Who guides their Star Adventurer?

[Ryan_86]

Hi guys, I'm in the middle of planning my astro imaging set up. I currently have a StarAdventurer mount, and will be purchasing the Zenithstar 61 & matching field flattener. 

Does anybody own this setup or something similar and guide? Im not to sure on what focal length is needed to guide accurately.  I will be using a canon 600D, coupled on the zenithstar 61, this gives me a focal length of 576mm. 

The qhy-5L II monochrome camera attached to a qhy miniguidescope (130mm) focal length. 

If any fellow astro imagers use this setup, what sort of exposures do you achieve?

Any advice/help would be massively appreciated.

Thanks Ryan

[newbie alert]

Hi Ryan..i know of a guy that guides with a S.A. but he's not on the forum,and he don't live in the UK.. I can message him if you like?

[Ryan_86]

That would be brilliant! Thank you for your help. I look forward to it??

Regards

Ryan

[Aidan]

I have since sold my setup - only reason was that i bought it for a trip to the US as i wanted something very portable.  i've now replaced with a larger scope and tripod

Guiding is actually quite good. I managed 5min exposures using the setup in the pictures.   I didnt go further because i didnt need to.  I would expect it could quite easily go upto 10mins if your PA was good enough.  I had a Polemaster attached to mine to get PA... so pretty much as good as you can get.

I was using the QHY ultramini guidescope with the QHY5L-II mono camera and PHD2.     I got the bracket that the camera and scope connect to from a place in the states.   But if you look on google, there are lots of pictures which will give you ideas on how to attach the guidescope.

[Ryan_86]

Thanks for your reply?? Im liking the set up you had. Ive seen various adaptions to aid guiding, but nothing quite like yours. 

Accuracy sounds great, what focal length was you achieving 5 minutes? With my canon 600D 1.6 crop sensor attached to a zenithstar61 will give me a focal length of 576mm. I would be more than happy to achieve 5minutes.

A polemaster isnt included im my budget, ive been told using sharpcap with the guiding system can achieve accurate pa.

You cant remember what that bracket os called can you?

Sorry for the questions, I want to get this right 1st time round.

Cheers

Ryan

[Aidan]

The lens i was using is a f2.8 @ 200mm FL.    I am sure i have read that scope you are planning on using will do 5+ mins with ease.   Might find the counter weight needs some additional weight.. trial and error there!

The bracket was bought from here:

https://cloudbreakoptics.com/products/dslr-side-by-side-guiding-plate-for-star-adventurer-gem

Ashame you didnt post this up a couple of weeks ago, as i have only just sold the scope and bracket!    

You should get good results with Sharpcap from what i have read about it.   

make sure your tripod is as stable as possible.  I was using a Manfrotto 055 Pro. Even with the legs as short as possible.   I found the lining up the target roughly then doing my PA helped.  Less chance of uppsetting it by having to move the camera in big movements

The only other bit of advice i can give is try not to use a ball adaptor on the L-Bracket and then attaching the camera.  You dont need to.   If you look at the pictures of mine, there is a large dial on the L Bracket and then a small knob for moving the camera in DEC/RA.  I found a ballhead made it difficult to balance in all plains.

Hope this helps

Rgds

Aidan

[Ryan_86]

Hi Aidan,  excellent thanks for the link. I will be putting 1 on my Christmas list! 

I to have read many promising experiences with similar focal lengths, so its very encouraging. 

I was going to ask what price you sold both items for, but its best I dont know (arrgghh).

Ive studied your pics & can see a very effective wooden platform, i presume you made it for bigger mount? If its not intended for that, i am going to build 1 purposely for it. My tripod is this, ive beem advised by First Light Optics that its more than adequate. Its done well so far, saying that ive used it 3 times so fingers crossed. Ive drilled a hole at base of the extension tube, using linked zipties I hand a 2kg weight to add stability. It makes the tripid far more stable. Here's a link, What do you think?

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/tripods/horizon-8115-2-way-heavy-duty-tripod.html

I never thought to posistion camera before polar alligning, gteat tip that! Sky watcher included an extension tube for the PA illuminator, so I place it in the L bracket so i can check PA throughout the night. Even with this, your suggestion of framing 1st will add to rwducing the risk ok dodgy PA.

In regards to not usong a ball mount to attach the camera, do you mean the guide camera? 

My wish list is getting longer (more expensive). Santa is good but not that good surely haha.

Cheers

Ryan