Manual tracking

[Thefatkitty]

OK, so I know I'm really just wasting my time here, but for some reason I find it oddly satisfying...

Last year I had the bright (??) idea of slapping my little homemade 60mm Towa cemented-doublet f/7 frac on my CG4, making a mount for my RA 8X50 finder scope, and mounting all that that on my CG4 as well in, ironically, the part where the actual drive motor goes This is a picture of the whole mess:

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So what do I do with it? Well, I look through the gaping hole in the mount where the polar scope goes (nope, don't have one of them either) and sight on Polaris. That is a very narrow window between a tree and my roof. However, a good part of my backyard is rectangular patio stones. I know where the mount legs sit on the patio stone that I can see Polaris from, so I just set the mount on whatever patio stone I need for my target, and set it the legs on the stone in the same way.
Hows that for technical?

I then put my Canon T3 in back of the scope with it set to bulb mode on manual. I then sight on my target, trying to find a star that is close to the crosshairs. I then start turning the RA knob, keeping the star at the same point (hopefully) off the crosshair, and then press the button on my remote shutter to start taking the picture. I keep it going for as long as I can, usually until I feel I might "lose it"; it's hard to explain. I turn off the exposure while still turning the knob.
This took some practice. I started doing this last year, and I have had some luck after time. Then the weather here really started to yuck up, and I've left it alone since last October.

Actually, this was one of my last attempts on Oct. 16th of last year of the Pleiades. It's a "manual track-stack" of 2 @ 16 seconds, 2 @ 13 seconds, and 1 X 11 seconds of exposure at ISO 1600, and processed in DSS. It looks so much better in black and white

Pleiades_DSS_10_16_2018.png

Last night I took out my C80-HD to take some pics of the Moon. This is the scope that my CG4 mount came on, and I now have 5 scopes that can use it, but that's another story
a After I set it all up, the clouds started rolling in from the west, and the Moon was pretty much covered. But, I could see the Pleiades again, so I thought, Hey, what could be harder than manually tracking with an f/11.4 80mm?? Well, I could get my 80mm f/15.... no, let's not:lol:

So I tried that. Out of 5 attempts, two came out sort of, one at 8 and one at 10 seconds. I found it a lot harder with using the RA finder, but I wonder if that was because it was still mounted on the scope, and not near the center of the mount. It was certainly a bit of a "jerky" view when turning the knob... I only got 5 shots off before I was clouded out.

The scope, and the 10 second exposure. The Maia nebulae is at center to the right. The haze was already there when I was taking the pic. I know, the stars are so purple as well But that can be fixed.

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And all that to say, I'm going to try this again, at least with no full Moon and better skies.

I have almost enough tucked away to get a scope in the APO class from 60 - 70mm. I really like the wide field photos of the sky. Nothing against a close up, but when folks on here use the smaller aperture, shorter focal length scopes for that stunning wide field, I'm always blown away. If I ever do AP even semi-seriously, I know what works for me...

And, the manual tracking will be easier in the winter. I've noticed the "Synta-goo" starts to harden a bit below freezing, so I'll have something to push against....

Have a good night, all!!

[bobharmony]

Mark, you are a braver man than I am! I did manual (well, with the scopes hand controller) once, using the schools 24" RC on a cold night in January. I have no desire to repeat the exercise.

Good luck with the experiment, it looks like you are doing well so far!

Bob

[notFritzArgelander]

As a youngster I did manual guiding using an 18.5" Clark refractor at f15 and a 1 meter RC at f8. That was fun! Congratulations! Good job. (My stars were round so YAY!)

[notFritzArgelander]

As a youngster I did manual guiding using an 18.5" Clark refractor at f15 and a 1 meter RC at f8. That was fun! Congratulations! Good job. (My stars were round so YAY!)

I think I need to explain my sense of humor here....

With a focal length of 7 and 8 meters it's easy to see the seeing limited Airy disk and guiding manually is a real easy but tedious task. Working to get round stars on faster equipment whether manually or not is much tougher!

[John Baars]

Very well done!
Back to old school basics!

