Auto guiding with the Skywatcher Star Adventurer - Forums

Topic starter

Dec 2, 2016

Hello
I am new to the Star Adventurer which I brought due to its great portability, everything fits nicely in my camera bag.

I am looking to start auto guiding with the SA, I have an ZWO ASI 120MC CCD which I would like to use on my SA mount. I don't have a suitable mini finder scope to use yet though, so I will need to purchase one.

I have a Canon EOS1100D mounted on a ball head with a Sigma 300mm lens.

My question is how do you mount the mini finder and camera onto the mount??

I have found that once you get it polar aligned, if you move the camera to point to a target, the polar alignment is lost slightly and you start getting streaking stars, but only noticeable when you zoom in on a frame and when you get home! Annoying.

Mark Bowles

star-watcher.ch

Dec 2, 2016

Hi Mark

I use a Orion Mini 50mm Guide Scope (162mm focal length). It's mounted on a ball head with an adapter plate (delivered with the guide scope).
See here a picture from my Blog: https://www.star-watcher.ch/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/IMG_8120.jpg

Yes, if I unlock the RA axis and move the camera to the object and lock the RA axis again, often the polar alignment is drifted a little bit horizontally. I check then, that Polaris still is on the middle circle line in the polar scope.
If not, I grab both horizonal adjustment knobs (without unlocking them) and put back Polaris on the line. Unfortunately I noticed that my Equatorial Wedge has a little backlash… I can move it a little bit even if I don't unlock the screws

CS
Karol

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Mark Bowles

Topic starter

Dec 2, 2016

Thank you. I will give auto guiding a go and hopefully get some better images with the longer exposures.

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Michael Hedenus

Dec 2, 2016

Michael Hedenus

Dec 2, 2016

Hi Mark, use the dovetail L bracket and conterweight. Balance with slight overweight to East that there some pressure on the tooth wheel. First set everything up, do focussing and finally do alignment. If you move in RA and the polar star leaves the circle, stay calm! This error is not your biggest problem..

I attached my guiding scope with cable ties to a wooden plate. This plate is attached to a ball head. Simple but it works fine and its cheap.

Concise

Mark Bowles

Topic starter

Dec 3, 2016

Hi Michael, thanks for the tips.

Mark Bowles

Topic starter

Dec 3, 2016 · Edited: Dec 3, 2016

Decided to order the Orion Deluxe Mini so I can also use it on my C8 AVX mount too

Kevin Hanley

Dec 29, 2017 · Edited: Dec 29, 2017

See here a picture from my Blog: https://www.star-watcher.ch/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/IMG_8120.jpg

Mark:
Can you provide better details on how you are mounting the polar scope illuminator? I have never made sense of what Skywatcher intended, and illuminating the reticule has always been a pain in the butt.

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nwsorin

May 27, 2018

I love this little mount. With proper polar alignment, I get 120s subs without guiding @200m w/mod Canon T5i. I have tried guiding with Nexstar and it worked up to 5min subs. I mostly use @135mm , 50mm and 85mm lenss. Great little mount for wide field.

Arnstein Dale

Aug 19, 2018 · Edited: Aug 19, 2018

Hi all, interesting reading. We are going to Tenerife this autumn and go up in the area around Tejde and (hopefylly) shoot some good pictures using my SA. My questions are as follow: Do you use PHD for guiding, on a pc or ipad, phone, etc? And can someone tell me a little about which cables to use, or other possibilities, wifi, etc?
Thanx

Sincerely
Arnstein Dale

patrick cartou

Sep 12, 2018

Hi all again.
I made, 2 nights ago, ma first auto guiding with the SA, Lacerta Mgen and Canon 400mm f/5.6 lens (as "Star-watcher" setup). And my first autoguiding in fact.
I couldn't exceed 45"…was I "wrong" somewhere ?
Thanks if you can help me.
Best regards.
Patrick

Santiago Giralt

Sep 13, 2018

Hi Patrick,
Have a look at the video of star-watcher.ch https://www.star-watcher.ch/equipment/lacerta-mgen-auto-guider/ in which explains how to configure the Lacerta Mgen II in orer to use it with the Skywatcher Star Adventurer. I have followed it and I use to guide 240 s without problems.
I hope that this helps.
Santiago

