Improvised Wide Field Setup

[Sunshine]

While I have my refractor on an alt-az mount which has its own tripod it freed up my GP mount for a last min wide field setup I put together on a whim. Using a spare Vixen dovetail I secured my Manfrotto ball head with a screw I ran out for at the local hardware shop. For longer exposures I have an RA motor which tracks fairly accurately for short durations, a few min assuming my tripod is level and polar alignment is good which I’m a stickler for. It is balanced well but I just have to remember never to loosen the DEC knob cause the camera is not balanced on the DEC axis.

this may not be the lightest and most practical mount for this but I do like the slow motion controls for making adjustments to composition. Wish me luck!  😂 now I have some time to start my journey into wide field then hopefully DSO’s later as I gain experience with this little setup. Suggestions are not only welcome but encouraged 😃

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by Sunshine