I'm currently in the process of fine tuning my DIY Barn Door start tracker and its taking all my stargazing time at the moment. I grabbed this image last night after a 2 hours tracking test.
Its a single exposure with no darks or lights and not stacked, so its a bit grainy and the light pollution was bad. However I quite like it (and the stars are fairly round). Exposure time was 2 minutes and 21 seconds at ISO 400 using an f4 200mm lens. I always use mirror lockup to avoid mirror shake. I'm really pleased with the tracking ability of this home made tracker however I'm currently working to eliminate a slight vertical drift over 2 hours. Whilst its not noticeable with a wide angle lens it equates to about 8 pixels using this 200mm lens.
This cluster of galaxies can be found in the constellation of Leo about 35 million light years away.
Top left is NGC3628 and to the right is M65 whilst bottom centre is M66.
I am hoping to blog the design and details of this star tracker as soon as its finished as it may be of use to others trying to build a home made star tracking mount.
