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First Star Adventurer

tony8690

By tony8690
in Getting Started With Imaging

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tony8690

tony8690

Posted
Posted

Hi All,

i have finally decided to get the Star adventurer, it has been delivered and is waiting for me to get home and open it up ?

 

Any advice for a first time user of this amazing product?

 

 :)

Thanks,

Tony

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davew

davew

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, tony8690 said:

Hi All,

i have finally decided to get the Star adventurer, it has been delivered and is waiting for me to get home and open it up ?

 

Any advice for a first time user of this amazing product?

 

 :)

Thanks,

Tony

First job is put it together without reading the instructions, because that's what blokes do :)

Second thing, download the Mini adventurer console app ( No matter which adventurer mount you have ) to reveal the easy to use Polar clock utility.

Third thing, have fun.

Dave.

https://www.skywatcher.com/download/software/star-adventurer/

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Alien 13

Alien 13

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It might be worth running a performance test to put your mind at ease before any heavy use set it horizontal with a stick or similar in the saddle and run it for a sidereal day and see if the stick or whatever returns to its original position.

Alan 

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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29 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

It might be worth running a performance test to put your mind at ease before any heavy use set it horizontal with a stick or similar in the saddle and run it for a sidereal day and see if the stick or whatever returns to its original position.

Alan 

Works even  better with a laser pointer, do it indoors and mark the start position on the wall.

Dave

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agthomson

agthomson

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Does the current Star Adventurers come with the updated firmware? That was my first real change, as it does change what the mount can and can't do. Have a look at that and see which firmware is better.

As mentioned, download the Star Adventurer app (SAM Console on Android) as the polar alignment diagram is pretty useful.

Other than that it's a fantastic, portable piece of kit, so just have fun with it. When I get my ASI294MC-Pro delivered today, my setup based on the Star Adventurer will be complete. I started out with an old Sony A100 camera and a second hand prime 400mm lens, and i'm ashamed to say that it has led to a rather expensive hobby.

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jimmyjamjoejoe

jimmyjamjoejoe

Posted
Posted
On 21/08/2018 at 14:53, Alien 13 said:

It might be worth running a performance test to put your mind at ease before any heavy use set it horizontal with a stick or similar in the saddle and run it for a sidereal day and see if the stick or whatever returns to its original position.

Alan 

What a fantastic idea! (coupled with the laser pointer...).

 

Had mine a couple of weeks. Going to do this when I get home!

 

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jimmyjamjoejoe

jimmyjamjoejoe

Posted
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On 21/08/2018 at 14:53, Alien 13 said:

It might be worth running a performance test to put your mind at ease before any heavy use set it horizontal with a stick or similar in the saddle and run it for a sidereal day and see if the stick or whatever returns to its original position.

Alan 

I've decided to do mine with the payload in place. I rested a laser pointer along the saddle and marked the point on the wall... Out of interest, what would be an acceptable margin of error over 24 hours? 

 

Not looking forward to the upcoming maths, measuring the distance from the centre of the RA axis to the wall, then the distance between the marks (if there is any ;) ), then working out the angle from that... THEN dividing that result to give me a number for the error experienced per 60sec exposure. Ugh...

 

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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Posted
47 minutes ago, jimmyjamjoejoe said:

I've decided to do mine with the payload in place. I rested a laser pointer along the saddle and marked the point on the wall... Out of interest, what would be an acceptable margin of error over 24 hours? 

 

Not looking forward to the upcoming maths, measuring the distance from the centre of the RA axis to the wall, then the distance between the marks (if there is any ;) ), then working out the angle from that... THEN dividing that result to give me a number for the error experienced per 60sec exposure. Ugh...

 

Mine was within a few millimetres after a sidereal day = 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds.

Too small to get a meaning full measurement.

Works fine unguided.

Dave

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JamesF

JamesF

Posted
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1 minute ago, Davey-T said:

Mine was within a few millimetres after a sidereal day = 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds.

Too small to get a meaning full measurement.

As was mine, if I recall correctly.  I posted somewhere about it, but I can't find the post right now.

James

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jimmyjamjoejoe

jimmyjamjoejoe

Posted
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So I got round to doing my 24hr test(s). The first time, I did it with the payload attached - the L-bracket, ball head, fuji x-t1 and 55-200mm lens, and counterweight. After 24 hours it was a way off the mark. I timed just over 30secs at 12x sidereal to reach the mark, which is roughly 6 minutes error over the course of 24hours - that equates to around 0.25 secs per minute, which doesnt sound quite so bad. (Any geniuses out the able to translate that to arcseconds/minutes and estimate exposure times for say, a 200mm lens?)

I wasnt thrilled at that error though, so decided to try without the payload. That was nearly bang on, about 5 secs on 12x sidereal to hit the mark. I can live with that. :)

I might try the payload again, as I feel like i might have over tightened the clutch....

 

Edit: an online calculator seems to give it as 0.25sec = 3.75 arcseconds. I have no idea if that is good or bad over the course of 1 minute...

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Davey-T

Davey-T

Posted
Posted

The first one I had it was pretty obvious as it couldn't keep up with the stars in a 30 second exposure, there's an example lurking in one of my posts. I'll have a search for it.

This was the reason I decided to test the second one over 24 hours.

Dave

 

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RayD

RayD

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I did this test on mine over the weekend and I reckon I've got a good 'un.  Over 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds (thanks Alexa!) it was absolutely smack back on the pencil mark on the wall (the boss does't know).  Very pleased :thumbright:

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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This is a GIF showing the problem with the first SWSA I had and the reason I tested it and the replacement.

Two images taken 10 minutes apart showing that it wasn't keeping up with the stars.

Dave

771939766_SAtest.gif.e02685ee53be3c0701d3a44d939cbcc6.gif

 

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Davey-T

Davey-T

Posted
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33 minutes ago, jimmyjamjoejoe said:

Hmmmm... Just realised I did my numbers based on a 24hour day... The sidereal day being shorter makes my error worse! adding 4 minutes to the error takes it up to 10minutes over 24 hours... Should i be looking at sending this back or is that acceptable?

 

 

Not acceptable, where did you buy it ? bought mine from FLO and they replaced it no problem.

Do the same test as I did, two images 10 minutes apart and compare them.

Dave

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jimmyjamjoejoe

jimmyjamjoejoe

Posted
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13 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Not acceptable, where did you buy it ? bought mine from FLO and they replaced it no problem.

Do the same test as I did, two images 10 minutes apart and compare them.

Dave

Got mine at harrison telescopes. Will contact them tonight. Thanks!

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jimmyjamjoejoe

jimmyjamjoejoe

Posted
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35 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Not acceptable, where did you buy it ? bought mine from FLO and they replaced it no problem.

Do the same test as I did, two images 10 minutes apart and compare them.

Dave

Here's a couple of 180sec subs from the first night out... I was still learning so PA might not have been the best.

This was just over 30mins apart, but only at 55mm. There is some shift, but not as bad as I was expecting. 

 

DSCF2357.jpg

DSCF2367.jpg

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