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?

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1 Comment

jesse_thomas271h 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.