Star tracker alignment failed on me twice last night. Is it worth the hassle or go untracked?

Brought my setup out to a dark spot near Flagstaff. Polar aligned through the scope. First 30 second exposure looked fine. Then the next 5 frames had stars trailing like crazy. Checked everything. Battery was full. No vibration. Then the clutch slipped again on the second target. Got maybe 3 usable shots out of 2 hours. Feeling like a tripod and short exposures might be better for my sanity. Do you guys stick with tracking or just shoot wide and stack a bunch of short frames?

1 comments

1 Comment

elliot454h ago

Not sure if this helps, but your clutch slipping is probably more about the saddle or the clutch grip surface than the mount's alignment itself. I'd take a look at cleaning the clutch plate with some isopropyl before giving up on tracking entirely.