Imaging with a Star Adventurer

[Scooot]

11 hours ago, orions_boot said:

I am looking at getting one of these.  

I have a Cannon 550d, cannon 50mm prime, the stock 18-55mm and Cannon EF 70-300mm.

My question is what do you use to line up the camera to the target?  Is there something like a finder scope, red dot finder, or just keep looking through the screen until you see it?

That’s what I do with naked eye targets, a bit easier at 50mm than 300mm. Then take a pic at a high ISO to check and frame it.

However, since I’ve bought the Asiair I’ve found I can do a quick plate solve, takes seconds, to find out where I’m pointing. Then move and repeat until I’ve got it. It enables you to find targets not visible to the naked eye. Although I haven’t used it much because of Clouds.  

Edited December 3, 2020 by Scooot

[Chefgage]

North American nebula taken with a hydrogen alpha filter.

 6 x 300" lights and 40 bias.

Taken with a Canon 200D with Ha clip in filter, Samyang 135mm f2 lens on a star adventurer. Guided using a ASIAIR pro.

Stacked in DSS and processed in GIMP. Originally took 34 lights but had to delete all but 6 due to cloud and dew.

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by Chefgage

[DaveHKent]

On 03/12/2020 at 13:13, kendg said:

If you have a 3d printer (or know someone who does)

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1232862

or this (which I think is better)

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1232862

 

You posted the same one twice there.

The one I used is:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:241592

I picked up a Celestron Red Dot finder for about £15 and printed one of those, then I'm not always taking it on and off my scope. It has been really useful and cheap to produce.

There are some 3d printing services online if you don't have a printer. I'm sure they would knock one of them up for a very small amount.

[kendg]

2 hours ago, DaveHKent said:

You posted the same one twice there.

The one I used is:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:241592

I picked up a Celestron Red Dot finder for about £15 and printed one of those, then I'm not always taking it on and off my scope. It has been really useful and cheap to produce.

There are some 3d printing services online if you don't have a printer. I'm sure they would knock one of them up for a very small amount.

Thanks, the one I meant is

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3613101

 

Which is pretty much like the one you posted.

[Ender Of Days]

I'm currently using an AP with my canon 700,

With Redcat 51 on an eq5 tripod,also a WO uniguide scope (although still saving for a guider etc) 

I've managed 'ok' images of M51,M57,M27 and of course M31 amongst a few others but find I'm struggling on nebula such as around Sadr and the N'American nebula,

I think I need an lp filter,

 

[Chefgage]

Managed to get 1 hr and 18 minutes of NGC 1499 California Nebula in Hydrogen Alpha before all hell broke loose with star trails, the object moving off out of frame and then star trails in the shape of question marks.  I had a few issues with power and cables deciding to wrap themselves around various parts of the rig. The framing was all wrong. It took me quite a while to find and frame the nebula that at that point I just wanted some data.  The nebula needs to be turned 90 degrees, that way I can fit it all in.

Equipment.

Modified Canon 200D, Star adventurer pro, Skywatcher ED72, Hydrogen alpha filter, Guided using ASIAIR pro.

39 Light frames. Exposure 120 seconds at ISO 1600.

Stacked in DSS and processed (quickly) in GIMP.

Edited January 12, 2021 by Chefgage

[Sylvester111]

The Orion and Horsehead with my SA and EOS RP plus 100-500mm RF lens. Unguided shots and was very happy with its tracking. 

Edited January 15, 2021 by Sylvester111
Added gear photos

[Nerf_Caching]

30 minutes of 45-second subs from Bortle 9 sky using the SA. Scope was a SW Evostar 72ED attached to a Canon 450d (astromod) dslr. I used an Astronomik CLS filter. A very noisy Rosette Nebula but happy so far!

