Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack – Motorized Dslr Night Sky Tracker Equatorial Mount for Portable Nightscapes, Time-Lapse and Panoramas – Wi-Fi App Camera Control – Long Exposure Imaging

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This is a GoTo equatorial mount that can fit in your carry-on bag. If you’re a travel nightscape photographer or aspiring deep-sky imager, you are going to freak out when you try this mount. This mount can be used in a staggering number of configurations for astrophotography, from dual-camera and telescope setups to a versatile time-lapse photography/video mode. Whichever type of astrophotography/videography you’re into, you’ll be able to enjoy up to 11-lbs of gear in more orientations than you thought were possible. (I never thought of using the mount in horizontal rotation time-lapse mode before!)

Finally, on the night before Jupiter and Saturn’s Great Conjunction we tested the mount and our Equinox 80ED refractor, using both a DSLR and ASI 224 colour camera, to capture the close encounter. PS Align Pro makes use of the sensors inside your phone to determine in which direction the phone is pointing, and it will guide you towards a decent polar alignment. Now, I know not everyone feels this feature is essential, but “ How do you find objects in space?” was the most common question I got from beginners using the original Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer. You can see the short dovetail I’ve fastened my camera lens collar to here. A small mounting plate with a ¼” thread to fasten a camera body (like the one included with the original Star Adventurer and 2i) was not included in the production copy Sky-Watcher sent me, so just a heads up there.

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Although the Star Adventurer has some quirks like a dial that’s easy to turn on by mistake, and an “add-on” polar scope illuminator, I think it’s an exceptional value and a great product. To stabilize my Manfrotto 055XPROB, I tensioned an elastic cord between the tripod and a tent peg hammered in the soft ground. 3D Print Your Own Accessories

There are different ways to set up your gear and to polar align your mount, depending on the kind of gear you use and the kind of astrophotography you intend to do. The Star Adventurer is a very capable little mount that can sit on any photographic tripod, making it a convenient choice for astrophotographers on the move.Both the SAM and Pro come with detailed instruction manuals which take you through how to set up your mount, its different configurations and how to polar align. You can also view these manuals as PDFs online. Final Thoughts And, of course, for those of you that want full control of the mount and with plate solving and pulse guiding (ASCOM/EQMOD), you can connect the mount to your laptop using the USB Type B port. This thing seriously feels like a miniature EQ6-R Pro. It even kind of looks like one. With the help of your smartphone running an app such as Stellarium ( Android, iOS) or Sky Guide ( iOS), if you add a graduation circle to the Fine-Tuning Mounting Assembly, so that you can measure changes in declination, you can frame any target you want, visible or not, large or small. While some phones, such as my old iPhone 5, have sensors that go nuts when metal and electronic devices are nearby, newer iPhones seem to better shielded and can be mounted directly on the Star Adventurer. With its 5kg payload capacity, the Star Adventurer GTi is well-equipped to handle your DLSR or mirrorless camera sporting a wide-angle or telephoto lens plus accessories, a small aperture astrograph with a dedicated astronomy camera, or simply an OTA for visual use via its 45mm dovetail saddle.

Quality control feels a bit random, with units performing great while others having all sorts of annoying problems: stiff rotation, loose dials, etc. If you want to shoot with longer lenses or a telescope, you can safely get away with 1-2-minute exposures if the wind is still. Polar alignment is vital and the Star Adventurer 2i has a built-in polarscope, which can be used for both Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and we found it worked without any extra calibration. The external polarscope illuminator does its job well, but it does need to be removed before adding the camera equipment for wide-field imaging. Vital stats While “invisible,” the Horsehead Nebula is easy to frame even with long focal telephoto lenses as it is “next” the bright star Alnitak, in Orion’s belt. The Flame Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula in Orion Constellation. Both are close to Alnitak, the leftmost stars in Orion’s belt.Consider my location. Since I live in Brussels, I am in GMT+1. Therefore, my LSTM is +1*15°=15° of longitude East. Finally, your sky has cleared up, and you are under the stars with your new mount. What to do next? Under the stars with the Star Adventurer. Earth revolves once every 24hrs (give or take), thus every 15° of longitude from the Standard Meridian of Greenwich (London) there is a LSTM for a time zone: this defines the Universal Time (UT) or Standard Time. This world map shows the different LSTM each 15° of longitude from the meridian of Greenwich and how this is correlated to the Universal Time. (Image credit: Journeynorth)

You will also see some more values such as Astigmatism and Coma. Again, these are measured by the interferometer when we take measurements of the optical surface after adjustment. These are values which ideally would be at 0 but as our test optics are all curved lenses, there will always be astigmatism and coma present. The lower the number, the less of these aberations you will effectively see but with most refractors, you can buy field flatteners which will compensate for the coma anyway. The astigmatisms value is explaining the error between the symmetrical curvature of the lens. Basically, no lens will be perfectly symmetrical, the lower the astigmatism, the more symmetrical the lens surface is. The Star Adventurer GTi can support an imaging payload of up to 11 lbs (this includes the weight of the camera, lens or telescope, and all accessories). If you’re familiar with the original star Adventurer, it’s the same overall weight limit, and it’s really not a whole lot. Combining performance and portability, the Star Adventurer GTi is the ultimate choice for astrophotographers seeking exceptional imaging results on the go. Unleash your creativity and explore the wonders of the universe with this remarkable equatorial mount.But how do you set this scale, and what is the LSTM for your location? It is time we get a grasp on what links the Standard Time to the LSTM. But they are expensive, big and heavy, and require a power tank to work or, better, to be connected to the power grid. If you’re not careful, with full-grown equatorial mounts, you can soon end up dealing with monsters like this. (Credit: Warren Landis).