Warning: your star tracker is slowly ruining your Milky Way shots and you won't see it till you zoom in

Wren Bennett · 2026-10-18T00:30:03.97932+00:00

I shot the core over Lake Tahoe back on the 14th with my tracker running and the stars came out as tiny little dashes instead of points. Turns out my polar alignment was off by maybe a quarter degree, so over a 4 minute sub the drift smeared everything just enough to look sharp on the camera screen. I only caught it when I stacked 20 frames and blew them up to 200 percent, and the trailing was plain as day. Check yours at full zoom before you trust it, and has anyone found a fast way to nail alignment without a clear view of Polaris?

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Warning: your star tracker is slowly ruining your Milky Way shots and you won't see it till you zoom in | Astronomy Photos - Thought Shares