I had to pick between a new lens or a star tracker for my Milky Way shots

Last month, I saved up about $600 and faced a tough choice for my astro photos. I could either buy a faster, wider lens for my camera or get a basic star tracker to let me take longer exposures. I went with the tracker, a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer. The first clear night I used it, I set up in my backyard and aimed at the Cygnus region. I was able to take 90-second shots at ISO 800, which was impossible before because the stars would streak. The detail in the dust lanes was amazing, but it was a lot harder to set up and align than I thought. Has anyone else started with a tracker and found a good way to speed up the polar alignment process?

2 comments

2 Comments

leo_adams6h ago

Man, my buddy had the same problem! He ended up using an app on his phone that showed exactly where Polaris should be in the polar scope. It cut his setup time in half after a few tries. He swears by that method now.

jesse_thomas279h ago

I use a laser pointer attached to my polar scope. It projects a red dot on the ground so I can roughly line up Polaris before I even look through the scope. Saves a few minutes of fiddling in the dark.