Have I accidently broken my SkyWatcher Star Adventurer 2i tracker?

 Newly arrived to my blog? Want to know more about me before you dive into my posts? Why not visit the home page first and start your exploration from there: 

https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/01/welcome-to-my-new-astronomyastrophotogr.html

And welcome. Welcome to 'UnderSouthWest Skies'. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find the experience worthwhile. This blog post has been written from my own 'beginner perspective' after doing lots of reading on the various blog topics.  In getting my head around it all, I may have got odd bits slightly wrong; but, like you, I am on a leaning journey, so please forgive any unintentional errors.  Meanwhile, clear skies to you. Take care and thanks for visiting   Steve aka PlymouthAstroBoy 

 

Hello!

In my last post you will have noted that I couldn't get my tracker to work. An absolute nightmare of a night! 

https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/02/making-basic-astrophotography-mistakes-1.html

This morning, the tracker is being tested extensively in the living room. I have put my lighter rig on it (Samyang 135mm+Canon 800D + RVO guidecope+ZWO 120 mm mini guide cam). 

I have suspended a small pen on a string from the counterweight arm to help me discern how well the tracker is moving. The issue seems to be when the rig is on the east of the tracker and the counterweights arm to the right. The rig will track fine up to the horizontal position. From there, it seems to stop tracking and I have no idea why. If you swing the rig the other side - there seems to be no problems with tracking. It is just that 9 o'clock to 11 o' clock position that it seems to go on strike. 

How bizarre is this? 

I updated the tracker with the latest firmware in the early hours of this morning (shows you how worried I am that I am doing a firmware update at 0100) and so this morning, I am hoping, with fingers crossed, that all is well. I will let you know at the end of today if the firmware update has fixed the issue. 

If you need to update the firmware on your SWSA you can get the various software and uploader programs here: 

https://www.skywatcher.com/download/software/star-adventurer/

My concern is that I may have somehow damaged the mechanism. I can use the side buttons to x12 the tracking rate - the motor works and movement is fine at all angles. Same when it is in app mode. 

So is it a clutch or software issue? 

If it was a clutch issue, then I will probably find the mount's tracking axis slipping or rotating unexpectedly, when it is loaded up. That could account for the trailing in all my images the other night. However, against that is the fact that in Live View - the stars didnt change their positions at all. So this is really bizarre! 

On a slipping clutch, you would expect to see the following symptoms/issues: 

• sudden movement in camera/telescope even with clutch being tight
• drifting during long exposures
• star trailing across the frame
• noticeable slip or play when trying to rotate the mount by hand when the clutch is engaged
• clicking and grinding noises

I have to say I haven't noticed any of these symptoms, so I am beginning to move away from this as an issue. 

This morning I checked and then re-checked that I had tightened the clutch fully and correctly before the test runs. Excessive tightening can cause damage so I am being careful and paranoid! 

So, that brings me back to software issues?  Lets hope the firmware update solves the issue. If it doesn't I need to find a repairer of trackers based in the UK? Know of anyone? Let me know in the comment box and thanks. 

Meanwhile, I did, as you will have seen in last post, manage to get some imaging done. And here is the initial result. Welcome to NGC 457 'The Owl Cluster' 

So, what can we see in this image?

Firstly, the acquisition details - 45 x 120” lights and no calibration frames. Stacked in Affinity Photo and then cropped, denoised and background extraction in GraXpert. Finally further processing in Affinity Photo once more.

The larger cluster is NGC 457 The owl cluster – which is sort of obvious – when you look closely – and imagine an owl shape! It is also known as the ‘ET’ cluster. I like this nomenclature better! Huge ET fan!

NGC 457 is one of the star clusters in Cassiopeia, discovered by Friedrich Herschel in 1789, and comprises of two bright stars of 5^th magnitude which form the eyes. Scattered rows of fainter stars then make up the arms and the body.

The cluster contains over 100 stars and is a relatively young star cluster about 7,900 light years away from us.

The very bright star?

Ruchbah, the fourth brightest star in the Cassiopeia constellation, derives its name from Arabic – the word means ‘knee’.  It is 99 light years away, so its light takes almost a century to reach us. With a surface temperature around 8400 K, it is somewhat warmer than our own sun and its radius is just under four times the diameter of our own star.

A giant or sub-giant star, Ruchbal’s hydrogen fusion core is shutting down and so this 600million year old star is in its death throes. Ten million years from now it will be a much larger orange giant.

And what about the smaller star cluster? This is NGC 436 – 30 or so 11^th magnitude, fainter stars.

And here is a cropped version losing Ruchbal!  Sorry Ruchbal! 

UPDATE: 

Have I broken my star adventurer?

No, I don't think so. I have tested it for three days now and it seems to be tracking as it should. The 'string dangling a pencil trick' worked in showing the movement more easily. The software firmware upgrade seems to have cured things. I double checked with First Light Optics and The Widescreen Centre that I hadn't inadvertently overloaded the mount -   my largest rig weighs in at 4.3kg and both retailers felt that should be OK.

So, I need to wait for a clear night and then go test things again! Wish me luck!