Astrophotography star tracker alignment in southern hemisphere at the Pinnacles

Alignment of portable star trackers to the Celestial pole is a stumbling block for starting to use them in the southern hemisphere without a bright star like Polaris - this is how I align my portable star tracker quickly to photograph the stars in Western Australia. Hopefully this helps make it easier for people so you can use these great astro enhancing devices
#astrophotography #trackingmount #alignment

[@spicex4k901]

Most people thank Nord VPN. This man thanks the elders past and present.

[@landspide]

those shots, just jaw dropping... ❤️👍

[@peterlongstaff3603]

hi Michael, three cheers for your tracker info, that is as easy as, now I shall start using my tracker as well, I look forward to more info as it comes along, rgds, Peter,

[@nicolagredziuk6672]

Thanks Michael for this - I’ve just bought a tracker and didn’t really understand the science of polar alignment. I’ll compare your method with the using an app. Greetings from Queenstown, NZ

[@sandyb3774]

i'm so glad I stumbled across your tutorial! I'm considering buying my first star tracker and was almost put off by all the complicated instructions on how to polar align in the Southern Hemisphere... armed with new useful knowledge, I am off to see which tracker might meet my needs!

[@trufflehunter58]

Respect, sir! Magnificent location and great info. Greeting from NSW

[@gerrywalsh914]

I will try this 4 astro imaging, with my Seestar S50! If it works, I'll feel like I've won the lottery; thanks to your video! Keep up the great, clear, and precise vids!! Thank you!

[@peterbarreca1568]

Thanks for showing me the easy way to polar align the star tracker💥✨⚡️

[@carlreid4161]

A great watch Michael reaffirms my method of aligning to the CSP. Have to say looking forward to seeing your next vlog as you’re a natural!

[@michaelgoh2884]

haha it's getting back into doing the videos - there were quite a few cuts in the video and reshoots. Looking at doing monthly and then fortnightly.

[@sylvias111]

Such a great video, Michael. The images are spectacular. Also… your first home made tracker caught on fire? 😂 this is really helpful. I look forward to getting my first tracker!

[@michaelgoh2884]

thanks Sylvia - yeah ... bit of a short/long story - went on for about 6 hours before that happened.

[@startracks-outbackspaceadv8038]

Great video Michael. Very informative. 👍

[@stephenlepage]

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

[@markybarretts]

You got some amazing Astro photos and video here Micheal, really inspiring me to get out and give it a go. I’m in Perth too.

[@rodtopperwien1713]

Enjoyed your explanation

[@suziecellist]

This video is great-thank you so much! Your are such a master astrophotographer and it’s wonderful having this straightforward explanation. I have been looking for a video like this for over a year as PA on the Star Adventurer has been very hit and miss for me.

[@bodelicious4398]

Greetings, This is awesome, your video is helpful. I've been planning on doing astrophotography and investing a startracker, and your explanation on polar aligment ( especially for southern hemesphere ) is the easiest and most simple I've found.👍🏻👍🏻 by the way I have question, after you did a pointing and angle it to south, how do you fine tuning it through the polar scope if we can not see any bright star? Thank you.

[@isaackhasawneh8123]

That was awesome 👌

[@johnkeating3891]

Very helpful, thank you.

[@andresalcaino7570]

Great video! I am in a bortle class 4 region and it's extremely difficult to find Sigma Octanis. I use my camera to point exactly to the same direction as my polar scope and then take pictures until sigma octanis is in the middle. That way i can find it more easily. But still, is barely visible.

[@PhillipMcCallum]

Excellent video thank you

[@arthurhartmann5122]

Thank you for posting, Michael. I found this video helpful. I have found it difficult to see the Sigma Octans asterism through the polar scope for a precise alignment.

[@spicex4k901]

Thanks for the video. I would like to see a video on finding deep sky objects.

[@mangalajayasekera4249]

awesome... Thanks

[@mpwave]

thanks for the great video looking at getting into astrophotography looks amazing, maybe you could do a getting started equipment and expectations results video, eg tripods, trackers, camera, tools apps that would make life easier for the beginner. keep up the great work thanks

[@michaelgoh2884]

thanks - some of that is in the pipeline

[@dominic-ryan]

Man I laughed about the "it caught on fire"...😂 Great video Michael. I have the 2i and it has unfortunately sat on the shelf in favour of the smaller MSM tracker. I use the mobile phone mount and mobile alignment which is good enough for clean 2 min exposures at 35mm. What I really want is the electronic polar scope of the iOptron with the phone app control of the Sky Watcher. Maybe someday...

[@michaelgoh2884]

I actually use the MSM and the skywatcher together for timelapsing. Have you seen the polemaster and also sharpcap? while I haven't used either - these are options for electronic polar alignment assistance

[@gm010379]

THANKYOU...

[@akkarparkiamopas3401]

Thanks for video, I would like to see how we can precisely polar alignment in Southern Hemisphere with no star on the sky or there is an object , ie Building, mountain blocking the visibility of the stars to polar align. Thanks

[@oneeyedphotographer]

You should try my GP-E2. Puts a compass on the back of my Canon camera.

[@rexcao4454]

Hi Michael, great video. I am based in Perth as well, currently self learning drift alignment on PHD2, not really have any success so far. Do you have any experience with drift alignment?

[@michaelgoh2884]

not yet :P

[@johncarter591]

Using the Astro Time Lapse Feature what's the Maximum amount of time you can get before the foreground starts to blur? With my experiments I've got up to 50 seconds with 20mm lens on a Full frame camera but have struggled with longer focal lengths! I think there is some variables that come into play EG. Focal length and how close you are to foreground subject matter....

[@michaelgoh2884]

it's really like a normal astro tracked astro shot then - a bit of compromise - so varies on what the actual foreground and focal length is.

[@hejiefu1941]

Can I write in Chinese ？

[@MichaelMolloy-Lenz]

Magnetic Sth is not what's requir😢ed

[@derekduckitt5900]

I don't often give video dislikes, but this video doesn't go into how to align using the polar scope at all, which is what I was looking for and expecting. Nice description of a beautiful area though!

[@ManNoName-c9u]

I appreciate the time and effort put into the time lapse image but I'm afraid it looks utterly fake, the Milky Way has been photoshopped and slapped on the background. Here's a thought, how about showing what it really looks like when you look up at the wonders of the sky from amazing locations - you know, milky and not like a fireworks display cut from a calendar?

[@christineportelli7335]

Just skip everything and start at 5:50 I've just saved you 6 minutes of your life!