Remembers me , like notFritzArgelander, of the old days, when I used to do manual tracking on similar equipment as Thefatkitty.
We used to do it with the old equipment of the observatory too. ( with buttons , that is) By the time you couldn't distinguish the star on the crosswires any more ( it happens, you know) we used to give the control box to the next person. By the time that we as beginning astrophotographers found out that 2X25 minutes on regular analog film wasn't better than a single 25 minutes shot, we started to learn about the Schwarzschild-effect. There was much to learn in those days...
Thanks for your lovely report!

[Thefatkitty]

Mark, you are a braver man than I am! I did manual (well, with the scopes hand controller) once, using the schools 24" RC on a cold night in January. I have no desire to repeat the exercise.

Good luck with the experiment, it looks like you are doing well so far!

Bob

Thanks for the compliment Bob, but I don't think "braver" is the word I'd use.... We'll see how motivated I am when the temps go below freezing

I'll bet that 24" RC was on the roof to boot! Man, you folks get some serious cold in your parts; I'd have no desire to repeat that either! Good for you on the effort though. A 24"?? I can only dream....
Hope you have a great weekend!

As a youngster I did manual guiding using an 18.5" Clark refractor at f15 and a 1 meter RC at f8. That was fun! Congratulations! Good job. (My stars were round so YAY!)

I think I need to explain my sense of humor here....

With a focal length of 7 and 8 meters it's easy to see the seeing limited Airy disk and guiding manually is a real easy but tedious task. Working to get round stars on faster equipment whether manually or not is much tougher!

No need to explain (at least to me), I'm still laughing... "My stars were round so YAY!" The next time I have that happen; I will remember that and have a good chuckle

Wow, you had some good times as a youngster; a Clark 18.5"? I'll bet you still remember every moment of that experience
All the best for a good weekend!

Very well done!
Back to old school basics!

Remembers me , like notFritzArgelander, of the old days, when I used to do manual tracking on similar equipment as Thefatkitty.
We used to do it with the old equipment of the observatory too. ( with buttons , that is) By the time you couldn't distinguish the star on the crosswires any more ( it happens, you know) we used to give the control box to the next person. By the time that we as beginning astrophotographers found out that 2X25 minutes on regular analog film wasn't better than a single 25 minutes shot, we started to learn about the Schwarzschild-effect. There was much to learn in those days...
Thanks for your lovely report!

Thank you John, and nice to hear from you!

Nice to know I have company as well. I wish I'd had such fun as a youngster, but I have to wonder if I would have had the patience then. Probably not....

Thanks for the info as well; I had never heard of the Schwarzschild-effect, and am still trying to wrap my head around it You learn something new every day!

All the best to you and yours, John

[EAGLE 5]

When I originally saw this post, it made me wonder if you could connect the RA cable to the speedometer cable on an exercise bike.

The idea being, if you had a larger wheel it might be easier to make the small movements smoother, less twitchy.

With some gear reduction incorporated, you could spin the wheel much faster benefiting from a fly wheel effect. You may not have to attend to it at all with shorter exposures if the wheel is heavy enough.

I guess this seems kinda silly, but then again everything we do here is pretty ridiculous if were being practical about it. At the very least you could hop on and lose a few pounds I suppose.

[Thefatkitty]

When I originally saw this post, it made me wonder if you could connect the RA cable to the speedometer cable on an exercise bike.

The idea being, if you had a larger wheel it might be easier to make the small movements smoother, less twitchy.

With some gear reduction incorporated, you could spin the wheel much faster benefiting from a fly wheel effect. You may not have to attend to it at all with shorter exposures if the wheel is heavy enough.

I guess this seems kinda silly, but then again everything we do here is pretty ridiculous if were being practical about it. At the very least you could hop on and lose a few pounds I suppose.

That is actually a really neat idea; I like the way you think! As for ridiculous, as long as it gets the task you want to accomplish done, I'm open to any and all suggestions

And as for losing a few pounds, I certainly don't need that

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Thanks for the post and have a great Thanksgiving!

[notFritzArgelander]

Clearly it's the kitty that is fat and not you, good sir!

[bladekeeper]

Wasting time? Never a waste if you enjoyed the time spent and are satisfied, and I'd say you got some nice results from the time spent.