I decided to invest a little money and, more importantly, some time this winter to learn how to use an equatorial mount in hopes of getting some better wide field photos of the Milky Way core this year. Today, I tried for the first time an iOptron Skytracker Pro. It is actually quite easy to use once it is set up. I do believe a few more outings will be enough to gain proficiency in using it, but I was up and running within about fifteen minutes even on this first attempt. I don't think I got the Polar alignment exactly right, but the equatorial mount can be quite effective even in inexperienced hands.
Here are two heavily cropped images of identical exposures of the same section of sky. Both were 30-second exposures with a 52mm focal length, so they were well beyond the limits of the 500-rule guidelines. Orion's Belt is in the top half of the frame on the left and the Orion Nebula is in the lower right corner.
1. With SkyTracker Pro
2. Stationary Exposure
Here are two heavily cropped images of identical exposures of the same section of sky. Both were 30-second exposures with a 52mm focal length, so they were well beyond the limits of the 500-rule guidelines. Orion's Belt is in the top half of the frame on the left and the Orion Nebula is in the lower right corner.
1. With SkyTracker Pro
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2. Stationary Exposure
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