We just saw an ad in this month's
Sky & Telescope for the
AstroTrac TT320 ultra portable tracking system. This appears to be a nice tracking system that will allow up to 2 hours of tracking for wide field imaging using a 35mm camera. Seems like this is a good alternative to a home built barn door tracker...although it isn't inexpensive. The camera and polar finder are about US$700 from
Kendrick Astro Instruments. They recommend a
Bogen 475 tripod and 405 geared head for mounting which should allow up to 16lbs (including the AstroTrac) to be mounted. We've just order both the AstroTrac, the polar alignment scope, a Bogen 475 tripod, and Bogen 405 head. We should have it before the weekend and hope to be able to do some test images soon (the moon will be fairly prominent this weekend so it may not be the best time to try it). The good news is we'll be able to test its portability as we head over to the Big Island of Hawaii in early June for a few weeks (don't worry, we'll still be posting up stories and new threads while we're away!). Stay tuned for a full review in our articles section.
cosmicbug
September 10th, 2008, 04:35 PM
I've been using the Astrotrac system for the last 4 months now...
you can read my reports here>
cosmicbug astrotrac
So far, I've been very pleased with its performance and the portable aspect of an Astrotrac system is second to none.
good luck with your trip
regards
Gain Lee