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The SkyGuider Pro camera mount from iOptron is now available with an electronic polar finder

January 8 2020, Stefan Taube

The SkyGuider Pro is a very light mount on which you can set up a camera with interchangeable lenses or a small telescope. This approach allows longer exposure times and so you can create fascinating wide-angle shots of the night sky.

iOptron Montierung SkyGuider Pro iPolar Set

iOptron Mount SkyGuider Pro iPolar Set

The SkyGuider Pro is now also available as a set together with the iPolar electronic polar finder, which has been built into the mount. With this accessory, you can easily and very precisely polar-align your mount.

The electronic finder has a built-in camera. This shows the position of the northern celestial pole and the location that the polar axis of the mount is pointing at, on your laptop. Simply bring the two points together by turning the adjustment screws for the azimuth and altitude axes of the mount – and you’re done!

SkyGuider Pro mit iPolar

SkyGuider Pro with iPolar

The location of the celestial north pole differs somewhat from the location of the Pole Star. The electronics calculate the exact position using the date and time. Thanks to the sensitivity of the camera and the large field of view, this so-called polar alignment is successful even when the mount has been only roughly positioned. This also works in the southern hemisphere and even takes into account atmospheric refraction at low latitudes!

If want to do without iPolar, you can of course still purchase the SkyGuider Pro mount without the electronic polar finder here.

Omegon DigiStar: The easy way to make small things really big.

January 7 2020, Achim Mros

With 4.3″ LCD display

 

This digital reflected-light microscope offers really good observing possibilities. The ease of use and the fascinating observation results are absolutely amazing. The tiniest subjects such as minerals, minute creatures, electronic assemblies, coins and much more are reproduced, highly magnified, on the 4.3″ display. Here you get a device that offers lots of fun for a very reasonable price.

Images can be saved onto an optional SD card and processed on a PC. Even short demo videos are possible. The aluminium stand is of high quality and neatly finished. The actual microscope head with LCD display is raised and lowered using the rack and pinion drive. The closer you lower the LCD head to the sample, the higher the magnification. You can adjust the focus using the control dial under the display. A full magnification of 200x can be achieved manually in this way. If that’s still not enough, you can digitally increase this in two steps up to 600x by using the two arrow keys under the display. The eight super-bright LEDs ensure that the sample is perfectly illuminated. Of course, the brightness is infinitely adjustable.

The built-in battery is charged using a power supply plug. The microscope can therefore be used outdoors for many hours, far away from any power source.