Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2017/05/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thanks, Paul. I went the robust commercial route and bought an iOptron Sky Guider. It really amounts to a mini-equatorial mount w/o the declination axis, but a ball head takes care of that. It will actually handle a small refractor. Simpler guiders are available but I wanted one that would handle the D810 plus the 80-400mm Nikkor zoom. Here at home it?s easy to set up and use because Polaris is so easy to identify in the polar-alignment scope and to place right on the reticle where the smartphone app says to. But in the Southern Hemisphere, the nearest star to the pole is Sigma Octantis, a 4th or 5th-mag star that I never could identify, so I never got the tracker well aligned. But by setting the latitude on the scale and aiming the apparatus south by compass, I got good enough alignment for nearly round stars in a 3-minute exposure at 85mm. My focus technique needs refining, I think. I hope to go back to the OzSky event in a year or two, once I?ve got good technique down pat. Back home now, I?m going to put my M8 (for H-alpha sensitivity) on the guider with a 180mm Tele-Elmarit and an R-to-M adapter and see what I can do this summer with the Cygnus region, especially the North America nebula. I?ll be posting results. ?howard > On May 10, 2017, at 3:00 PM, Paul Roark <roark.paul at gmail.com> wrote: > > Howard L Ritter Jr <hlritter at twc.com> wrote: > >> ?... >> >> >> My first view of the southern Milky Way >> ... >> Nikon D810A (the one with the sensor glass that better passes deep red) >> ?... >> with a tracking device that offsets the Earth?s rotation for the longer >> shots. >> ?... >> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/hlritter/Gallery_001/>. >> >> > ?Very nice. > > What tracking device did you use? I was going to make one last year and > didn't bother. Sadly, my milky way shots are compromised for large > printing by the star movement. So, some compact and light tracking device > might be in my future. > > Paul > www.PaulRoark.com > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information