Got a blurry shot of M31 because I skipped polar alignment at a dark site in Arizona

I drove 3 hours out to a Bortle 2 zone near Flagstaff last weekend with my DSLR and a barn door tracker. Got too excited and rushed the setup without properly polar aligning, just figured I'd wing it. After 90 minutes of subs at 50mm I pulled up the stack on my laptop and everything looked like a smeared watercolor. That hour long drive back taught me to double check alignment before hitting start. Anybody else learn a hard lesson after a long drive to a dark site?

2 comments

2 Comments

amygonzalez1d ago

Nothing like a 3 hour drive to blur your stars properly.

paige87023h ago

3 hours? I can barely see the road after 45 minutes, had to pull over once because I thought a streetlight was actually a UFO coming to get me.