IOptron Mount SkyGuider Pro

The SkyGuider Pro is a very lightweight mount that allows you to track a camera with interchangeable lenses or a small telescope to the rotation of the sky. This allows longer exposure times. This way you can take fascinating wide-angle shots of the night sky.

The SkyGuider Pro is the big brother of the very popular iOptron Mount SkyTracker Pro. The SkyGuider Pro lets you use cameras with heavy lenses weighing up to five kilograms. This is made possible by the SkyGuider Pro‘s thicker right ascension axis, larger worm gears and a counterweight that allows you to balance the camera.

Instead of the counterweight, you can also mount a second camera so that you can shoot a section of the sky with two different focal lengths. This second camera can weigh up to three kilograms.

Optionally, you can use the Go2Nova hand controller and even track automatically via the ST-4 input.

The SkyGuider Pro has a built-in Li-polymer battery. You can recharge it via USB.

For the mount to track your camera correctly with the rotation of the sky, the axis of rotation of the SkyGuider Pro must match the axis of rotation of the earth. To do this, simply take aim at Polaris, which marks pretty much exactly the position of the axis of rotation in the sky. The SkyGuider Pro has a small telescope built into its axis for alignment. This so-called polarscope has an engraving with which you can aim at the pole star. The engraving itself is illuminated. This makes correct alignment very easy.

Most of the time you will probably use the standard speed at which the camera keeps the stars in view. However, it is also possible to select the speed of the Sun or the Moon. A very interesting option for the speed allows you to photograph stars as well as the landscape or buildings in the foreground. To do this, select half the star speed. This way, the stars remain in focus without the foreground objects becoming blurred.

You can also reverse the direction of rotation for all four possible speed settings, so that the SkyGuider Pro also works in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. This is important because, after all, the SkyGuider Pro is also a very good travel mount!