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photo:star_trackers
motorised star trackers
see also:
Introduction
- the greater the magnification, the greater the effect of the rotation of the earth to cause “star trails”
- a 50mm lens on 35mm full frame shows star trails if exposures are greater than 8secs
- maximum exposure times are inversely proportion to effective focal length, thus 25mm lens can expose for 15secs
- this can be minimised by automatically moving your camera at the same speed as the earth rotates using a motorized equatorial mount star tracker or mounting your camera on a telescope with such a mount.
- for critical work at longer focal lengths and longer exposures for deep sky photography you need a more sophisticated set up which would include:
- a high quality, expensive, heavy, equatorial mount with:
- a very low periodic error
- excellent polar alignment
- good weight balancing
- automatic guidance correction system such as a separate scope with a photo sensor and an auto guiding system which allows the user to have that scope lock onto a relatively bright contrasty subject such as a star or comet and the system will then make small continuous adjustments to the motor tracking system
- see astrophotography for more links and details
- for less critical work a smaller, more portable and less expensive tracker can be used
- there are many types of the market, some are mention below
- these will generally allow focal lengths of up to 135 or 200mm to be used often at exposures up to 30secs with good results if set up well
- they generally only have a motor on the RA axis and some will accommodate a RA-only autoguider functionality
Portable motorized star trackers
- iOptron SkyGuider Pro
- issues with use at latitudes > 40deg
- declination module not great
- 11lb weight limit
-
- Available Dec 2018, uses 2-3 Bluetooth controlled Capsule 360 units with L bracket mounted on a tripod set to latitude and aimed at the pole, for camera kits up to 7kg if mounted in centre.
- extremely versatile, can be used for many video timelapse and subject tracking purposes as well.
- $US899 for a “full pack”
- iOptron SkyTracker Pro
- entry level; not weathersealed;
- only 2.6lb weight limit
- counterweight kit is a poor design 1)
- Kenko Skymemo Tracker
- It can be attached to a photographic mount, so there is very little extra weight in addition to the ordinary photographic gear required.
- Vixen Photoguider
- this is, in fact, a GP mount but without the declination part, and with a platform
for fixing two cameras. Also, the mount is more lightweight.
- Star Adventurer 2
- released in July 2020
- essentially updates the version 1 by adding a very useful WiFi capability with a smartphone app
- Integrated RJ-12 single-axis right ascension auto-guider port supports ST-4-type guiders
- app can remotely control shutter on camera via cable connection
- four AA batteries for 72hrs tracking or ext. USB power
- 11 lb payload capacity
- $AU529 for the “photo kit”
- Star Adventurer
- large design so not great for backpacking with (iOptron SkyGuider Pro might be a better choice)
- nice declination bracket (much better than on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro, so better for telephoto use)
- periodic error is around 50 arc-seconds
- with good set up, can record up to 30secs with a full frame focal length of 200mm for pin sharp stars (hence you may need to take over 50-300 images at 30secs, ISO 1600, f/4 then stack them), but for longer exposures, one needs to resort to a two axis autoguider (see below) to get good star shapes
- flimsy plastic battery cover and polar scope cover
- rotary dial can accidentally turn on during transport
photo/star_trackers.txt · Last modified: 2020/08/28 12:10 by gary1
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