Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'mounts'.
-
After a very sturdy tripod and 'head/mount?' for general photography at the current moment but to also use for a Sky guider when I get one in the future My questions are; Which tripod do I need to handle a small scope and or camera with a big lens attached to sky guider, Tripod budget less than £100 Which sky guider should I go for to image the milkyway and nebula? probably 6-8 lbs payload? Budget less than, £400 Do sky guiders come with their own mount? I heard something about a ball head, mount budget less than £50 Is there anything else I may need with what I have -
FLO sent me this beast of a mount for review, and after a few months use I've finished said review. If you don't want to read, then scroll to the bottom to see the video. If not, let's go. From the top, the dual type Vixen/Losemandy type puck, and at the back of mine it had 3 5521 type power ports for powering equipment, and 3 USB ports (2 powered) for connecting to the internal USB hub network. Whilst I didn't exactly use this network, it's still very handy to use, especially being on the puck - it means you don't have to worry about any slack on your cables and they won't pull. A handy
-
Hi all, I have what might be a silly question regarding alignment of the start adventurer: Are you able to align the mount without being in sight of Polaris? I'm weighing up my mount options and was curious if this is possible. Most of my AP will be done from my balcony and unfortunately the North star isn't visible at all from this point. S. -
Anyone have any idea where I can get a replacement counterweight bar/shaft for my EQ5 mount?
-
I recently moved back to Ireland, having been in the USA a long time, and I had to leave my 8 inch Dob behind. What i did bring was two OTA, a 80 mm Orion Goscope refractor, and an Explore Scientific 100mm Mak. Now i do has a basic alt az mount for these but i have a longing for a very basic GoTo system like the iOptron cube-e. Would that work ok? P.S. sorry if this shouldnt be a beginner question
-
Hello all. Thank you for taking a moment to read this & offer your suggestions/ advice. I'm sure my basic question has been asked many times: "In your opinion or experience, what are the first, most important, necessary accessories I should add in order to maximize the the use and ease of a newly acquired Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT ? I have a power supply adapter, 9mm,10mm, 25mm eyepieces, 2x Barlow and 90 degree diagonal mirror adaptor. With a modest budget and a 2 week deadline, I've researched numerous reviews and narrowed some choices to additional Plossl eyepieces, an assortment of fil -
Hey guys. After many years of waiting, I've decided to finally go for my first telescope. Yet, today find myself stuck between two excellent entry-level options, so I'm looking for some help. Before I get straight to my questions, I'd like to share some information about what I'm expecting to do with the equipment (among other stuff). - Objectives: Deep Sky, and some planetary observation. No interest in astrophotography, GoTo, or any other device (maybe/eventually in the future). - Budget: Given complementary I'll be getting a 2x Barlow (SkyWatcher; achromatic), and a stargui -
Hello all , due to moving house, it is with deep sadness that I need to sell my gear. Most items I would prefer not to post and would be collection only , any smaller items that can be, postage will have to be covered by the buyer. If you are interested in any of the items please send a P.M and we can discuss it , So here goes Skywatcher Esprit 80 ED pro triplet in alu flight case this has not been used £750.00 SOLD to Kaliska Field Flattener for the above scope , this has not been used £ 80.00 SOLD to Kaliska Skywatcher evostar 80ed ds pro +
-
I have several parts, motors, and an arduino based AstroEQ controller that I don't use and maybe they could be useful to someone else. Btw I currently live in Turkey and I will ship everything with registered post from here. It should take approximately 2-3 weeks to reach to UK or other parts of Europe. I can accept payments from Paypal and also UK bank transfer. First, I have the arduino based controller. I have put it in a plastic project box. Pretty much everything is connected by jumper cables and the stepper drivers are on a breadbox. So it would be possible to change the casi
-
Hi there Everyone, I experienced an issue with my Sphinx SXW Mount this past weekend at a dark skies event I was attending. When I came to set up the mount I noted that the declination axis rotation was obstructed, basically you could rotate about 90 degrees and then it would suddenly come to hard stop, knowing this was just not right, I immediately halted my setup and packed the mount away, with a plan to carry out some diagnostics today once I got home. Once home, I set the mount up, and discovered the following 1/. The declination axis was now freed up..., mo
-
Hi there I currently control my Sphinx SXW from SkySafari, and in general the user interface from SS is much more intuitive than the Starbook controller, however one aspect that I haven't quite mastered is slew control when zeroing in on an object either close to, or in the field of view. With the Starbook controller the slew speed is contolled by the zoom level in effect at the time. On SS the same principle applies, however I've found that it doesn't seem to provide the same granularity of fine control as that of the Starbook, even after adjusting the speed using the slider in SS. Would b
-
Hi there everyone, I’m interested in getting peoples take on where they think mount control technology will go in the years to come. I currently control my Sphinx SXW remotely and almost entirely from SS on my iOS devices. Although this works a treat, it still employs a technique that is a mish-mash of separate components rather than an integrated wireless solution, along the lines for example of TV wireless integration. As far as I am aware none of the major players in the amateur astro mount market have yet addressed this in the form of a complete integrated solution, I may however be w
