up at this level.

The image shows the first and last image over 30 minutes - the stars are in the same position.

 

 

teststaradv.gif

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9 hours ago, GeoC said:

I got one of these recently. I will probably only use it with a DSLR - hoping it will work well with a telescope is probably wishful thinking. First impressions are good. Yes, it does need a good tripod and the polarfinder light attachment is a bit iffy. You can't use it when the optional dovetail L bracket is in place and as pointed out, putting the DSLR on is going to alter any polar setup already done. I got round this by shining a torch down the finderscope and will probably get a red LED on a wire mounted.

My only test was over 15 minutes before cloud was too heavy but it showed very little drift. The lens was short - 14mm and it would probably take huge error to show up at this level.

The image shows the first and last image over 30 minutes - the stars are in the same position.

 

You can file out the slot in the dovetail to fit the illuminator and leave it in place, then you can check PA periodically to make sure Polaris its tracking round the circle.

Dave

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21 hours ago, alcol620 said:

What tripod did you use?

 

The test was with a carbon fibre tripod made by Zomei. About £90 on ebay.

I use that for regular photography so bought a second hand chunky tripod with no ball head, also ebay, for £45.

 

tripods.jpg

Edited by GeoC
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17 hours ago, Davey-T said:

You can file out the slot in the dovetail to fit the illuminator and leave it in place, then you can check PA periodically to make sure Polaris its tracking round the circle.

Dave

Yes, but I am reluctant to mess with the dovetail. It should be possible to alter the plastic 'legs' of the illuminator so it fits. Plastic is much easy to cut and file!

 

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36 minutes ago, GeoC said:

Yes, but I am reluctant to mess with the dovetail. It should be possible to alter the plastic 'legs' of the illuminator so it fits. Plastic is much easy to cut and file!

 

Skywatcher were doing a little plastic adapter to fit the illuminator to the dovetail but I can't find it anywhere now.

Dave

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On 19/09/2016 at 16:46, Davey-T said:

Skywatcher were doing a little plastic adapter to fit the illuminator to the dovetail but I can't find it anywhere now.

Dave

I made the adapter from a 21mm solvent weld overflow straight coupling from Tool Station cat number 10708, also in white 84387. The first one I made was a little loose but at 51p I splashed out for another! I cut the connector down to 25mm in height this got the LED in as far as possible, just make sure when cutting the lugs for the illuminator that the battery holder is to the side of the dove tail. Give it a try.  No change to the dovetail or the illuminator.

Illum Adapt.jpg

I mount my SA on a set of EQ5 legs see the link below: 

Sorry if I have made a mess of this post, still learning.

HughP

 

Edited by HughP
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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. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi folks

Had a couple of quick sessions with the SSA with a Canon 550d mounted on it. Tried a 50 mm fixed lens and a 18/55 mm zoom lens. First problem is dew, not too much dampness required before the lens fogs up, in the process of making up a small dew heater to go over the lens. The wide field images I obtained using 120 sec iso 800 settings give reasons for optimism once I get a bit more practice.

My reason for posting was to get views on the partly processed image shown. I assume the artefact on the two bright stars (deneb and vega) are caused by reflections in the lens somewhere? The 50mm lens images are fine, the image shown is from the 18mm/55mm lens.

Would anybody like to comment? Also is there a Pixinsight technique to remove the artefact?Capture.JPG

Thanks Alec

 

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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.

14409844_10155240585193032_167559426112092638_o.jpg

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.
 

Pixinsight M45 Result 3.jpg

Edited by Slynxx
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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

Edited by Errol
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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.

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13 minutes ago, Slynxx said:

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

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.

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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 :D 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. 

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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! :)

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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. :hello: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? 

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45 minutes ago, 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. :hello: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? 

A good place for images is AstroBin, a search for Star Adventurer gives a good selection with details.

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On 11/10/2016 at 15:45, Slynxx said:

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

Hi, I have bought one of those from the seller, it is really useful and makes life so much easier to polar align and realign. It is one those things that should have been with it in the first place. You can of course diy your own, or use blutack, but this one looks really nice on the adventurer (albeit in blue). If you have access to a 3D printer you can also find the design for the it on the web... 

https://www.redpah.com/product/2932/star-adventurer-polar-illuminator-adapter

Mine arrived from France in 4 days. The seller speaks a bit of English too, well he understood my emails ok.

   

Edited by froxfield
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