I'm feeling old - never know what new fangled gadgets kids will come up with next.
Looks good, but I hate phones - don't like having one with me all of the time.
It sounds wonderful but price is over the top.
It can only be a camera and software...if you have plate solving that allows you to polar align ...add guiding software...still two only for sale which someone will buy...they probably have a few more tucked away however☺
Alex
Alex
Looks nice, and would be useful if it all works. The asi air (never used one) does all the same stuff, but requires a cheap guide cam in addition. It’s also supposed to be more future proof, in terms of adding autofocus etc. it’s a fraction of the price as well.
In the specs I read a mains power supply which converts it to 6V DC. Why not 5V which is the standard voltage supplied by power banks without DC step-up converter.
All mounts with adjustable screws or knobs are supported (even single-axis tracking platforms).
So my dumb SP single axis tracking mount would be supported ?
I thought it requires two axes controlling motors in order to guide at all ?
EDIT: I read the FAQ and saw I need (as expected) a BoxDorfer MTS-3 upgrade kit for the SP mount.
And it does not support off-axis guiding, which is a bummer to me : extra guiding telescope which is extra weight.
The StarAid is now available outside Europe to select countries
like Australia. I went ahead and ordered one , for my situation
with a mount that requires decent polar alignment for visual
I”m hoping the features that this provides will be invaluable....
be interesting to see . Zsofia and Pieter where quick to answer
any questions , process and post . Hopefully next week I can try it
The StarAid is now available outside Europe to select countries
like Australia. I went ahead and ordered one , for my situation
with a mount that requires decent polar alignment for visual
I”m hoping the features that this provides will be invaluable....
be interesting to see . Zsofia and Pieter where quick to answer
any questions , process and post . Hopefully next week I can try it
HUH? SXP? No, it doesn't lol. Plonk, 4 star alignment, tracks all night dead centre even with a naff polar alignment.
True the SXP works a charm but decent PA helps , most of my backyard is blocked to sight the SCP so the StarAid should be very useful for me .....never want to drift align again
I’ve been doing this for a few years now. In fact in won a telescope making award in 2017 at SPSP for a device just like this. My version acted as a finder and clear sky detector too. I’m glad to see someone has come up with the same style of device, o didn’t have time to convert it to a product, and the ROI wasn’t really there in the first place. It’s hard to get an original idea off the ground in Australia let alone the amateur astronomy market.
So good luck to them, but I suspect that they will be undercut by clever makers now that they have shown the idea. That’s why I keep my devices to myself now and up to 3 years (as it would seem) ahead of current tech.
Had a preliminary run with the Staraid last night, no imaging just wanted to see how it works and interfaces with my mount. It was all easy and quick to set up with the App, have the mount connected and get the camera focused {through a ZWO 130mm FL mini guide scope}. Following the guide pointed the scope/mount at a patch of sky which was plate solved quickly and then adjusted the mount with the instructions/visual aids in the App. Once done {about 5 mins} I put in a 5mm illuminated eyepiece {800mm FL scope} and centered on a star, no RA/Dec drift after 15 mins, small amount of RA drift after 30 mins but no Dec movement. Tried the multi-star guiding, this was all automatic, with calibration etc, the App again has graphs to monitor. I usually
go by what a image sub looks like when it comes to judging guiding so I'm unfamiliar what the graphs and numbers the App was relaying but guiding seemed to be stable , will try with a imaging run tonight to see how it goes.
After finishing up I sent a email to the Staraid team with a few questions and had answers within a hour. At this stage the Staraid seems to work very well and easy to use, good news as well the team are developing more features and upgrades {ie;dithering}.
I did send a pm about this but actually maybe the question should be asked here.
How can plate solving to do polar alignment work when the camera doing thd job is way off to the side of the mount? In my case, as I’m using a DSLR anc lens there isn’t even a finder bracket. The guidescope would be massively offset. Polemaster works because the camera is where it should be.
