tonight i'm going to share with you an ultra portable insanely easy to use
deep sky astrophotography setup that i've recently put together this is not like any other kit i've
shared on this channel before mainly because i don't usually use plate solving or mobile apps to
control my astrophotography sessions the kids call me old school or just old but not anymore welcome
to 2007 trevor jones and the wild time saving world of plate solving why didn't anyone tell me
okay obviously i knew about plate solving but i didn't use it very often especially
on mobile-friendly setups and star trackers my observatory of course when it was still here
used plate solving to find and solve faint deep sky objects in the night sky but it was a robust
permanent setup that took a long time to get sorted out and that was the biggest reason i
avoided it for so long i am perpetually swapping scopes cameras mounts heck even imaging laptops
throughout the year and getting the software sorted out each time i made a change wasted
precious clear sky time so i would usually just star align the mounts myself using the
hand controller and i was on my way enter the asi air the software on this incredible little red box
is so easy to use even a monkey could get set up and get a deep sky image on their first or
second night out with it okay maybe not a monkey but a surprisingly average technological fellow in
his late 30s with a receding hairline and great teeth okay before i get right into
exactly how it works here's a complete breakdown of the entire kit that i'm using the skywatcher
star adventure gti star tracker mount the radiant carbon fiber quick release tripod
the radian 61 triplet april refractor telescope a zwo asi 2400 mc pro color camera the starfield
optics 50 millimeter guide scope zwo asi 120 mm pro guide camera an aging samsung tablet just for
a bigger screen than my phone and most importantly the zwo asi air plus i also use a pretty weathered
12 volt 4 amp power adapter to power the asi air mini pc i'm also plugged into household power this
time to plug in my do heater bands but all of this could be replaced with a portable battery pack
which i'll cover in a future video oh yeah and one more very important item this cable this cable
connects the asi air to the mount and opens up its most powerful feature speaking of cables there is
one that is noticeably missing on this setup one that i couldn't live without for the last 10 years
the st4 that's right no more guiding like a goon using an ancient phone jack we're straight up
pulse guiding to the mount now no more on camera like a caveman serious though if you're still
using an st4 cable and killing it let the good times roll don't let them change you essentially
the asi air guiding system sends pulses directly to the mount to make corrections in the tracking
as opposed to through the guide camera like i used to now this is an improvement already
not a huge one but one that i'm happy to have but the real power of this rj45 control cable for sky
watcher mounts is the new plate solving abilities the mount now has yes the star adventure gti can
already go to objects in the night sky on its own but the asi air in this cable takes it to the next
level this system makes the object location and framing stages of the astrophotography process
dead simple you just search for the deep sky object you want in the database on the asi air and
the mount will automatically slew to it and center it for you yeah it's that easy your telescope
mount now knows exactly where it's pointed without you fumbling back and forth confirming alignment
stars even if a good old three-star alignment routine makes me feel nostalgic and more connected
to the night sky saving 20 minutes of imaging time feels pretty darn good here's how it works here's
a look at the asi error user interface you can do everything here from polar alignment to setting
camera temperature to focusing now i've used an asa air for several years to run an imaging plan
in autoguide but i didn't tap into the incredibly easy telescope control features until now here's
the telescope connection panel where i can confirm that i do indeed have my telescope connected the
mount selection is skywatcher az gti slash cinskin wi-fi that is connected to the star adventure gti
using the cable i spoke about earlier and then now i can open up the planetarium mode
and select my first object since i'd like to dial in my focus before shooting my deep sky
target for tonight i'll pick a bright star so i know that vegas in a great spot right
now and it's nice and bright that's a good one for manually focusing using a baton off mask
i don't have an auto focuser on this setup yet here's vega here and i just tap it and then go to
you should see the telescope in the background moving there it is now slewing to vega now
remember i haven't done any type of star alignment at this point but the mount is going to find this
star and center its position on its own by taking some pictures and plate solving the star fields it
sees it will automatically center the star and you might be thinking you know a bright star is easy
to find i could have done that on my own but what about an extremely faint dark nebula that's nearly
impossible to locate manually the software will find confirm and center any object you want to
photograph it's pretty incredible i'm seeing some little notifications here and now that star is
centered so if i go back into photo mode i could take a photo of that star so why don't we take
a five second exposure just to confirm that vega is in the center of the field exposing
and what do you know we have vega right in the dead center of the field so whether it's a star
it's a deep sky object you can just literally tap the location of it on the planetarium and
the mount will automatically slew to it it's just magic my camera and telescope are currently
collecting light on the veil nebula complex a dramatic intersection of supernova remnants
in the night sky the massive field of view on the radian 61 means that i can capture the remains of
this exploded star in its entirety i went with the optilong lx stream filter for this target
and when you see my final image i think you'll completely understand why even though i can see
it visually in each sub-exposure the field of view indicator with the exact orientation on the asi
air star map confirms that i have indeed enveloped the entire region so yeah i used to manually star
align my telescope mounts in place of a software aided plate solving routine like i said before
this was just a matter of convenience and routine with maybe a dash of procrastination however i
was shocked at how well the asi air mount control of this little star tracker performed it was one
of the most painless new astro gear moments i've ever experienced to have a grab-and-go setup like
this with such control such precision is really exciting to me the reason i created this video
was so not only that you knew this option exists but that it's probably a lot better than you think
if you're extremely tech savvy chances are you will probably build or already have a system that
can do all of this using a mix of components and solutions as you know there's a million ways to
go about the astrophotography experience and the road you take will likely come down to preference
and budget i look forward to expanding this system even further including an electronic focuser
and filter wheel and of course i'll bring you along for the ride so this is my travel astro
rig for the summer of 2022 and i can't wait to get it under some dark skies i hope you
enjoy my final image of the veil nebula taken with this setup and until next time clear skies
do
you