Living in Seattle, the night sky is a treat, it's one of the best things about backpacking. I like shooting night sky pictures that remind me of good times. I found that they need a foreground to evoke the feeling I'm going for. This is a very different kind of astrophotography:
https://www.designboom.com/technology/vaonis-smart-telescope-camera-01-18-2021/https://www.space.com/amp/vaonis-vespera-smart-telescope
I bet you can rent one somewhere, even if it's over the internet. These are crazy heavy, but you can drive right to to Slate Peak, and there's an astronomy platform at The Meadows CG at 7,000'.
I’m surprised at how low resolution these devices are at two and six megapixels for $1,500+. The sensor are fairly small, but I’d guess these are about Full Frame 150mm equivalent field of view.
A tripod and an inexpensive camera with a wide zoom lens would out-performance these devices.
There are plenty of phone apps for showing the 3D location of stars and planets.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...” ― Henry David Thoreau
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“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...” ― Henry David Thoreau
150 mm? Really? I have a 300 mm lens, I've never thought to point it at the night sky except for the conjunction. I'm so used to the Pleiades being so tiny in three frame at 24 mm (just about the only lens I ever actually use) I assumed you couldn't take deep space photos without a telescope.
I do understand about the tracking mount issue though.
This is an example of what you can do with 300mm. Lots of stacking and processing of course. I imagine it's the automation of all this that makes these "telescopes" attractive.
Looks like it's a 200mm focal length and the sensor is indeed a tiny 1/2.9", so the low resolution is the tradeoff to keep it from getting too noisy. But for the price of this thing you could get a good astro tracker for any regular tripod and put any capable interchangeable lens digital camera on it and get far better results, and end up saving a whole lot of money in the process.
I'd love to rent one, either the thing in the OP or a "regular" star tracker, and take it to some dark peak. I don't have enough interest to want to own either type. There's a lot of beauty up there, but you put some mountains in the foreground and the photo resonates.
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