I did send a pm about this but actually maybe the question should be asked here.
How can plate solving to do polar alignment work when the camera doing thd job is way off to the side of the mount? In my case, as I’m using a DSLR anc lens there isn’t even a finder bracket. The guidescope would be massively offset. Polemaster works because the camera is where it should be.
How can plate solving to do polar alignment work when the camera doing thd job is way off to the side of the mount? In my case, as I’m using a DSLR anc lens there isn’t even a finder bracket. The guidescope would be massively offset. Polemaster works because the camera is where it should be.
Chris
In terms of polar alignment, since we are talking about aiming/aligning with The South Celestial Pole, a point which is at infinity in optical terms, the camera does not need to be right on or at the mount's right ascension rotational axis. As long as the Right Ascension axis & the Camera's optical axis are parallel, both axes will point to the same point in space. You will see this concept used with some mounts. Take the Skywatcher EQ8 for example: It does not have a centrally mounted polar scope but can be used with a side mounted polar scope.
Best
JA
Last edited by JA; 12-06-2021 at 04:16 PM.
Reason: typo
So, I took a punt and my Staraid Revolution arrived. That same evening I went out and did the quickest test just to see how it may work.
I have a Skywatcher EQ35 Pro and a Canon EOS Ra with my Sigma 105mm f/1.4 lens. I am using an SVbony 50mm f/4 guidescope -see pic attached. Actually the Staraid automatically works out the fov and fl snd reported 188mm so a little less than f/4.
NB I read subsequently Staraid don’t recommend a guidescope FL greater than 150mm although it will work with longer.
Because I intended only A quick jaunt outside to test I didn’t bother to:
Update the software on the Staraid
Add the counterweight bar to the mount.
Either one of these factors could have caused the slight issue I faced.
Firstly as soon as you turn the Staraid on it begins trying to find stars snd calibrate and if it successful it starts guiding. You do NOT need to connect to the unit via any method at all to configure anything or start it off -that’s its main selling point.
Initially however you do have to connect to the Staraid wifi access point and access the admin page in a browser because you’ll need to see a capture to find focus. Once done you can lock the guidescope focus in place and never touch it again and possibly never log in again either. There are reasons to do so though such as accessing real-time guiding graphs or performing polar alignment, telescope alignment, software updates etc
I first aligned the mount manually just using a compass and inclinometer as I always do. I then ran the polar alignment routine. The idea is to point the guidescope/telescope/camera lens/mount anywhere and it platesolves to find the exact location. I just left it all pointing to the celestial pole and it thought I was 2 degrees off -not bad for dead reckoning. I then clicked Alt and it shows you where your mount is in relation to the celestial pole which is the bulls eye in a set of concentric circles. You the move the Alt bolts to move the dot representing the mount position. At first no matter how much I turned them the dot didn’t move and I was close to the point of deciding it was hopeless. It didn’t help too that it kept losing lock and said I was moving too fast and to pause. This is despite the fact that I knew I was moving it many degrees in ALT with no impact on the dot whatsoever. I tried a second time with the sand result. On the third attempt I decided to move AZ first instead and that worked a charm. This time Alt also worked (no idea why) and the dot moved to the exact centre bulls eye.
I felt pleased with this and decided to start autoguiding. The damned insolent device simply couldn’t or wouldn’t calibrate. It kept trying giving different errors like ‘no movement’ in one axis of other, even ‘Wrong Movement’ at one stage! It then had the temerity to ask if the mount was tracking (it was). Now it was getting personal, positively rude actually��
At one point it did calibrate and I saw a guiding graphs but it disappeared almost as soon as it started and calibration started again, interminably.
This morning I updated to thd latest version of the software abc fixed the counterweight bar. I’ll try again tonight.
I am interested in purchasing one of these as well, so looking forward to your next report.
Where was it pointing when trying to calibrate, at the SCP or somewhere else. Usually it is recommended to point to the meridian on the celestial equator before beginning calibration.