How do I point the Star Adventurer at the correct part of the sky?

[RugbyRene]

Hi,

I recently bought a SW Star Adventurer and was wondering, given that it's not a goto mount, how I can ensure I point it at the correct part of the sky when taking photos?

Would appreciate any assitance from fellow SW Star Adventurer owners.

Thanks

[BeanerSA]

Correct part of the sky "for what"? What is it that you are trying to capture?

[RugbyRene]

Want to use it capture nedula (I've seen photos of M42), perhaps around Sagitarius to get the centre of the galaxy.

[BeanerSA]

It's probably starting to get a bit late in the year for M42, it sets pretty early in the evening.

It sounds like you want to capture the body of the Milky Way, is that correct? You don't really need the Star Adventurer to do that. My nephew consistently does 30sec exposures just on a tripod.

So you know how to polar align the Star Adventurer, because you will need that at some stage. This thread may help http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=130533

As for actually finding stuff in the night sky, you could try Stellarium, or grab a star chart and head out into the garden.

HTH

[RugbyRene]

Hi,

Was using M42 as an example. I could use the point & hope method but was hoping there would be something a bit more accurate. For the bulk of the milkway I'm pretty sure I can point it in the right direction but if I want to capture somethig a bit smaller my accuracy may not be that good.

Cheers

[BeanerSA]

That's why we have Go-To mounts. :)

[RugbyRene]

Yeah I guess.:rofl: Unfortunately my goto weighs 15 kg (without tripod) so not really a "throw in theback of the car for a quick phot session" setup.

[scagman]

Hi Rene,

Have you looked at plate solving an image to see were your pointing.
It may be a pain if your not tethered to a laptop but is doable and may mean taking a few images to get to the target your after.

Cheers

[silv]

hey :)

your mount has an autoguiding port, right?
maybe it's possible to connect it to a laptop or via WiFi adaptor to an iPhone and use something like Stellarium as GoTo?

[SteveInNZ]

Use a wider lens to center the area of interest and then switch to the longer lens for your exposure. On a Canon, I use a kit 18-55 with a 2x converter. It takes a couple of 5 second shots at max ISO and you're done.

Steve.

[Mark]

Been away for a while, so forgive me if this sounds stupid. Can you attach something like a Telrad to the mount to point at the area of interest, then attach the camera?

[astronobob]

added Re: Been away for a while, so forgive me if this sounds stupid. Can you attach something like a Telrad to the mount to point at the area of interest, then attach the camera

Hi Mark & Rene
Probably attach a Telrad to the camera,lens or scope, only if able ? This way, the pointer will alway be parrallel with the lens/scope - Doubt there be an attachment for camera or lens as such tho, maybe Duct Tape ?



@ Rene : It would be good to know what lens or small scope your using, and how Dark the sky is where you are, in a dark sky, you should be able to find bright targets easily with a star-chart !

I like SteveInNZ reply :thumbsup: yes, take a wide shot in the general area then center the target accordingly. The zoom or change to a longer lens, take another shot and center again kind a thing :thumbsup:

It appears the tracking with single axis guiding is pretty good on this mount :thumbsup:

Hope this helps