Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 64

S&T Test Report by Dennis di Cicco
Vixen's New Polarie U Camera Tracker
This compact mount from Vixen has a familiar name and a lot of new features for today's
astrophotographers.
If you've been eyeing the Polarie U
for wide-field nightscape, constellation,
meteor, or bright-comet photography,
read no further. Just get it, since I'm
sure you'll be more than satisfied with
its performance even if you're shooting
with relatively heavy DSLR equipment.
It's conservatively rated for a load of
2.5kg (about 5½ pounds) for equatorial
tracking and up to 10kg when the
rotation axis is mounted vertically for
time-lapse panning. But if you're interested
in some of Polarie U's advanced
capabilities, read on.
First, however, I want to briefly mention
camera trackers in general. Their
popularity blossomed during the twilight
years of emulsion-based astrophotography.
Color films had reached the point
at which they could capture constellations
and hints of the Milky Way with
a few seconds' exposure, a fast lens,
and a tripod-mounted camera. Trackers
allowed extending these exposures to a
minute or more, which would result in
pinpoint stars over a perceptible landscape
depending on moonlight or local
illumination. It ushered in a new era
when simple photos could realistically
show the sky as it looks to the naked eye.
Jump to today and I can make
Vixen Polarie U
U.S. Price: $615.95
Explorescientificusa.com
What We Like
Excellent tracking
Compact size
Nice features for timelapse
photography
What We Don't Like
Relatively uncommon
adapter plate for tripods
64 OCTOBER 2022 * SKY & TELESCOPE
THE POLARIE U IS Vixen's next-generation
camera tracker. Its size, shape,
and features are so different from the
company's original Polarie introduced
more than a decade ago (and reviewed
in this magazine's March 2012 issue,
page 58) that it's unfair to call it an
upgrade of the original. It's really a
whole new product.
pVixen's Polarie U is a compact and lightweight
camera tracker that will support moderately
heavy cameras and lenses and features
extremely smooth and accurate tracking.
similar images with the camera in my
handheld smartphone. Furthermore,
modern, tripod-mounted digital cameras
can capture starscapes with just a
few seconds' exposure that show more
than the naked eye can see. Mix in
special image-processing software (for
example, Sequator, described by Sean
Walker in the August issue, page 66),
and you might ask why anyone now
needs a camera tracker to create impressive
starscapes. The answer is, with a
fast lens and a recent digital camera,
you don't. But a tracker still provides
photographers with a creative edge to
ALL PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
http://www.Explorescientificusa.com

Sky & Telescope - October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - October 2022

Contents
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - Cover1
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - Cover2
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 1
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - Contents
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 3
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 4
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 5
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 6
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 7
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 8
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 9
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 10
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 11
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 12
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 13
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 14
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 15
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 16
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 17
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 18
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 19
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 20
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Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 22
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Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 30
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 31
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Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 33
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Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 35
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 36
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 37
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 38
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Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 40
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 41
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Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 43
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Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 48
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 49
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 50
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 51
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Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - 63
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Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - Cover3
Sky & Telescope - October 2022 - Cover4
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