Edited January 22, 2021 by Nerf_Caching

[Chefgage]

Star adventurer pro
ASIAIR pro
Skywatcher ED72
OVL field flattener
Canon 200D modified
CLS filter
ZWO ASI120mm mini guide scope

ISO 800
EXP 180s
Lights 53
Darks 0
Flats 20
Bias 40

Moon percentage 77%
Half way through image session moon angular distance 29° 29' 46.8" 

Total exposure time 2 hr 39 mins
 

Struggled to process this one but given that the Moon was at 77% and at a apparent separation of 29° 29' 46.8" half way through the session I suppose this is to be expected.  

[Sylvester111]

Couple more shots from last night (mayyybe I over saturated the end results a bit).  But happy to get 3 minute exposures with very little star elongation (to my eyes).  SA with ASI 120MM-S and mini-guide scope for guiding.  Unmodified EOS RP with 100-500mm lens at 500mm, f6.7, 1600 ISO but I think I need to drop to 800 next time and maybe push the lights to 4 mins.  3 min exposures for these .  I used SharpCap for initial polar alignment but found it quite off when I tried a drift align in PHD2.  Might go straight to PHD2 next time.  Slowly learning!

Rosette Nebula 26 shots stacked, Carina Nebula only 8 shots as I may have been pointing in the wrong bit of the sky for the initial 8 shots...

[johnst]

I'm just jumping on the SA bandwagon here because I swear by mine to the point of selling my NEQ6 which was permanently in my observatory - whereas I can go almost anywhere with my Star Adventurer. I am feeling my way around a bit and am using DSS and Gimp but am so raw with Imaging and I'm in my seventies so no time like thenpresent to try something new!!

[MKHACHFE]

On 22/01/2021 at 14:00, Nerf_Caching said:

30 minutes of 45-second subs from Bortle 9 sky using the SA. Scope was a SW Evostar 72ED attached to a Canon 450d (astromod) dslr. I used an Astronomik CLS filter. A very noisy Rosette Nebula but happy so far!

That is a really impressive image considering you are in a B9 area. Consider me amazed. 👍🏻

[Kyle Allen]

The California Nebula and Rosette Nebula in H-alpha taken over the last two nights with William Optics Zenithstar 61 and modified Canon EOS 100D. I used an Optolong L-eNhance filter then processed the red channel only. I’ve only recently got a modified DSLR and it’s my first time shooting in H-alpha so I’m really amazed at how much contrast there is in a single frame and the fact that there are no gradients to deal with when processing. Also, being able to image even when there is a full moon is great! And the Star Adventurer did a brilliant job to handle 5 minute exposures at this focal length (obviously guided and polar-alignment done in Sharpcap Pro).

California Nebula (34 x 300” exposures)

Rosette Nebula (38 x 300” exposures)

[Chefgage]

Just been reading this month's sky at night magazine. In it is a review of the newer type of mount, the star adventurer 2i. There are some results of their tests showing exposure times achieved (unguided I assume) which seem very good compared to what I get with the mount (I am using the star adventurer pro).

So I was wondering what other users of this mount are achieving exposure time wise. 

The magazine's test results are for an 18mm lens they got 20 minutes with no star trailing. With a 100mm lens they got 5 minute exposures. With a 400mm lens they got 2 minute exposures. These seem high compared to what I get unguided.

My results are for a 420mm focal length ed72 scope I get at best 50 seconds unguided (I know this set up weighs more than just a 400mm lens setup). With my 135mm lens I would get about at best 3 minutes.

If I use guiding I can obviously get longer but the magazine's results I feel do show a lot longer exposure times than I would be able to get unguided. 

One further point is I have my tripod level, polar alignment good using asiair and everything balanced well.

So anybody else got any exposure times they achieve that can share their results?

Edited March 5, 2021 by Chefgage

[AstroNebulee]

4 hours ago, Chefgage said:

Just been reading this month's sky at night magazine. In it is a review of the newer type of mount, the star adventurer 2i. There are some results of their tests showing exposure times achieved (unguided I assume) which seem very good compared to what I get with the mount (I am using the star adventurer pro).

So I was wondering what other users of this mount are achieving exposure time wise. 

