Milkyway nightscapes

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18084494

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #18084247
Headed to a truly dark sky spot next week....with my luck it will be cloudy and there will be a sliver of a Moon
but it will be my best chance in a long time for a MW shot.
I have an Ioptron Skytracker but don't know/remember the 'settings'.
Can someone off a quick reminder.
Slider set to 'N' right for northern hemisphere.
The other slider?
I did try to find a manual on-line but failed

I have a choice of the Rokinon 14mm or 24mm, and forgot even the Rok 8mm.
I can also take the Tamron 15-30/2.8
Which would you choose? I bet most would say the Rok 14mm.

I googled "ioptron skytracker PDF user manual" ( without the " " ) and got THIS

The "other" switch is the Tracking Speed Switch keep at 1X

I just found this in the PDF manual I downloaded concerning the 2 switches:

pdxbenedetti wrote in post #18084482
Lol, I'm not getting star trailing in the sky, I get trailing in the REFLECTIONS in water. I have no problem with the precise polar alignment on both of my trackers and taking up to 15 minute exposures with no trailing up to 50mm focal lengths (haven't tried my 85mm at those lengths, but I imagine it would be no problem either).

I've always had a thing for reflection shots and more recently night landscapes which have them. I've taken them many times and sometimes the star reflection shows points of light and other times trails even though the stars are points in the sky. I do not have a good explanation for this inconsistency and am hoping that someone will provide the answer. My guess is it has to do with the angle of the reflection, but I have no evidence to support this. It seems very random as I've gotten both with seemingly no difference in the way the shot was taken.

pdxbenedetti wrote in post #18084482
Lol, I'm not getting star trailing in the sky, I get trailing in the REFLECTIONS in water. I have no problem with the precise polar alignment on both of my trackers and taking up to 15 minute exposures with no trailing up to 50mm focal lengths (haven't tried my 85mm at those lengths, but I imagine it would be no problem either).

You mentioned reversing the hemisphere switch -- which made me think you were getting trailing in the sky.

If you're only getting the trailing in the water then I'm thinking you are perhaps getting a tiny bit of rippling in the water -- this would show up mostly in the brightest stars.

TCampbell wrote in post #18084680
You mentioned reversing the hemisphere switch -- which made me think you were getting trailing in the sky.

If you're only getting the trailing in the water then I'm thinking you are perhaps getting a tiny bit of rippling in the water -- this would show up mostly in the brightest stars.

I'm actually not so sure it's rippling, one thing I've noticed is that when I take really long exposures of reflections the southern pole region tends to not develop trailing while the further away from the southern pole region the more trailing occurs. This is probably the best example of that from my shots:

pdxbenedetti wrote in post #18084783
I'm actually not so sure it's rippling, one thing I've noticed is that when I take really long exposures of reflections the southern pole region tends to not develop trailing while the further away from the southern pole region the more trailing occurs. This is probably the best example of that from my shots:

If you look closely at the middle of the lake/reflection the stars are relatively "pinpoint" while on the right and left there are long star trails. The reflection shots were 2.5 minute exposures if I remember correctly taken with an iOptron Skytracker mount in this case.

I think this example helps to reinforce the point. Consider this: If the trails are caused by tracking errors or optical (lens) issues... then the trailing should be approximately equal in both water and sky regions.

The sky really looks very pin-point and I _only_ see issues in the water. We _know_ the water has the potential to move -- even if only very slowly. Water is effectively a "mirror" and since the surface of the water is able to curve (rather than lay perfectly flat), based on current or wind, it can have lens-like topical issues in the reflections. When I look at this image... I see optical issues which are exclusively found in the "water".

I don't think you have a tracking or optical issue.

Something else I noticed in a different image... the brightest stars had the "trailing" issues. If the issue is the occasional ripple or wave... then maybe 90% of the time the water is a "flat mirror" and 10% of the time it isn't. Dim light won't show up on the sensor unless it's had time to expose. Bright stars will expose more quickly. So when the water is non-flat only 10% of the time (obviously a value I'm making up for the example) then only the brightest stars will reveal the distortion and the faint stars will look good.

From what I can see... this really looks like optical distortions caused by the surface of the water and not likely an optical or tracking issue.

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18084506
I just found this in the PDF manual I downloaded concerning the 2 switches:

Inspeqtor thank you so much!!! Now why couldn't I do that? Old age is my excuse
1X is what I really needed to know.
I just checked the forecast and it looks sucky but I'll keep fingers crossed.

Just a single image shot from this evening.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Km9m​o5

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #18085054

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18084506
I just found this in the PDF manual I downloaded concerning the 2 switches:

Inspeqtor thank you so much!!! Now why couldn't I do that? Old age is my excuse
1X is what I really needed to know.
I just checked the forecast and it looks sucky but I'll keep fingers crossed.

You are very welcome! Glad I could help

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #18085054
Inspeqtor thank you so much!!! Now why couldn't I do that? Old age is my excuse
1X is what I really needed to know.
I just checked the forecast and it looks sucky but I'll keep fingers crossed.

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18085164
You are very welcome! Glad I could help

Were you able to download the PDF file user manual for the iOptron Sky Tracker without any problems?

I sure hope you were able to do that....

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18085172
Were you able to download the PDF file user manual for the iOptron Sky Tracker without any problems?

I sure hope you were able to do that....

Yes sir! But what I needed to know more than anything was 'Tracking Speed Switch keep at 1X'.
Still don't have my hopes up though.
I figured long ago that if I want real MW shots I'd have to move to NZ/Oz or the American southwest.
Though I did get semi-decent in s.Africa

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/nNMW​7W

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oGLB​9J

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #18085240
Yes sir! But what I needed to know more than anything was 'Tracking Speed Switch keep at 1X'.
Still don't have my hopes up though.
I figured long ago that if I want real MW shots I'd have to move to NZ/Oz or the American southwest.
Though I did get semi-decent in s.Africa

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/nNMW​7W Welcome to South Africa by MedicineMan4040, on Flickr
and even one at home-30 images stiched via ICE-

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/oGLB​9J 30 Pic Stitch via Microsoft ICE by MedicineMan4040, on Flickr

Beautiful pictures!!! Love the 2nd one a bit more. I have never learned how to stich pictures together. I have no clue how to do that.

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18085374
Beautiful pictures!!! Love the 2nd one a bit more. I have never learned how to stich pictures together. I have no clue how to do that.

Download Microsoft's ICE, it is simple and it works (for me),better, it's free! And way faster than Photoshop.

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #18085396

Inspeqtor wrote in post #18085374
Beautiful pictures!!! Love the 2nd one a bit more. I have never learned how to stich pictures together. I have no clue how to do that.

Download Microsoft's ICE, it is simple and it works (for me),better, it's free! And way faster than Photoshop.

Thank you!! Downloaded and now installing... have to leave for work shortly will look at the program later.

Been an avid follower of this thread for some time and massively jealous of those of you with less cloud and light pollution than I have here in the UK... Its only just started getting astro dark again and the weather has been particularly unpredictable and cloudy until last night...

While I live in what we in the UK refer to as the 'sticks' light pollution is still a class 5 on the Bortle scale and with that in mind I didn't have much hope for shot when a rare clear night presented itself but here it is...

I like it a lot and it's made me realise there's hope for us yet