Concise

patrick cartou

Sep 14, 2018

Hi Santiago
Thanks a lot.
I already had a look on this video, a bit to fast maybe, but I probably didn't see an important detail. And it was my first real autoguiding essay….
I have to come back to the tasks following…
The next trial will be the good one…?
Patrick

patrick cartou

Sep 19, 2018

Hi all.
I could find at last my mistake or my misunderstanding instead.
In my previous trial, I couldn't in fact invalidate the DEC following in the setting window. It needed to choose mode "0"…
So this detail well known, I could realize 2 nights ago a very good following for 180" and quite good for 240"…happy end !
Patrick

Robert Huerbsch

Sep 19, 2018

QHYCCD makes a mini guide scope that would be perfect for your focal
length and its ligt weight. You can mount it to the hot shoe on the DSLR with a hotshoe to finder bracket adapter, $40 on Amazon.

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Robert Huerbsch

Sep 19, 2018

https://optcorp.com/products/qhy-mini-guide-scope-with-mount
https://www.amazon.com/Vixen-finder-dovetail-DSLR-cameras/dp/B0753C5FP6

patrick cartou

Sep 21, 2018

Thanks a lot, Robert !
CS.Patrick

Marc Agostini

Aug 10, 2019

Hi everybody,

One question for those of you using PHD2: Which settings do you use? Mine are Agressiveness: 0.75, Hysteresis: 15 and MinMovement: 0.24

Another thing: When polar alignment is good, I don't get a steady drift noth or south, but the Dec-Graph will oscillate about +/- 2 arcsec with a period of 10 min or so; Any ideas what causes this and how it can be improved?

Clear skies, Marc

Engaging

Tarun Kottary

Aug 17, 2019

SA does not have DEC motor , so that graph is useless. You can turn off dec guiding in phd2

Marc Agostini

Nov 29, 2019

Yeah I know you can't guide in Dec, but i wouldn't say the graph is useless; For one it tells you how good your polar alignment is; And gives you that satisfaction, when you can still see the red line after 3h of imaging and it hasn't drifted off.

Concerning my problem, i found out it got much better if I don't overtighten the clutch!

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Franz Ferdinand

Jul 9, 2020

i am thinking about the Lacerta Mgen autoguide since i dont have a laptop for controls. Would you rather by a used Mgen 2 or wait for the Mgen 3 to come out end of next month? im primarily using the WO spacecat with a Canon DSLR. thanks in advance

Marc Agostini

Jul 9, 2020

Well,

both should work, because the "Dec off" option still existsin the mgen 3, I have checked the manual. The mgen3 is really rather expensive, but comes with a better cam and also does multistar guiding, which to my knowledge only mgen3 and the Staraid Revolution can perform.

Quality wise, the mgen 3 would be an investment for the future with better mounts and longer focal range telescopes, since the guiding quality will not be limited by your guiding system but by the mount if you use it with the Star Adventurer. Which is to say that on a Star Adventurer, both would probably achieve similar results concerning the guiding.

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Franz Ferdinand

Jul 10, 2020

thanks Marc,
i think i will go with the Mgen 2 then, just for the SA.
i plan to upgrade my gear in the future and probably will get a laptop then as well to fully control everything so guiding will be just one more thing to add.

Franz Ferdinand

Jul 10, 2020

one more question. do i need a special power supply for the Mgen2? I have a standard Li-ion Powerbank with roughly 20000mAh in use for my dew-heater, can i just add it to that via the USB port or does it drain the power too fast.

Marc Agostini

Jul 10, 2020

I'm afraid it needs a 12V source and a 5.5/2.1 plug to run.

I am using this one: https://beaudens.com/collections/166wh-power-staion

It's compact and light, has all the connections you could wish for (even AC!) and has enough juice to run my mount, electric focuser and dewheaters and will even be strong enough to run a cooled camera for a whole night. It runs on LiFePO4 batteries and in my opinion this is a huge upgrade compared to the lead acid power sources, especially in terms of transportability. Also I haven't noticed any temperature dependencies so far, and I have used it at down to -5°C

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