Why no EQ mount

3AC9bx99

There seems little point in supplying a software update to enable EQ mode observations if you're not going to produce an EQ mount and tripod to go with it. From what I can see you have to cobble something together from other manufacturers equipment to make this work. Please produce the hardware required at the same time as any software upgrade.

6g7XV8du

3AC9bx99 How difficult is it to buy a tripod and head online ? Loads out there to choose from.

Support@Seestar

We have already prepared it and are waiting for the launch.

H

It’s easy. Buy a star watcher tripod for about $150 and a star watcher wedge for about $120. I got both from Amazon and works great in EQ mode.

Daemon42

H Easy if you've got a 1-2 months to wait. For whatever reason the Star Watcher EQ wedge is just not available anywhere. I ordered one a couple weeks back and they're claiming delivery date between April 29 and May 30.. If you were to order one today it'll say delivery by early mid July.

So in the meantime I ended up going with combination of "VERTECFOTO Geared Tripod Head" (2 day delivery) which has only pan/tilt and levelling bubbles. To use this alone you'd need a Swiss QR compatible plate with 3/8" mounting screw for the Seestar unit.
Instead I added a "LEFTFOTO 300mm Dovetail Slide Rail" which comes with 1/4" and 3/8" mount screws and dropped a "Manfrotto 120-38 Tripod Spacer" on top of it to give me the room for the Seestar unit to rotate on top of the rail (otherwise its feet prevent rotation). With the long rail, I can tilt the EQ wedge back 40 degrees, and then slide the Seestar unit forward on the rail until it's centered directly over the tripod, which allows me to use it on the Seestar's little tripod (I have big ones, but it's a hassle). I've got a tri-screw levelling base under all this, as it is still necessary to level first when EQ mode. Otherwise it'll diverge up/down while tracking leaving very short star trails in every shot. Notice how all the stars are slightly extended diagonally here. That's because it wasn't levelled properly.

Lilo

Daemon42 leveling the base is absolutely unnecessary for eq mounts

curtismacc

Lilo Correct. But it does help to take out the cross talk between the Alt and Az adjustments required to get Polar Alignment. An out of level tripod means that Alt adjustments also create an element of Az movement and vice versa. So you go back and forth between the two to get the PA on target. A level tripod will eliminate this, or at least, reduce it considerably. Just makes it easier to zero in on the best PA.

Regards,
Curtis

Daemon42

curtismacc There is that, (and it's plenty annoying by itself), but I think there's more to it.
In my first session I started with it not levelled, got the offsets down to less than 0.4 on both axes, but had
persistent small star trails. So tonight (after waiting a week of cloudy skies), I intentionally started with it not levelled got the offsets, moved it until it showed 0.1 0.3, then immediately requested offsets again, and it said 3.2 and 2.7 off. (solid base, no wind.. etc)
Note: for the 2nd offset check it doesn't even move the scope. Centered it again to < .3, then requested offsets again and it stayed within range, and imaged without star trails. My hypothesis is that if it's not levelled first then adjusting for the first offsets when you've only got alt/az on the wedge aren't guaranteed to get the scope's rotation axis pointed where it needs to be. Will take some more testing with it pre-levelled to see if I need that 2nd or 3rd offset check and correction.

FWIW, I still haven't been able to do a 30s exposure. 20 is max so far. I'm in Bortle 6-7 though.

Support@Seestar

Daemon42
A 30s exposure is not significantly affected by light pollution. I believe the most important factor is still whether the polar alignment was properly calibrated.
Have you analyzed how the stars change during a single 30s exposure — specifically, whether the star trails become more pronounced over time, or whether they are severe at the beginning but improve later?
If it is the former, I suspect there might be a deviation in the polar alignment, and it may be necessary to perform a polar drift calibration.
If it is the latter or something else, then it might be due to another cause.

Tim1343

Daemon42
This is a really interesting observation. Like you, I have asked for a second EQ deviation check and it has produced figures suggesting it is way out. What I also found was that if I did that second check while in the EQ deviation screen it would come back with a large misalignment. However, if I exited the EQ screen completely and then went back in, it wouldn’t ‘find’ a significant change. I can’t get my head around what it is picking up on. I am finding that for my own reassurance, I am levelling my tripod roughly first (not bang on just bubble level-ish) and then doing a couple of EQ checks but always coming out of the EQ screen between. And I am setting it to 0.2 or less before I start imaging.

Daemon42

Support@Seestar I haven't gotten it to record a single 30s exposure in EQ mode, so I can't tell you why it really failed (it claims star trails, but that's always the generic reason). If we had that feature we've been asking for from day 1, which is an option to save all frames instead of only successfully stacked frames, maybe we'd be able to figure it out. In terms of visible star trails, I don't see them at 10s or 20s (when 20s works), after the double alignment procedure I described above.

Support@Seestar

Daemon42
Please turn off the “Live” function so that you will get all the frames without stacking.