-
Well, after a year of starting out and viewing/photographing everything I can see from my light polluted haven, it's time to upgrade. I have learned a lot, mostly from reading all the posts here and Cloudy Nights, practicing with SharpCap, PHD, DSS etc. and basically learning everything I can with my CG4 and motor drives, iOptron Skyguider Pro kit and 6" Newtonian and DSLR gear. No GOTO as yet, but that is what this post is about. I just ordered a new Astro Tech 72mm Version II scope for my adventures in astrophotography, along with a ZWO 174MM-C but I might end up getting a cooled camera l
-
Hello! So I have been an amateur astronomer since last few years and now I see that so many people have asking me about general telescope suggestions. (Guess the next step will be helping to set up small observatories...Ah dreams!) We don't have many telescope brands available. The major brands that are available here are Meade, orion, celestron and skywatcher. The confusion starts to rise when the other party is interested in little larger scopes like 8 inch sct or 12 inch reflector with eq mount or dobsonian mount. Would like to know overall experience that you guys have -
I was discussing with a fellow stargazer, during a cloud induced intermission over a few drams the other evening, the merits of the QHY Polemaster and an interesting question popped up. Would it be in QHY's interest to collaborate with a mount vendor and package their Polemaster product with that vendor's mounts? Their is a key argument against such a move that being that QHY could probably make more selling individual units to the market than via such a collaborative effort. Would be interested to hear fellow forum members views on this topic. Kind Regards Paul. -
Hi there, in an effort to simplify the setup procedure of my field observatory I spent a couple of hours yesterday researching solutions for a Power and Comms distribution box. I eventually settled on a very simple solution based around a cheap IP54 rated outdoor enclosure sourced from a local DIY store (UK readers will recognise the name B&Q). My power in the field is supplied by two 10ah Tracer LiPo batteries, which have served me well now for the past two years. In addition to the batteries the solution needed to accommodate a dinky little TPLink router, which provides me with WIFI c
-
Hi I am looking to purchase a second hand Altair Astro Sabre II With Vixen clamps as a grabngo alternative to my goto GEM setup. In the end decided to buy new direct from Altair Astro.
-
Hi I am looking to purchase a second hand AYO Digital II with integrated encoders as a grabngo alternative to my goto GEM setup.
-
Well, received my latest toy today, the Sabre V2 from Altair Astro. Everything the advertisement claimed it would be, at least out of the box. Proof of the pudding will be when it gets first light. Azimuth and altitude motions silky smooth, alt is slightly top heavy at the moment, but I believe that once the star diagonal and my 22mm Nagler are in situ it won't be far off the mark. Looking forward to some 'freestyle', GEM and electronics free observing. Now where are those damned clear skies...?
-
My interest is in astrophotography and I am narrowing down my search of a mount between Celestron CGX-EQ (EQ only, 55 lb payload) and the Celestron CGEM II (AZ/EQ, 40 lb payload). Is there an advantage to having the AZ/EQ if my primary use is astrophotography? The CGEM II is only rated for 40 lbs and I thought the recommendation is to only go half that (20 lbs) for astrophotography. It would be pretty easy to exceed 20 lbs at some point in the future as my telescope collection grows. Any thoughts on the tradeoffs between these two fine mounts? Lloyd Linnell -
Hi there, wondering if someone can help me with stiction problems I'm currently experiencing with my new Sabre mount. First light for the mount on Friday night proved most frustrating, almost impossible to accurately frame an object in the field of view. I believe that I've got the setup as balanced as it is ever going to be until I can improve the fluidity of the motions. Pic of setup attached. All up weight for the SCT with dew shield, Nagler 22mm, Baader Steeltrack Focuser, Baader click stop diagonal, laser pointer and finder is about 9.5kg. The counter weight is 3.7kg.
-
It looks as though the Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT and Orion Atlas Pro AZ/EQ-G are identical mounts (except color) but the Skywatcher is $2,500 and the Orion is $1,900. Are they really identical mounts sold under different brands at different prices?
-
Can anyone advise me if it's possible to remove the AZ4 mount from the steel legged tripod and replace it with an EQ5 mount that I could later add motors to or is it simpler and easier just to buy the EQ5 straight away. I am trying to get a tracking mount for my Mak 150 but may want to upgrade again in the future for a11 inch SCT. Thanks for reading
-
I recently stripped and reset the RA axis worm of my HEQ5-PRO mount. Asfter a fall in 2014 it has developed a lot of backlash and it was only recently i referred astro-baby's tutorial and reset the worm. The shake is gone now, but the RA axis is so tight even hen the clutch is loosened that I am unable to balance the scope well. Any advice in this regard will be appreciated.
-
My Az GTi mount had been working well, apart from occasional Wi-Fi drop-outs, until yesterday, when the batteries ran low. I'd left it running unattended for a while, and when I came back found it had stopped tracking and the red LED was continuously rapidly flashing. This isn't described in the users manual, but I presumed it was a low power indication. I plugged in an external battery pack, that I know to be good as it has been used before and has 8 of the same batteries as the internal battery pack, but now when I switch it on the LED flashes a couple of times and then stays stead
