These are photos of the Vista Tracker. It is basically a worm and wheel with a 12v motor and a polar alignment scope that follows the rotation of the earth.

A camera is attached and can be aimed anywhere in the sky. The counterweight is adjusted for almost any size camera and lens. I machined a small wedge out of aluminum to attach it solidly to the Meade tripod. 

I also made an attachment for an adjustable illuminator so the markings on the polar alignment scope could be seen against a dark sky.

The photo shows it attached to a Nikon F3 camera with one of my favorite lenses, a Nikon f/2.8 17mm to 35mm AFS zoom with ED glass.

See some of the images taken with it on the Wide-Field page.

All images on this site copyright Gregory Pyros, 2000 - 2007. Non-commercial use is permitted with proper credit.