The magazine's test results are for an 18mm lens they got 20 minutes with no star trailing. With a 100mm lens they got 5 minute exposures. With a 400mm lens they got 2 minute exposures. These seem high compared to what I get unguided.

My results are for a 420mm focal length ed72 scope I get at best 50 seconds unguided (I know this set up weighs more than just a 400mm lens setup). With my 135mm lens I would get about at best 3 minutes.

If I use guiding I can obviously get longer but the magazine's results I feel do show a lot longer exposure times than I would be able to get unguided. 

One further point is I have my tripod level, polar alignment good using asiair and everything balanced well.

So anybody else got any exposure times they achieve that can share their results?

I'd be interested in this also after the review in the sky at night magazine, I have a star adventurer and 72ed ds pro on order so be good to here what others are achieving unguided as this is what I'll be doing. 

 

Clear skies 

[Nerf_Caching]

On 05/03/2021 at 20:18, LeeHore7 said:

I'd be interested in this also after the review in the sky at night magazine, I have a star adventurer and 72ed ds pro on order so be good to here what others are achieving unguided as this is what I'll be doing. 

 

Clear skies 

I achieved this using 45-second exposures with a 72ED and SA mount. Make sure declination axis is properly balanced using a dovetail saddle and a longer dovetail on the 72ED to ease the stress on the tracking motors.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Nerf_Caching

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, Nerf_Caching said:

I achieved this using 45-second exposures with a 72ED and SA mount. Make sure declination axis is properly balanced using a dovetail saddle and a longer dovetail on the 72ED to ease the stress on the tracking motors.

Thank you, I have a spare longer dovetail from my old 150p so hopefully that'll be long enough to balance the scope on the SA

[Cobberwebb]

Just done my 2 best images with a SA now that I have a car and can get to a Bortle 3 site. Had the SA since October, but only recently been able to use it properly due to work and weather.

No guiding.
Lights and flats only.
Nikon Z50 (not astro-modded), 50-250mm F4.5-6.3 kit lens
90second exposures @ ISO1600

M31, 36 light frames.

Rosette Nebula, 70-80 Light frames.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Cobberwebb

[Chefgage]

8 hours ago, Cobberwebb said:

Just done my 2 best images with a SA now that I have a car and can get to a Bortle 3 site. Had the SA since October, but only recently been able to use it properly due to work and weather.

No guiding.
Lights and flats only.
Nikon Z50 (not astro-modded), 50-250mm F4.5-6.3 kit lens
90second exposures @ ISO1600

M31, 36 light frames.

Rosette Nebula, 70-80 Light frames.

Very nice images. I especially like the Andromeda one. It's really nice how the core is not blown out. I wish I had some bortle 3 skies near me

[groberts]

9 hours ago, Cobberwebb said:

Just done my 2 best images with a SA now that I have a car and can get to a Bortle 3 site. Had the SA since October, but only recently been able to use it properly due to work and weather.

No guiding.
Lights and flats only.
Nikon Z50 (not astro-modded), 50-250mm F4.5-6.3 kit lens
90second exposures @ ISO1600

M31, 36 light frames.

Great images @Cobberwebb  well done.  I'm interested in a lightweight set-up like this and wondered:

1. What tripod are you using?  I have a Manfrotto 190 and would like to know if this is good enough to take the Star Aventurer?
2. How + why are you using the mobile phone in the picture with the set-up?
3. Your not guiding but presumably stacking the said 31 frames - what software have you used?   

Graham

 

[Cobberwebb]

7 hours ago, groberts said:

Great images @Cobberwebb  well done.  I'm interested in a lightweight set-up like this and wondered:

1. What tripod are you using?  I have a Manfrotto 190 and would like to know if this is good enough to take the Star Aventurer?
2. How + why are you using the mobile phone in the picture with the set-up?
3. Your not guiding but presumably stacking the said 31 frames - what software have you used?   

Graham

 

Hi Graham, and thanks.

1. That is a Benro Mach3 Alum 4 section (around £120). I don't know about the Manfrotto, so best to do a specs comparison.

