Star adventurer first go

[skysculptor]

Hi all

got a SW star adventurer for Xmas, heres my first attempt with it just 4 45 sec subs of Orion! with a 550d though would you believe an ST80 loads of issues with pic really CA, distortion etc but in pleased with the amount of nebulosity that came out and the Star adventurer seems stable. will have another go with just the camera and 250mm lens fitted when the sky is clear again and do better! 

thanks for looking

[skysculptor]

pic looks better on my screen and iPad when i upload it to the forum it seems to compress it  somewhat!

[brrttpaul]

I had mine for xmas as well, love the portability of it but deep down wish I had got a bigger HEQ5 or similar

[skysculptor]

HEQ5 nice mount but to big for what i want, its the portable thing i like! and the speed of setting up. not to mention the  expense of the HEQ5 and all the accessories!

[brrttpaul]

I may be asking probably the most stupid question ever asked on here but here goes. Ok I can get mine up and running now and taken a few shots with it, but oooo err um well you know that little polar scope that you stick in well how do you know its the right way round (I dont mean upside down) I mean the two circular parts to it?, it can go in left or right so how do you know which way is right? I just stick it in then turn it till it matches up with the app (polar finder) I have on my phone, would it be the same no matter which way I put it in lol. Waits patiently to get booted out of this group lol

[Davey-T]

Do you mean the bit with the red light in ?

Dave

[skysculptor]

well i just use the iPhone app polar align with it! i don't use the setting circles on the polar scope i just rotate the scopes orientation by releasing the the clutch and adjust it further with the the two knob on the rear of the wedge still it looks the same as on the app and polaris is in the same place! seems to work ok? may not be that accurate but has been sufficient thus far.

[skysculptor]

if its the light you mean ? i don't suppose it matters which way it goes in its just to illuminate the scope!

[michael23]

That's come out really nice by the looks of it, even with the ca

[brrttpaul]

yes the one with the light in it, it has two circles (one is the battery the other the scope), I just pop it on and use the app so they both the same, I,m guessing it dont matter as you turn the whole thing but you would have thought they would state it dosnt matter  which way round it went in. When I first tried to use the mount I didnt have the app and was hours trying to figure out setting it up with the degrees etc (nearly threw the whole thing through the window lol)

[skysculptor]

Thanks Michael23 it's an encouraging start at least!! Will have a go at M45 and andromeda next time and weather permitting all the old chestnuts!

Trying to use a polar scope with the setting circles on it is behind me to brrtpaul! Lol I guess it's an experience thing!

[skysculptor]

Behond me I meant lol

[Davey-T]

No need for setting circles nowadays

Dave

[skysculptor]

Thank god for that ! I'd be tearing my hair out!

[brrttpaul]

Well I,m glad I,m not on my own with that one lol, Ment to say nice shot too 

[skysculptor]

Thanks Brrtpaul! The instuctions in the star adventurer manual for the polar scope made no sense to me at all, fortunately thanks to the help on the forum I've jus got a grasp of using a polar scope with an iPhone app at least!

[pixueto]

You must put the zero in the 12 o'clock position, then put polaris in the place that little app is saying it should be. I have aHEQ5Pro with an Evostar ED80 and a SW 200p guiding with an OSSA with the 9x50 finder via adapter. It gives me brilliant astroimages but it takes me 1-1.5 hours to set up. I got working the star adventurer last Friday in 10 minutes. That's the beauty of it but I intend to use it only with 200mm lenses maximum FL

[BillPickle]

After some advice on the forum and seeing your picture i went out and got me one today... loved the 30 mins i had with it before the clouds came in.

Very impressed with it! As a beginner who has never had to polar align i found the app and the polar scope quite easy and managed a 1 min exposure with very little star trailing at all.

[skysculptor]

Nice shot bill! Love the seven sisters m45 next on my list weather permitting!

[Davey-T]

Good start Bill, just need to capture a few more images and stack them using Deep Sky Stacker and start up the steep image processing learning curve

Dave

[happy-kat]

Point it a bit left and you were in comet territory :-)