Mount and Tracking Test

[Mickoid]

Recently acquired a second hand iOptron StarTracker Pro for a good price. Now I also own a Sightron Nano Tracker which I have been using as my portable go anywhere star tracker for quite a few years now and it performs really well. However, being so small, its limitations lie in the light payload capacity. The iOptron doubles the payload of the Nano tracker to 3kgs which gives me the option to use some of my heavier lenses. On Friday night I got the chance to test it out on a surveyors tripod which I have modified to fit the iOptron's mount. The old Pentax 135mm lens I had on the modded Canon 550d wasn't a problem for it at all and I was able to push my subs to 2mins. I'll be trying it with some heavier lenses soon but this time I just pointed the lens to some random area in the Milky Way (managed to sneak in M8 and M20) for a quick test . Happy with the result and the shot didn't turn out too bad either from Bortle 6 skies. :thumbsup:

[PKay]

Hi Mick

A nice widefield result :thumbsup:

Can you now do this sort of thing? https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=199560

[carlstronomy]

Really good results, I would be happy with that for a random shot.

[Mickoid]

Don't require a Startracker for timelapse.The foreground would blur. Best to use a fixed tripod mount, use high iso and keep your exposures short. I did post a comment after I saw that great timelapse video, it was brilliant!


Thanks Carl, yes I was happy with the equipment and the result. Looking forward to taking it out to some dark skies.

[xelasnave]

Lucky you. My eq5 is jumping producing double stars in a 30 second exposure, and trails then a perfect image..it is perplexing ..checked cables etc but it needs a pull down which is so inconvenient as I was only using it whilst doing stuff to the RASA rig...so lucky I still have the eq6 up my sleeve:D ...anyways more rain on it's way so maybe it is a good thing to have so much to do I won't think about being rained in again.

Hope you are going well.

Alex

[JA]

Good on you Mick. A beautiful expanse of sky and it looks great :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[AstroViking]

Very good image, for sure. And a wiiiiiiiiide view of space, to boot.

I'm uncertain about diffraction spikes on stars but I do like the 6-pointed spikes on the larger stars in the right-hand side of the frame.

Cheers,
V