2. My Nikon Z50 can't use an intervalometer, and the camera setting max out at 30seconds and 9 exposures, so I use a spare android phone attached to the tripod using a cheap cycle mount, tether it to the camera via USB and use qDslrDashboard app as an intervalometer. I could use the camera's wifi to connect to the phone, but it's a bit unreliable and uses more battery (which the little Z50 uses after 2-3hours of non-stop shooting). This way I can set it to 90secs and 100 exposures and sit in the car watching YouTube vids in the warm.

3. I've been using Deep Star Stacker, then Photoshop and StarNet++ to process. I've been trialing Pixinsight and will most likely purchase a license soon.

 

I think I dimmed the stars a little too much in that M31 shot, so I brought them back up a bit:

[Chefgage]

3 hours ago, Cobberwebb said:

Hi Graham, and thanks.

1. That is a Benro Mach3 Alum 4 section (around £120). I don't know about the Manfrotto, so best to do a specs comparison.

2. My Nikon Z50 can't use an intervalometer, and the camera setting max out at 30seconds and 9 exposures, so I use a spare android phone attached to the tripod using a cheap cycle mount, tether it to the camera via USB and use qDslrDashboard app as an intervalometer. I could use the camera's wifi to connect to the phone, but it's a bit unreliable and uses more battery (which the little Z50 uses after 2-3hours of non-stop shooting). This way I can set it to 90secs and 100 exposures and sit in the car watching YouTube vids in the warm.

3. I've been using Deep Star Stacker, then Photoshop and StarNet++ to process. I've been trialing Pixinsight and will most likely purchase a license soon.

 

I think I dimmed the stars a little too much in that M31 shot, so I brought them back up a bit:

Again a nice image of Andromeda. I do prefere your first version with the dimmed stars. I have started to process my images with dimmer stars as I think it makes nebula/galaxies etc pop out more.

[Chefgage]

Star adventurer pro
ASIAIR pro
Skywatcher 72ed refractor
Canon 200D modified
ZWO ASI120mm mini guide scope

ISO 800
EXP 60s
Lights 87
Darks 0
Flats 30
Bias 30

Moon percentage 8%
Half way through image session moon angular distance Below horizon 

Total exposure time 1 hr 27 minutes 

Had a bit of problem with guiding tonight. Could only get 60s exposures, any more and i got star trailing. Bit odd as I can get 300s exposures usually. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Chefgage

[Richh81]

Hi, I recently joined SGL & posted a thread the other day about the SW star adventurer mini and how I was looking to either get the counterweight kit or a ball head and then questioned whether anyone had ever used something like the Manfrotto 327RC2 grip head and whether it was any good to use with the SAM or if a traditional ball head is easier and more accurate to use - can I ask what set up you have (whether you use the counterweight kit or a ball head?).

I'm fairly new to all this and am really keen to get set up but my physical limitations and the weather have meant i've still not been able to have a go since I brought it in November last year!

Would appreciate any help or tips you may be able to throw my way, you obviously have it sussed - nice pictures by the way!

 

Richard

[Chefgage]

17 hours ago, Richh81 said:

Hi, I recently joined SGL & posted a thread the other day about the SW star adventurer mini and how I was looking to either get the counterweight kit or a ball head and then questioned whether anyone had ever used something like the Manfrotto 327RC2 grip head and whether it was any good to use with the SAM or if a traditional ball head is easier and more accurate to use - can I ask what set up you have (whether you use the counterweight kit or a ball head?).

I'm fairly new to all this and am really keen to get set up but my physical limitations and the weather have meant i've still not been able to have a go since I brought it in November last year!

Would appreciate any help or tips you may be able to throw my way, you obviously have it sussed - nice pictures by the way!

 

Richard

I use both a ball head and counter weight kit. When I am using my DSLR with a lens I use a ball head. I find this allows for easy framing especially when the target only just fits in the field of view. When using a refractor I then use the L bracket and counter weight combination. Because if the weight involved when using the refractor the counter weight is a necessity.