EQ5 RA drive accuracy

[Whippy]

Mulling over a possibility or two, and I'm wondering if the RA drive of the EQ5 is accurate enough for high(ish) res planetary/lunar imaging.

I'm hopefully going to use my Skymax 180 and probably a x2 barlow so given that my polar alignment is good enough and the drive batteries have enough charge, is the EQ5 drive good enough to keep the target

in what would be a pretty narrow FOV?

Tony..

[malc-c]

Mulling over a possibility or two, and I'm wondering if the RA drive of the EQ5 is accurate enough for high(ish) res planetary/lunar imaging.

I'm hopefully going to use my Skymax 180 and probably a x2 barlow so given that my polar alignment is good enough and the drive batteries have enough charge, is the EQ5 drive good enough to keep the target

in what would be a pretty narrow FOV?

Tony..

Tony,

I assume that you would be using a decent powerpack out in the field. Otherwise a decent 12v 2amp mains supply is essential to maintain constant tracking and slewing.

Can't really comment on the accuracy of the tracking at such a high magnification over such a long time, but proper drift alignment and I guess some PEC may be needed

[samtheeagle]

I would be very much surprised if with proper polar alignment you can't keep your target in the FOV for long enough to capture some data. Planetary imaging is less demanding on the the mounts tracking accuracy compared to DSO work, but I guess this depends on just how tight a FOV you're aiming for... I would expect you to be able to get a good few minutes before you might need to make a small adjustment to recentre things.

This is all conjecture mind, I have never owned an EQ5, but a modest EQ3-2 with motors added allowed me have a crack at planets.

[Psychobilly]

I have cheated in the past and guided on the planet I was "trying" to capture at high FL ...

[Whippy]

Cheers guys, that what I was thinking Sam. All I need to do is keep the target in the FOV for a couple of minutes while I roll off some AVI's. I hope that even at 3.4 metres, the motor can do the job .

Tony..

[peteftm]

I've aquired a ra driven eq5 , no scope yet and undecided what to mount on it and how well it'll track

[Dann]

I have an EQ5 GOTO and dont have any trouble keeping the target in the field of view of an SPC880 webcam with a 2x barlow.

I have more of a problem getting them into the field of view in the first place but once its there you could pop inside and watch the latest reality trash and it would still be there when I got back

[oldfruit]

I have used an EQ5 for imaging Saturn and Jupiter and found that when correctly alligned it would keep the target in the webcam field of view for ages, can`t say how long as have never let it drift out of the field of view. Have popped inside for 10 - 15 mins before and still visible on screen when i returned.

[brantuk]

With an EQ5 or CG5, with polar scope and RA motor, and reasonably accurate polar alignment, I'd be surprised if you got less than 15-20 mins of accurate tracking on a planet. Don't know so much about the outer planets, but certainly everything up to Jupiter/Saturn should be ok - in theory the outer ones too

(Keep in mind that mars goes retrograde in it's orbit when Earth overtakes it).

[Whippy]

Thanks all , I think I'll be motorising the EQ5 for now rather than shelling out for something I don't need right now!

Tony..

[bamus]

Thanks all , I think I'll be motorising the EQ5 for now rather than shelling out for something I don't need right now!

Tony..

if you are thinking about motorising I have got RA drive for sale:

http://stargazerslounge.com/sale/146248-mini-boot-sale.html

[Whippy]

Thanks for letting me know, I'll count the pennies and let you know.

[ollypenrice]

I'm sure it will be fine. In planetary webcam imaging you do the tracking afterwards in Registax, etc!!

Olly