Again I’ve learned something new about the polar alignment 🙂 : Polaris can be at different positions in some apps that takes into account refraction correction! Wrong position of Polaris? The iOptron GEM28 mount has a polar finder section on the hand controller. But the position of Polaris seemed to be wrong, compared to the […]
6 years ago I started astrophotography with the SkyWatcher Star Adventurer and finally the next step on my journey is taken 🙂 My new mount is here! The iOptron GEM28. The mount head only weights 4.5 kg, but is capable to carry 12.7kg payload, for astrophotography 8-9kg should be optimal. And it’s still very portable. […]
Recently this YouTube video was posted in a forum thread on AstroBin where it’s suggested not to use dark frames for DSLR deep-sky astrophotography! Since this would be really a huge time saver, I took the last weeks data of my Propeller Nebula session to create different stacking combinations to find out, if there is […]
Unfortunately I never created flat frames in the past. It seemed laborious to me. White T-Shirt and so on… I didn’t realize that I was already equipped to make flat frames. My netbook with a non-reflecting display (Asus X205T). It’s really worth to take flat frames. It removes vignette and any particles on the lens, […]
I got a new 3D printed polar scope illuminator adapter for my Star Adventurer. It should be delivered with the Star Adventurer… IMO it’s absolutely neccessary to be able checking polar alignment with all equipment mounted, or simply to check polaris position during a session. And this is the new, 3D printed adapter (with illuminator): […]
My first Bahtinov mask was for the Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L. On the EF 400mm f/5.6L, I had always problems to recognize the typical pattern in LiveView mode (10x). And in the last few months my images were sometimes a little bit out of focus… So I decided to buy a new Bahtinov mask for the Canon EF 400mm. It’s a Gerd […]
Periodic error of my Star Adventurer x-axis: time in seconds, y-axis: arcseconds The peak-to-peak error of my Star Adventurer is about 87 arcsec (10 minutes period). I did some further measurements, all with fully loaded equipment (DSLR, 400mm lens, Guidescope). The first one is done on Feb 12, 2017. 2. measurement February 14, 2017, peak-to-peak: 78 arcsec (peak-to-peak) […]
In this video I show my Lacerta MGEN-II autoguider setup for Skywatcher Star Adventurer. With this settings I reach 100% sub utilization at 400mm focal length and up to 240s exposure time. See all my guided 400mm images on Astrobin. With Star Adventurer guiding is possible only in RA axis. An accurate polar alignment is […]
MagicLantern adds great features to Canon EOS cameras. Some enhancements are usable for astrophotography too. Or perfect for time lapses. Installation There is no installation for MagicLantern. Just copy it to your SD card and run the firmware update process in your DSLR. Detailed instructions here. Intervalometer Instead of using a remote control or a […]
Locating deep sky objects without Go-To control is sometimes very exhausting and can be frustrating. With the EF 200mm f/2.8L and the Kenko 1.4x converter at 280mm I was for the first time in trouble to find an object… Some are very easy to find, if they have a bright star(s) nearby: NGC 7000 North America Nebula […]
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