Fallingstar1971":39cix9v7 said:
"i have a cpc 1100"
(Im guessing a telescope with camera rig. Which model in particular?)
"i do not have a wedge for it"
(not sure here)
"so i have found out that i cant burn for over a minute and a half before i start to get star trails "
(This is because the Earth is turning, which is why you need motorized tracking. Im guessing "burn"="exposure time")
"hyper star says that with there unit i would not have to polar align or use a auto guider to do long exposer"
(No idea who they are, but polar alignment is required for tracking. Some models use "guidestars" like the goto scopes)
"do u no anything about this"
Im thinking at some hop along the bunny trail either the question to your vendor was misunderstood, or the answer that was provided. You can not stop the rotation of the Earth, which means that if you want to avoid star trails you will have to compensate for it. This is done with tracking, but the tracking will not function properly if the mount isnt properly aligned.
There is no short cut for this that I know of. Either track or your limited to one or two second exposures low magnification shots.
There is an astrophotography thread where maybe you can find some more help as well.
Good luck, post what you learn. Im learning as I go as well.
Star
The wedge is a equitorial wedge mount. It allows the rotation to happen in one axis (vs 2 for an Alt-Az mount). In turn (pun intended) this means the view does not rotate in the eyepiece as the telescope tracks (which is what happens with an Alt-Az). You need to align the scopes rotational axis with that of the Earth of course, hence the polar alignment. The only reference I could find to "HyperStars" was an lens/imager system that replaced the secondary mirror in a reflector thereby increasing it's sensitivity but this wouldn't help for true long duration imaging, you'd still need to do a polar alignment and track to prevent trails or a rotating FOV. You just don't need to be as accurate (in alignment) or rely on an auto-guider. Now perhaps you could do a series of short duration exposures (see below) but that still doesn't get you the same exposure as a true single long duration exposure. Then again perhaps his viewing doesn't need a true long duration exposure.
Alternately you could rotate the imager in the focusser but at this point wouldn't it be simpler, better, cheaper to get the proper mount ?
From the website ...
http://starizona.com/acb/hyperstar/whatis.aspx
Aside from the obvious savings in time and effort, short exposure times have a secondary advantage: capturing images is much easier. With typical exposure times of 20-60 seconds, HyperStar imaging allows unguided imaging. Long exposures require a telescope to be guided due to inherent tracking errors in the drive. This requires a second CCD camera or self-guiding CCD and often other hardware such as a guidescope. HyperStar images can be shot unguided thanks to the extremely short exposure.
An additional benefit of short exposures is that it is often possible to image with a telescope in alt-azimuth mode. This means it is possible to capture deep-sky images with a fork-mounted SCT without needing an equatorial wedge. This saves the trouble of mounting the scope on a wedge plus having to polar align the telescope. CCD imaging simply doesn't get any easier than that!