Live stacks with manual alt-az mount?

[jcj380]

I've read some things about people doing live stacking with manual unguided alt-az mounts.   Anybody here have experience doing or at least trying that?  I realize exposures / depth will be limited, but I'm curious about results.

Thanks.

 

[Martin Meredith]

Hi jcj380

A few people have experimented with this approach and managed to get some results with brighter objects, but I've not heard of anyone who has moved from experiment to habitual use. The late Nytecam (Maurice Gavin) demonstrated the approach either here or on CloudyNights though if memory serves I don't think this was using alt-az. It is certainly possible for a certain class of DSOs (I believe Maurice used the Ring Nebula as an example). You might be able to find those posts.

You don't say what scope you would be considering but this question does get raised from time to time and often from people who have dobs with reasonably large apertures. Although such scopes are capable of capturing enough photons in short exposures to reduce the effect of blur as the object moves during the sub-exposure, the bigger issues with these scopes are finding the object in the first place and keeping it on the sensor between exposures in order to build up a stack. I did try it myself on my big dob many years back just for the hell of it but with a focal length of over 2000mm and a tiny sensor it was an absolute nightmare! With shorter focal lengths and bigger sensors you might have some luck. But there are always going to be more relaxing ways to observe.

cheers

Martin

[Mike JW]

I too tried it with a 20" Dob and a 15" - forget it - total waste of time and no result. Mike

[Martin Meredith]

http://astronomie-va.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=435&sid=cdaa2295fee6680db177c60543263900

My French is quite pauvre, but this seems to be live-stacking using a Dob without tracking.

Martin

Edited October 4, 2020 by Martin Meredith

[Mike JW]

Martin, you are right. Exposures are a max of just 0.5 subs. At this speed Sharpcap dropped many of them but the technique is doable - can't say it would appeal. The view of M57 is sort of what one would see direct visual anyway but with much more effort and less pleasing. Interesting to read how they manged it.

Mike

[happy-kat]

What telescope and camera @jcj380 do you have?

[jcj380]

Sorry for my delay.  I have f5 80mm and 120mm refractors and a 90mm f12 (?) Maksutov.  I would likely use the 80mm, definitely not the Mak.  Camera is TBD, but likely a ZWO, probably mono.

 

 

[Bobby1970]

These were all done using my AZGti in Alt/Az mode. Maximum of 15 minutes integration time live stacked using sharpcap

 

 

 

 

All with my 178mc. Some with 72mm scope some with an old lens. Close up Orion was with a 90 mm Mak I think. 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Bobby1970