Orion SteadyStar Adaptive Optics Guider for DSLR/CCD Cameras

The Orion SteadyStar Adaptive Optics Guider for DSLR/CCD Cameras makes any imaging-capable mount, even a modest one, perform more effectively. Precise tracking is one of the most critical facets of astrophotography and this tracking is limited to the accuracy of your mount, plus external factors like wind and atmospheric seeing conditions. The SteadyStar AO Guider overcomes these limitations and challenges and takes control with super fast and accurate guiding.

Traditional autoguiding involves moving the mount and telescope, along with all of your attached imaging accessories to correct tracking errors. Autoguiding can typically only make a single correction every couple of seconds or so; during that time your tracking is vulnerable to periodic error from your mount, wind and atmospheric seeing conditions.

The SteadyStar AO Guider can easily make several tracking corrections in one second without lugging the weight and inertia of the whole telescope. Rather than move all that weight, the SteadyStar AO Guider makes guiding corrections by tilting its on-board optical window, allowing for quick and precise movements several times faster than any traditional autoguider could ever hope to correct.

A slight tilt of the optical window actually moves the imaging plane in your camera. This refractive correction, while different than the adaptive optics used in professional observatories, is capable of making extremely fast movements to overcome even the most severe tracking errors. Even though most tracking errors can be compensated by tilting the optical window, the SteadyStar can still send corrections to your mount like a traditional autoguider if the optical window's tilt range is exceeded.