Stargazer95050's articles with the keyword: stars

Plate-solving is useful -- especially when you use it to correct a telescope's position in real-time . You also can feed the solver an existing photo and manually read the results but using the output can be cumbersome. Manual copy & paste coordinates of input fields of tools like Stellarium helps, but that approach isn't very user friendly. Here's a different take on this -- solve the image and instantly get the sky map of that region. Again, this is using mostly freeeware tools.

The tools like Vixen POLARIE, iOptron SKYTRACKER and the ASTROTRAC all have their use and fans. And they are capable to move a small camera setup and effectively eliminate startrails. They are small and comparatively easy to use but are quite expensive for what they can do. They also have limitations and here I want to point to the benefits of a real EQ mount. Some of these mounts cost about as much as any of these devices once you add up all the costs for the additional accessories.

PLANNING is in my opinion one of the best ingredients to any successful venture, astrophotography & otherwise. And in another article, I wrote about the WHERE / LOCATION. The right timing of WHEN also is important If I have to explain to you WHY stargazing is great, you're at the wrong page SCOUTING WHERE to shoot is one important step : /stargazer95050/657919 DECIDING WHAT objects to photograph : /stargazer95050/704191 PLANNING WHEN to shoot is another : /stargazer95050/659063 DECIDING WHAT equipment suits the task best : PRACTICE HOW to shoot is just as important : /stargazer95050/657921 POST-PROCESSING of the captured results :

For this article, I use the eclipse on April 15th 2014 as an example and as a location I have picked San Francisco. The path of the moon & the timing is dependent on your own location and you will have to make adjustments for that. Here are some examples and a bit of background of the various attempts : www.ipernity.com/doc/stargazer95050/album/389379