RadarDave

OK thanks anyway. Maybe I need to get on a Meade forum. Cheers from South Scotland

OK Thanks for that. I really appreciate the help here. I do understand that my LX10 does not have a sophisticated (expensive) motor drive system, but surely it has some use ! Maybe if I can ask a few, I hope simple, Yes / No questions. Assuming my RA drive is ok, ie 15 deg / Hr, and the wedge is correctly aligned to North Star etc at my latitude. 1. Will my LX10 RA drive system help to give me long exposure (2 or 3 mins) pics/viewing of stars and galaxies, without trails. Yes or No ? 2. Will my LX10 RA drive system help to give me long exposure (10 to 60 secs) pics/viewing of our Planets or the Moon. Yes or No ? 3. If answer to both questions is No, what use is the LX10 drive system ? OK I can use the control box to switch RA and Dec motors when viewing, but I can just as easily use the manual controls for this ! Sorry if I am being stupid with all this, so please be patient...…... Regards Dave

Ok Thanks folks for the replies. So, am I correct then, then that the LX10 RA mechanism is designed to allow time movement tracking of say a few minutes, on our solar system objects, but does not allow for long camera exposure times for stars (eg objects outside our solar system. ) ie stars, galaxies etc. Regards Dave

Hi. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I think my problem is rather more basic. The Meade LX10 with it's wedge mount etc, I believe constitutes an equatorial drive system, when aligned correctly on the North Pole. There is no computation, with RA and Dec auto movement. Just a 24 hr RA clock driving system. I cannot see how this system could possibly keep a star in the FOV, (rotating around the pole star) with the RA compensating for the Earth's rotation in one axis direction. Is it that this rather crude system would work for Planet observation (and to some extent for the moon) for observations / camera exposures, for perhaps a few minutes or so, but cannot track the stars, (without movement trails) to enable for very long exposures ie several minutes or tens of minutes ? Is it not the case that more modern drive systems work both RA and Dec axis, in two directions, driven by computer software ? Anyway, I obviously have a lot to learn in regard to using this telescope. It will be fun, I am sure !! Regards Dave

Hi, Fist post on forum. I have been gifted a Meade LX10 from a widow of friend who sadly passed recently. Getting on ok but I am unsure of how to make use of the drive mechanisms. I understand that the Dec has a limited use, but I can sort of get that given the mechanics of the system, The RA drive however is a bit confusing. Having done an accurate alignment on the pole star, with the wedge latitude set correctly etc, I then found a brightish star to the North, about 35 deg above my horizon. I then switched on the RA drive and was surprised to find the star moving fairly quickly out of the FOV. It appeared that the speed of drive was too fast. I checked the drive speed using a stopwatch and it appears to be correct at 15 deg per Hour. Am I expecting too much from this system ? I thought the idea was to allow accurate star tracking for long exposure pics. If I am wrong, how do I use the 2 axis controller when taking long exposure pics of stars and planets etc. I know this telescope is now more than 25 yrs old, but was hoping to get some good use of it for a few years yet !! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Dave South Scotland